Heineken Cup 2009 Pool 2 Fixtures and Preview

Biarritz, Glasgow Warriors, Gloucester Rugby, Newport Gwent Dragons

Oct 7, 2009

On paper Heineken Cup Pool 2 should be a comfortable qualification for Biarritz, but could the inconsistent Basques fail to turn up again?

This is certainly not the Heineken Cup 2009/2010 Pool of Death, Biarritz look by far the strongest side and should win the group comfortable. The others will take points off each other making it unlikely that two teams some out of this group.

Heineken Cup Biarritz

Biarritz don’t appear to have recovered from their loss to Munster in the 2007 Heineken Cup final at Cardiff. In 2008, they were unbeaten in the pool stages only to lose at home to a poor Northampton Saints side soon to be relegated from the Guinness Premiership. Last season, they came up against a powerful Cardiff Blues team who they narrowly lost to home and away. A further loss at Gloucester sealed their fate.

This season, they’ve started well in the Top 14, currently lying third and this pool doesn’t look as strong as the one they came up against last year. The men from the Basque country will need to spontaneously combust not to qualify for the knockout stages.

Players to watch: Imanol Harinordoquy an immense presence in the back row and Takudzwa Ngwenya, the flying American winger who went outside Bryan Habana in the 2007 rugby world cup

Heineken Cup Glasgow Warriors

Edinburgh’s foray to the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup in 2004 was the only time a Scottish region has made it to the knockout stages. Glasgow Warriors are unlikely to break that sequence this year.

Despite this, Glasgow can cause upsets. Last year, they gained two wins, one of which was gained in the south of France against the might of Toulouse. They also gave quarter finalists Bath a scare. They were dead and buried at the Rec’ but two tries in as many minutes had the west countrymen hanging on for dear life to gain a thrilling 35-31 win.

Players to watch 2005 Lion Chris Cusiter at scrum half and dangerous winger Thom Evans

Heineken Cup Gloucester Rugby

Gloucester finally lost patience with coach Dean Ryan over the summer, but his replacement Bryan Redpath hasn’t found it easy and is under pressure after a poor start to the season.

Gloucester had developed a reputation for freezing on the big occasion, topping the table in the Guinness Premiership in 2007 & 2008, but failing to win the playoffs. They have also missed out in key qualification games, most famously against Munster at Thomond Park when a penalty would have seen them qualify, but their skipper kicked for the corner believing they needed a try to go through.

Gloucester have only qualified for the knockout stages once in the last five seasons and don’t appear to be a threat to change that record.

Players to watch: outside half Nicky Robinson, central to the Cardiff Blues’ run last year, tricky winger James Simpson-Daniel.

Heineken Cup Newport Gwent Dragons

Traditionally the weakest of the four Welsh regions, the Dragons have started strongly in the Magners league with wins over Ulster, fellow pool 2 members Glasgow Warriors and Connaught. They have struggled in two trips to Ireland suffering losses to Munster and Leinster, but they look much more competitive than they have in recent times.

Whether they have the strength in depth to live up to the intensity and rigor of a long Heineken Cup campaign remains to be seen, but with the exception of Biarritz, this group is not the strongest so they should get a couple of wins.

Players to watch: newly qualified Welshman Joe Bearman, and young Welsh star in the making Jason Tovey

Heineken Cup Pool 2 Fixtures

13th Dec ’09 13:45 Biarritz v Newport Gwent Dragons – Parc de Sports Aguilera

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