Shane Williams’ column: Will even champs Toulon escape the Pool of Death?

ToulonWhat a draw we saw for the European tournaments this week – and what a vindication of the decision to move to 20 teams per tournament. The excitement generated by the Champions Cup pools has been amazing and you can see the knock-on impact there has been in the Challenge Cup as well.
Regardless of which side of the fence you sat as a rugby follower when the battle for supremacy in Europe was going on over the past few years, you'd have to agree that the result in playing terms has been fantastic! Try to pick a winner out of the five Champions Cup pools. It's virtually impossible!
The ‘Pool of Death' has to be Pool 5 where every team has won the tournament before and there are nine titles shared between , Toulon, and .
The obvious question on everyone's lips is can Toulon make it four wins in a row? But just as big a question is will Toulon get out of their pool?
The draw was relatively kind to my old team, the Ospreys, who got drawn with Clermont Auvergne, Exeter Chiefs and Bordeaux-Begles. Yes, that's right, the same Clermont side that reached the Champions Cup and French Championship finals last season and a Bordeaux-Begles team that will be boosted by the arrival of Adam Ashley-Cooper, Sekope Kepu and Luke Braid.
Exeter Chiefs are back in the top flight after another exceptional domestic season. You have to admire what Rob Baxter has achieved with that club and they won't be pushovers. But when Ospreys coach Steve Tandy looks around at the other Pools I think he'll be happy.
His young players acquitted themselves well in difficult circumstances last season and I think they can get results everywhere except possible Clermont.
Stade Marcel-Michelin is one of the most hostile and intimidating grounds in Europe, yet also one of the best to play at. No Welsh team has ever won there, but a full strength Ospreys should be able to at least stand up to them next season.
The Scarlets are in with newly-crowned Guinness PRO12 champions Warriors, Northampton Saints and Racing 92. That is going to be tough, although very appealing to the fans.
will get a return to Parc y Scarlets with Saints, new signing Dan Carter will be in the Racing 92 squad along with their two remaining Welshmen, Luke Charteris and Mike Phillips, and the Warriors will bring their special brand of all-action rugby with them.
It is a difficult group, but they had Toulon, Ulster and last season when they pulled off a few shocks against so-called bigger opposition so they have got something to build on.
The two other pools are belters as well – Saracens, Ulster, Toulouse and Oyonnax in Pool 1 and , Munster, Leicester Tigers and in Pool 4. It was a much stronger tournament last season and last week's draw lfor the 20015/16 campaign has taken things up another notch. We are now talking about truly elite level professional sport with no ‘gimme' fixtures.
It's a similar story in the Challenge Cup. Both the Dragons and Blues find themselves in pools that only a few seasons ago would have been considered monstrous in the old .
The Dragons have to tackle Sale Sharks, the French champions of three seasons ago, Castres Olympique and the winners of the ProD2 tournament last year, Pau,who have signed the great New Zealand centre Conrad Smith, another All Black in Colin Slade and my old Lions team-mate Euan Murray.
And they are supposed to be the pool's easy touch.
Danny Wilson's Blues side have drawn Montpellier, Harlequins and Calvisano in Pool 3. That means Jamie Roberts and Adam Jones will be heading back to the Arms Park and Gethin Jenkins could pack down against Adam one week and then one of Montpellier's small army of Springbok recruits, Jannie du Plessis, the next.
Jake White isn't messing around at Montpellier. He has recruited ten South Africans and two top-flight Aussies in Jesse Mogg and Nic White. Add them to a squad that already contains former
Wallaby skipper Ben Mowen, Fijian back row star Akapusi Qera and French stars Francois Trinh-Duc and Fulgence Ouedraogo and it is easy to see how strong they are going to be.
European rugby – bring it on! We are going to be in for a feast of rugby next season.

Leave a Comment