The Heineken Cup is here again, and we're here to give you the lowdown on the contenders. Here's our guide to Pool 6.
Watch the Heineken Cup live on Sky Sports
The Heineken Cup is here again, and we're here to give you the lowdown on the runners for the silverware. Here's our guide to Pool 3.
Edinburgh
Prospects: Edinburgh didn't have the best Heineken Cup tournament last time around, losing all but one of their six games in their group. Leinster, who are again drawn in the same Pool, were the only team Edinburgh managed to overcome in last season's Heineken Cup tournament - a feat the Scottish club will desperately be wanting to repeat this year. The Scotland capital outfit can use their status as underdogs to surprise the giants of European rugby and progress to the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup for only the second time in the history of the competition. Edinburgh have been drawn in the same group as perennial opponents Toulouse - who they managed to beat in the pool stages, but lost out to in the quarter-finals at the Stade Municipal four years ago. Their other strong opponents, Leicester Tigers, are now coached by former Pumas coach Marcelo Loffreda, who masterminded Scotland's World Cup downfall in the quarter-finals. And then there are familiar foes Leinster, whom Edinburgh know well from their twice-yearly Magners League encounters. The appointment of Andy Robinson as head coach follows a summer of turmoil for Edinburgh. The club was the subject of an often heated dispute between Bob Carruthers' franchise and the SRU. And, when control of the club was returned to the national body, it led to the departure of coach Lynn Howells, while Australia fly-half Stephen Larkham's move to the club was also cancelled. Edinburgh will hope that Robinson will be able to match his success at Bath, who he led to the Heineken Cup, and as deputy to Clive Woodward when England won the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
Key player: With Scotland's points scoring machine Chris Paterson jumping the fence to join Gloucester, the former Edinburgh pivot has left a huge void in the side. It's for this reason that Edinburgh will need fly-half
Phil Godman, who also goes by the nickname "Mad Phil", to go crazy with the boot and rack up an insane amount of points for his side whenever he gets given the opportunity.
Edinburgh Squad: Augusto Allori, David Blair, Mike Blair, Ben Cairns, David Callam, Sean Crombie, Geoff Cross, Simon Cross, Nick De Luca, Matt Dey, Ross Ford, Ben Gissing, Phil Godman, Ryan Grant, Craig Hamilton, Allister Hogg, John Houston, Allan Jacobsen, Andrew Kelly, Gavin Kerr, Greig Laidlaw, Steve Lawrie, Alan MacDonald, Calum MacRae, Andrew Maxwell, Ben Meyer, Matt Mustchin, Scott Newlands, Fergus Pringle Roland Reid, Ross Rennie, Craig Smith, Hugo Southwell, James Thompson, Andrew Turnbull, Steven Turnbull, Alistair Warnock, Simon Webster
Prediction: Edinburgh's best achievements in the Heineken Cup to date came in the 2003/2004 season, when they became the first Scottish side to reach the quarter-finals. Unfortunatelly, in such illustrious company, Edinburgh will find the going far from easy. They may need to wait a another season and a better draw to get anywhere near what they achieved four years ago.
Leicester Tigers
Prospects: Leicester made up for their opening 19-21 home loss to Munster last season by moving forward and undefeated for the remainder of the tournament to the final at Twickenham. Having won the EDF Energy Cup - their first piece of silverware for five years - as well as the Guinness Premiership, Leicester failed to win an unprecedented treble in the form of the Heineken Cup, by losing to London Wasps. Leicester have been the most successful English club of the professional era, winning the Heineken Cup twice and the domestic league (now the Guinness Premiership) five times - all in the space of seven years. The Welford Road-based side have also made themselves a reputation of producing top, quality players ranging from number one to fifteen for England's national team. So with no Tests due until the Six Nations kicks off in February, Leicester will certainly have all their positions covered. With a host of players hailing from Ireland, Italy, Fiji and Samoa, the Tigers boast a wealth of priceless international experience who add to their already impressive stripes. This spells trouble for their Pool Six opponents who are expected to have a torrid time against a full strength Leicester line-up.
Key player: Leicester may have all their jersey numbers covered, but number nine still remains a small crease in their well-ironed uniform. Since Harry Ellis's injury, the depth at scrum-half has really been exposed. It's for this reason that
Frank Murphy will need to be on top of his game in every match he plays - and more importantly - make sure he doesn't go down the same injury route as his colleague. After starting the 2006/07 season as the least-experienced of the Tigers' three scrum-halves, the former Munster player made a real name for himself with a string of impressively consistent performances. He finished the season wearing the number nine shirt after being named in the starting line-ups for both the Guinness Premiership and Heineken Cup finals, scoring a try in the former.
Leicester squad: Luke Abraham, Marcos Ayerza, Richard Blaze, Paul Burke, Martin Castrogiovanni, George Chuter, Dan Cole, Martin Corry Jordan Crane, Tom Croft, Mefin Davies, Brett Deacon, Louis Deacon, Ayoola Erinle, Andy Goode, James Hamilton, Ben Herring, Dan Hipkiss, Ian Humphreys, Ben Kay, Ben Kayser, Christophe Laussucq, Aaron Mauger, Lewis Moody, Alex Moreno, Frank Murphy, Geordan Murphy, Johne Murphy, Seru Rabeni, Ollie Smith, Boris Stankovich, Alesana Tuilagi, Tom Varndell, Sam Vesty, Marco Wentzel, Julian White, Dave Young, Ben Youngs
Prediction: With former Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda now at the helm, the Leicester supporters can naturally expect big things from the successful mentor - perhaps another Heineken Cup trophy? We definitely won't be ruling out the possibility. We predict the Tigers to claw their way on to the finals for a second consecutive time.
