Rugby’s Heineken Cup is a European club competition for representatives of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It brings together the best of the leading clubs from the northern hemisphere and all the action starts off with a pool stage, where the twenty four participating clubs are separated out into six pools. Each of the pool winners and the two best runners up all progress through to the knockout stage, where the third, fourth and fifth best second-placed teams all move into the European Challenge Cup. Heading down to the European Challenge Cup will be last year’s winner Leinster, who could only manage a distance second in their pool to Toulose, not gaining a good enough record to move through to the quarter finals.
So a lot of European prestige is up for grabs in this top competition and the titles so far have been pretty evenly spread between French, England and Irish clubs. It is French clubs though that are largely dominating the favouritism in 2013 Heineken Cup betting, with Clermont edging things as outright favourites. The powerful French unit were ousted in the semi finals of last year’s competition by last year’s winners, Leinster. Clermont have never gotten their hands on the Heineken Cup before and were dominant in the pool stages, winning six from six, including a double header in some revenge matches against Irish side Leinster, subsequently dumping the reigning champions out of the competition..
The weight and power of Clermont, who had the second best record of all teams in the pool stages of the 2013 Heineken Cup will face off against compatriots Montpellier (who are rank outsiders to win the cup) in the quarterfinals and should they win that, will face either English Premiership champions Harlequins or Irish club Munster in the semi finals.
Toulon, the most successful side in the history of the Heineken Cup are a general second favourite out of the eight teams left in the tournament. The French club have won the tournament four times in their history, the most recent being in the 2009/10 season. Toulon edged out Montpellier in the pool stage by a point and get seeded as third best team heading to the knockout stage. Toulon have a tremendous defence which may carry them far again, and combined with their experience in the cup, could be strong challengers. They will have a tough test against Leicester in the quarter finals, Leicester themselves, two time winners of the Heineken Cup are long odds because of the test they will face against Toulon, but are actually having a strong enough domestic season to cause an upset.
Their fellow Premiership side Saracens though have been brought in to much shorter odds though by many bookmakers, although they have drifted a little. They get the unenviable task of taking on last season’s losing finalists Ulster in the quarter finals and should they win that, they would face the winner of Toulon or Leicester in the semi finals. So a tough path ahead for them, but remain a decent long shot. What of Ulster? The Irish outfit cruised through their pool, their defence barely being tested by any of the three other teams. It leaves them as still a strong contender in what looks to be a very open, competitive and valuable market, especially with immense form on the domestic front in the Pro 12.
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So a lot of European prestige is up for grabs in this top competition and the titles so far have been pretty evenly spread between French, England and Irish clubs. It is French clubs though that are largely dominating the favouritism in 2013 Heineken Cup betting, with Clermont edging things as outright favourites. The powerful French unit were ousted in the semi finals of last year’s competition by last year’s winners, Leinster. Clermont have never gotten their hands on the Heineken Cup before and were dominant in the pool stages, winning six from six, including a double header in some revenge matches against Irish side Leinster, subsequently dumping the reigning champions out of the competition..
The weight and power of Clermont, who had the second best record of all teams in the pool stages of the 2013 Heineken Cup will face off against compatriots Montpellier (who are rank outsiders to win the cup) in the quarterfinals and should they win that, will face either English Premiership champions Harlequins or Irish club Munster in the semi finals.
Toulon, the most successful side in the history of the Heineken Cup are a general second favourite out of the eight teams left in the tournament. The French club have won the tournament four times in their history, the most recent being in the 2009/10 season. Toulon edged out Montpellier in the pool stage by a point and get seeded as third best team heading to the knockout stage. Toulon have a tremendous defence which may carry them far again, and combined with their experience in the cup, could be strong challengers. They will have a tough test against Leicester in the quarter finals, Leicester themselves, two time winners of the Heineken Cup are long odds because of the test they will face against Toulon, but are actually having a strong enough domestic season to cause an upset.
Their fellow Premiership side Saracens though have been brought in to much shorter odds though by many bookmakers, although they have drifted a little. They get the unenviable task of taking on last season’s losing finalists Ulster in the quarter finals and should they win that, they would face the winner of Toulon or Leicester in the semi finals. So a tough path ahead for them, but remain a decent long shot. What of Ulster? The Irish outfit cruised through their pool, their defence barely being tested by any of the three other teams. It leaves them as still a strong contender in what looks to be a very open, competitive and valuable market, especially with immense form on the domestic front in the Pro 12.
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