The News Review:
- New ranking system introduced for Heineken Cup pools draw
- James Forrester eyes Heineken Cup fixtures
- Heineken Cup seeding system revamped
- Young sets sights on Ospreys revenge job
- Beer wars begin
- Fitting legacy of Brand Beckham
- Top 14 preview: Round 16
New ranking system introduced for Heineken Cup pools draw
International Herald Tribune – Mar 27, 2008
The draw for next season's Heineken Cup, the first to be held under the ERC European Ranking, will take place in June, they said in a statement. The replacement of the previous system based on domestic performance by the new rankings based on European results follows some lop-sided lineups in this season's pools that led to the early elimination of several top clubs. Holders London Wasps, twice winners Leicester Tigers, 2005 runners-up Stade Francais and 2006 finalists Biarritz all missed out on quarter-final berths having played in tough pools. “We believe this new ranking system to be a major and important step forward in the ongoing development and growth of European club rugby's premier tournaments,” ERC chairman Jean-Pierre Lux said in the statement.
James Forrester eyes Heineken Cup fixtures
Telegraph.co.uk – Mar 27, 2008
Forrester has not played since last April but Dean Ryan, Gloucester’s director of rugby, is hopeful that the back-row player could feature in the knockout games which start on Saturday week, when Munster visit Kingsholm in the quarter-finals. Ryan said: “He has worked astonishingly hard and this is confirmation he is making really good progress. ” Gloucester, who travel to Worcester on Saturday, expect Lesley Vainikolo to be available. The England wing is celebrating the birth of a son, Kava, named after his brother who died at Christmas on his home island of Tonga.
Heineken Cup seeding system revamped
Planet Rugby – Mar 27, 2008
Up to this season, ERC has based the seeding system for the Pool draw on the winners of the respective leagues, meaning that Glasgow has been seeded as the highest-ranked Scottish team despite finishing fourth from bottom. Quarter-finalists also get a point, semi-finalists three extra points, losing finalists five, and the winners seven. That means the current Heineken ranking is: 1 Munster 25pts; 2 Toulouse 24pts; 3 Biarritz 24pts; 4 Leicester 23pts; 5 Stade Francais 20pts; 6 Wasps 18pts; 7 Leinster 18pts; 8 Gloucester 15pts; 9 Perpignan 15pts; 10 Bath 14pts; 11 Llanelli 12pts; 12 Sale 12pts; 13 Saracens 11pts; 14 Ospreys 11pts
Those positions will change after the quarter-finals next weekend however.
Young sets sights on Ospreys revenge job
Belfast Telegraph – Mar 27, 2008
“We’ve got to step up to the plate and do what we want to do and try to get some sort of dominance, especially in the pack. “When our pack plays well our team plays well especially away from home so that’s what we have got to try and work on and match them,” continued Young. Next up for the Ospreys after Ulster is the Heineken Cup quarter-final but Young believes that the Welsh outfit won’t be looking beyond tomorrow night. “They have the personnel there that means they won’t take their eyes off the challenge facing them which is us. Some teams maybe would have their eye on the bigger match but they have seasoned professionals who want to win and perform in every game. “They are getting big crowds in a fabulous stadium so I can’t see how they won’t be just focusing on us. “Ulster are second bottom in the table four points ahead of Irish rivals Connacht who they must finish above to qualify for the Heineken Cup next year.
Beer wars begin
iAfrica.com – Mar 27, 2008
Bruce Whitfield:
And that is one of the great ironies, isn’t it, SAB spent millions and 35 years building Amstel from a mainstream Dutch brand in a brown bottle into this green bottled amber which they flogged for years and suddenly the contract ran out, SAB was caught on a back foot, Heineken itself seemed to catch itself on the back foot because it didn’t take advantage of that hiatus in delivery and allowed SAB really to fill that gap with Marzen Gold and other brands like Castle Lite of all things. Chris Gilmour:
Indeed, exactly, as you know the real winner out there is going to be the consumers because I suspect that Heineken will bring in other Amstel varieties, things like Amstel pure filtered for example and I don’t think they can rely just on that brand. I think they have to freshen up a bit with some other line extensions and it will be readily available and the other joker in the pack possibly is maybe we will see a joint-venture between Heineken and Anheuser-Busch to produce Budweiser here in anticipation of the 2010 World Cup. Bruce Whitfield:
They are going to have to get the volumes in because Budweiser is the official sponsor of the World Cup. Chris Gilmour:
That’s what I’m getting at. It has been here for a while but only 330 ml bottles and again it is a strange situation, it is punted as a premium beer and yet it is the most mainstream beer in the world, you know it is the biggest selling brand of beer in the world. Bruce Whitfield:
And it still befuddles me why.
Fitting legacy of Brand Beckham
Daily Mail – Mar 27, 2008
A very exclusive clubThe All England Club's decision to sign another Wimbledonchampionships TV rights contract with the BBC, without even testingthe market with an official tender for such a valuable commodity,has astonished the industry. And it hasn't escaped notice that Wimbledon's in-houseTV rights chief John Rowlinson just happens to have spent most ofhis working life with BBC Sport. The last major deal that didn't go out to tender wasHeineken Cup rugby renewing with Sky when a lot more money wasavailable elsewhere.
Top 14 preview: Round 16
Planet Rugby – Mar 27, 2008
Toulouse, at home, make for daunting opposition. Spoilt for choice when he actually chooses to choose his best team, Guy Nov?is able to line-up a Test capped player at every position most weekends. How many teams in world rugby can afford to leave a player of Byron Kelleher’s class on the bench?
Toulouse have actually conceded less tries than Biarritz this season and the Basques’ visit to Ernest Wallon will be a warm-up to Toulouse’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Cardiff at the far bigger Stade Municipal a week later. The teams have met sixteen times and Toulouse have won all but twice, including the last five meetings. Biarritz lost 18-6 at home toToulouse in Round 3 and with all of Toulouse’s stars set to return to action this weekend, a repeat result is the most likely outcome. Date: Friday 28 March
Venue: Ernest Wallon
Kick-off: 20:30
Bayonne v Stade Fran?s
Bayonne started the week with the destabilising news that manager Jean-Pierre Elissalde and coaches Xavier P?ma and Jean-Fran?s Beltran will be given their marching orders at the end of the season. The home side will once again be relying heavily on their points-scoring machine Richard Dourthe, who is the third highest scorer in the championship with 143 points this season.