Munster and Gloucester renew rivalry

European Cup Draw:  The draw for next season's Heineken European Cup provided a strong whiff of déjà vu yesterday which, for opponents of Munster and Leinster, will be superseded only by a whiff of vengeance.

Gloucester, particularly, will be earmarking their renewal of hostilities with Munster as their personal grudge match of the 2003/4 season, while Biarritz will have their quarter-final defeat at Lansdowne Road in mind when they meet Leinster yet again.

The meetings between Gloucester and Munster in this season's competition were perhaps the highlights of the event, and certainly of the pool stages, especially when Munster avenged their 35-16 defeat with the so-called "Miracle Match" at Thomond Park.

Requiring a win by a minimum of four tries and 27 points, Munster did just that when Ronan O'Gara's last-ditch conversion completed an unforgettable 33-6 win.

Nigel Melville, the Gloucester director of rugby, maintained on Saturday that losing the English Premiership play-off decider to Wasps by 39-3 was "10 times worse", although in the cold light of summer and a new season the Cherry and Whites will surely put it on a par.

As part of the cutbacks at Kingsholm under Tom Walkinshaw, the French pair of hooker Olivier Azam and Ludovic Mercier (he of the infamous tapped penalty at Thomond Park) are heading home, but Gloucester did finish 15 points clear of the rest in the English Premiership and are bound to be a strong outfit again next season.

Biarritz mightn't harbour as many nightmares over the nature of their 18-13 defeat to Leinster in the quarter-finals, though they also shared home wins in the pool stages two seasons ago.

The feeling of déjà vu didn't stop with those renewals, however. Once more, as Ireland's nominated top seeds, Leinster would appear to have a slightly more promising draw. In addition to Biarritz (beaten 32-9 in the French championship semi-finals by Stade Francais last Friday), they have been drawn with Sale Sharks, fourth in the English Premiership, and their fourth seeds are the Cardiff region - who lost all six pool matches this season, culminating in a 75-25 defeat to Biarritz.

Aside from Gloucester, England's second seeds, Munster will face Bourgoin, who only just missed out on the quarter-finals as one of the best runners-up this season thanks to Cardiff's porousness in Biarritz, and Italian opposition once more.

But Benetton Treviso will not be the soft touches little Viadana were when they leaked 18 tries and 119 points in back-to-back matches with Munster before Christmas.

Treviso are the Italian standard-bearers in Europe and they've also returned to the top of the pile domestically, after last season's aberration, by beating Ghial Calvisano to regain the Italian championship title in Padova last Saturday.

"It is great to be back in the Heineken Cup," said Treviso coach Craig Green, the former All Black wing. "Our win on Saturday means we are back at the top of Italian rugby, and by playing in the Heineken Cup we will be competing against the very best sides in Europe.

"We have got a proud history in the tournament and we are looking forward to next season."

Ulster, as Ireland's third seeds, again look to have been given the toughest draw. It's bad enough that Alan Solomons' team will have to face the French champions and top seeds, be it newly crowned European champions Toulouse or Stade Francais, who meet in next Saturday's French final at Stade de France.

Worse still, Ulster might reasonably have expected to avoid England's heavy hitters, bearing in mind they were supposedly being drawn with that country's sixth seeds. But this meant they were linked with Leicester, the Cup's only other two-time winners aside from Toulouse.

Pity the new Welsh alliance of Ebbw Vale and Newport. The presence of the Welsh region will at least revive memories of Ulster's 1999-2000 triumph, when they also had Toulouse and Ebbw Vale in the pool stages.

Warren Gatland's London Wasps, the newly crowned English Premiership champions, reaped the benefits of last Saturday's win over Gloucester with their draw and will play against this season's beaten finalists, Perpignan, the Bridgend/Pontypridd region and Ghial Amatori and Calvisano.

How they line up

Pool 1

S Francais or Toulouse

Leicester

Ulster

Ebbw Vale/Newport

Pool 2

S Francais or Toulouse

Leeds

Neath/Swansea

Edinburgh

Pool 3

Biarritz

Sale Sharks

Leinster

Cardiff region

Pool 4

Agen

Northampton

Llanelli region

Borders

Pool 5

Bourgoin

Gloucester

Munster

Treviso

Pool 6

Perpignan

London Wasps

Bridgend/Pontypridd

Calvisano