Heineken Cup 2009 Pool 4 Fixtures and Preview

Bath Rugby, Edinburgh, Stade Francais, Ulster

Oct 7, 2009

Stade Francais look to have a comfortable group this season, but Edinburgh are playing well, Ulster will be strong at home and Bath will be glad to be back playing rugby.

Stade Francais will look at this pool and think they can qualify with a home draw, essential to one of the worst travelers in the European game. The other three teams will take points off each other, precluding a second team from qualifying from the group.

Heineken Cup Bath Rugby

Bath were hit by a drugs scandal last January which saw them lose England international prop Matt Stevens to a two year ban for cocaine use, but then in the summer, four other players were implicated in a drug scandal that saw them resign from the club.

This turmoil has show in their start to the season and seen them only win one game in their first five Guinness Premiership fixtures. This looks likely to turn Bath from quarter finalists last season to also-rans this year.

Players to watch: Kiwi centre Shontayne Hape and South African fly half Butch James

Heineken Cup Edinburgh

Edinburgh, coached by ex-England coach Andy Robinson have had a good start to their 2009 Magners league campaign, winning their first three games, including a narrow win over pool 4 rivals Ulster.

They had a decent Heineken Cup campaign last year, becoming the first Scottish region to win in France with a 6-13 win over Castres. Unfortunately, in a group also containing eventual champions Leinster and London Wasps, they couldn’t follow this up. At the end of the pool stages, their only reward was a double over the French team.

This group looks a little easier for them and they will fancy their chances against Bath and Ulster.

Players to watch: Chris Patterson, elusive runner and deadly place kicker, dangerous scrum half Mike Blair

Heineken Cup Stade Francais

Star studded, flamboyant and sporting, depending on your point of view, the best/worst jerseys in rugby, Stade Francais will win this group. That is they will win this group if they can learn to play outside Paris.

This pool could not be set up any better for them, with their only real rivals Bath currently contemplating their own navel, but the team with one of the most expensively assembled squads in the game need to perform in all six pool games.

Despite Bath’s woes, their games with Stade, both at the Recreation ground and in Stade’s annual extravaganza in front of 80,000 people at the Stade France will hold the key to this group.

Players to watch: Any number, but specifically, Mauro Bergamasco (at flanker not scrum half), fellow Italian back rower Sergio Parisse and French hooker Dimitri Szarzevski

Heineken Cup Ulster

Overshadowed by their fellow Irish provinces Leinster and Munster from the South, Ulster have to look a long way back for their only Heineken Cup win, a 9-6 victory over Northampton in 1999.

They’ve started well this season and are lying second in the Magners league with a victory at the Liberty over the Ospreys and a big win over the Scarlets at Ravenhill. At the moment, they are playing with a lot of confidence with a gameplan based around a swarming defence, aggressive pack and an outside half who can keep them playing in the right areas of the field.

They will perform well at Ravenhill, particularly if games are played in typical Belfast conditions of swirling wind and rain. Whether they have the game winners to go away from home and win remains to be seen.

Players to watch: South African prop BJ Botha, powerful Irish winger David Trimble and outside half Ian Humphreys.

Heineken Cup Pool 4 Fixtures

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