Leinster
Prospects: Leinster qualified for the quarter-finals after topping their Pool with four wins out of six encounters. Agen finished with the same results, but it was the Irish club's five bonus points that ultimately proved the difference. However, they were beaten convincingly 13-35 in the play-offs by the home team and eventual champions, London Wasps. One of the more consistent sides in the history of the competition that has never quite make it across that final hurdle. Leinster have reached the Heineken Cup semi-finals three times (1995/96, 2002/03 and 2005/06) but have failed to make a final. In 2002/03, they became only the third team in the history of the tournament to win all their games in Pool play and the first team to do it twice in the 2004/05 season - where they were again considered among the favourites for the title. However they went out at the quarter-final stage to Leicester Tigers - their Pool Six opposition this year. The squad is blessed with a talented bunch of players with a wealth of priceless experience on the domestic and international scene. With a backline containing the likes of Felipe Contepomi at fly-half, Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy in the centres, Shane Horgan on the wing and Girvan Dempsey at fullback - you really can't go wrong! However, the side's performance in the Magners League has been average to say the least. Whether Leinster can step up and perform on the bigger European stage remains to be seen.
Key player: Leinster's talisman and without question one of the greatest exponents of midfield play in the history of the game. We all know what
Brian O'Driscoll can do with the ball, but it's his leadership and inspirational play that will be key to Leinster's advancement in this year's tournament. His 20 tries scored in 45 appearances in the Heineken Cup are testament to his attacking flair that have proved so effective for club and country alike.
Leinster Squad: Michael Berne, Brian Blaney, Gary Brown, Felipe Contepomi, Leo Cullen, Gordon D'Arcy, Girvan Dempsey, Luke Fitzgerald, Keith Gleeson, Juan Gomez, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Trevor Hogan, Shane Horgan, Bernard Jackman, Shane Jennings, Cameron Jowitt, Chris Keane, Rob Kearney, Ian Keatley, Stephen Keogh, Stephen Knoop, Ollie Le Roux, Richie Leyden, Ross McCarron Ronan McCormack, Fergus McFadden, Kevin McLaughlin, Ruaidhri Murphy, Sean O'Brien, Brian O'Driscoll, Malcolm O'Kelly, Jonny Sexton Devin Toner, Christian Warner, Chris Whitaker, Cillian Willis, Stan Wright
Prediction: Leinster have certainly been there, done that, as far as qualifying for the play-offs is concerned. However an incredibly tough road to the quarter-finals await them, and they will need all the lucky four-leaf clovers in the world to get them there.
Toulouse
Prospects: The Toulouse fans will be hoping their French giants can find the winning spark that has was missing from the team's early exit from the European championship last season. Finishing second in their group, their three wins from six matches wasn't enough to take them through to the quarter-finals. A crushing 3-30 opening loss to Ulster was one of the shock defeats of the tournaments, but no more so than Toulouse's 34-41 defeat at home to eventual semi-finalists the Scarlets. They certainly have the players to win it. The side oozes an abundance of talent which has recently been given an extra va-va-voom with the signing of All Blacks scrum-half Byron Kelleher. The majority of the squad are French internationals, which may explain why some days they are unstoppable, while others can be a walk in the park for any opposition. Their European record over the years speaks for itself: played 85, won 60, drawn 3 - not bad going after 12 years of competing. Toulouse's Pool Six opposition, however, have all the ingredients to contribute towards another disappointing campaign for the men-in-red-and-black should they let their guard down. Last season's losing finalists Leicester are set to cause the biggest headache for Toulouse home and away, while Ireland club Leinster are not to be taken lightly either. With only one win in the Magners League this season, Toulouse will be better off not making the same mistake with Edinburgh like they did against Ulster last year.
Key player: Always a tough call to make from this particular team. Each player in this squad possesses his own touch of magic that leaves opposition spellbound. One rugby magician destined to wave his magic wand and cast a defeating spell on his opponents, is the new face of French rugby
Thierry Dusatoir. The Ivory Coast-born flanker was part of the losing Biarritz team in the 2005/06 Heineken Cup final against Munster at the Millennium Stadium - the same Biarritz outfit that beat Toulouse 40-13 in the Top 14 final in the same year. But Dusatoir crossed over last year to join the Toulousains - much to the relief of coach Guy Noves. The former Judo athlete will no doubt pull all the right punches for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup, just like he did for France in the World Cup this year.
Toulouse Squad: Patricio Albacete, Mathieu Andre, Jean Bouilhou, Vincent Clerc, Valentin Courrent, Marcus di Rollo, Yves Donguy, Gaffie du Toit, Alexandre Ducasse, Thierry Dusatoir, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Florian Fritz, Omar Hasan, Cédric Heymans, Daan Human, Yannick Jauzion, Byron Kelleher, Maleli Kunavore, Virgile Lacombe, Grégory Lamboley, Julien Le Devedec, Finau Maka, Maxime Medard, Maxime Mermoz, Romain Millo-Chlusky, Jean-François Montauriol, Yohan Montes, Yannick Nyanga, Fabien Pelous, Salvatore Perugini, Clément Poitrenaud, Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat, Romain Sola, Shaun Sowerby, Benjamin Thuries, Alberto Vernet, Basualdo Benoit Zanon
Prediction: The French side are the only team to boast having lifted the Heineken Cup trophy three times (1996, 2003 and 2005) and were runners-up in 2004. Many of their rugby mad supporters feel it should have been a lot more, and this could be the year they bring the honours back to French shores.
