The English sides must do better and Ospreys and Cardiff Blues could be the stiffest threat to a Clermont-Toulouse monopoly in this season's Heineken Cup according to the Guardian's Rob Kitson.
"Barely has one European side departed a sodden Wales than 24 teams from the same continent begin the long, mud-spattered haul towards Cardiff next May. As with the Ryder Cup, it pays not to assume a predictable journey. Logic suggests the 16th edition of the Heineken Cup will again be drenched in celebratory French champagne but, as in matchplay golf, the spirit of the Marquis de Sade is never far away.
"Exquisite torture is a fair way to describe a tournament which grows ever harder to win. In the case of Pools Two and Three, simply qualifying for the last eight will demand such reserves of willpower that survivors will feel they have withstood half a dozen hurricanes. Clermont Auvergne, Racing Métro, Leinster or Saracens? Munster, Ospreys, Toulon or London Irish? Even those clubs who finish third will be suffused with quiet pride."
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