Heineken Cup Rd 5

Heineken Cup
All times GMT. Deduct 6 hrs for Houston time.

Friday, 11 January 2013
Northampton v Castres, Pl4, 20:00
Sale v Montpellier, Pl6, 20:00
Ulster v Glasgow, Pl4, 20:00

Saturday, 12 January 2013
Clermont Auvergne v Exeter, Pl5, 18:00
Harlequins v Connacht, Pl3, 13:35
Leinster v Scarlets, Pl5, 18:00
Racing Metro 92 v Saracens, Pl1, 15:40
Toulon v Cardiff Blues, Pl6, 13:35
Zebre v Biarritz, Pl3, 13:35

Sunday, 13 January 2013
Edinburgh v Munster, Pl1, 12:45
Ospreys v Leicester, Pl2, 15:00
Toulouse v Treviso, Pl2, 15:00

 

A quick look shows;

Northampton vs Castres...both will have strong teams. Castres more motivated to come away with a win as saints have the easier game next week

Montpellier need to win. Sale, nothing to play for.

Ulster must win and take advantage of home ground......Glasgow no chance so weaker squad. Ulster then play Castres away and saints have the easier game away to Glasgow. Tough division with 3 teams still in hunt.

Clermont strong side vs Exeter who will probably not be at full strength as they still have a hard game vs Leinster next week. And they are only 3rd way behind Clermont in division.

Quinns need a good win to wrap up this division as they are 9 pts ahead of Biarritz and 10 ahead of Connacht. Connacht not in reckoning

Leinstyer should easily dispatch Scarlets who have no chance in division and should not be playing their best side.

Metro vs Sarries will be the game of the round. Racing must win to have any chance as Sarries have the easier game next week and there is only 2 pts separating them in division with Munster another point behind. fascinating group.

Munster play Edinburgh away and need a good win to have any chance of making wild card spot.

Toulon will field a strong team and attempt to seal off the division this week against a Blues team which should be understrength. Let me put it this way, if I were Blues coach with absolutely no chance of making play offs and a long way to go in league to assure Heineken Cup qualifying next year, I wouldn't risk the stars in the next 2 weeks but give them time to recover.

Zebre no chance, but they don't care. They want to beat top teams. Biarritz theoretically could make wild card spot if they win big today and then beat Quinns at home. They will be going for it as their Top 14 league results have not been good.

Munster must thrash Edinburgh away from home, but as Edinburgh do not even have a point in Heineken, one can expect them to have a weakened squad.

Another interesting group with Ospreys 5 points behind Leic and 4 points behind Toulouse. O's must win to have a chance. This should also be a cracker of a game. O's have an easier game next week away to Treviso who have no chance of qualifying so will rest their best players. If Leic do not win they will still have to beat the richest club in Europe away next week....Toulouse.... to have any chance.

Toulouse should rack up 5 pts against Treviso this week and could beat Leic at home next week.

Leic have 2 hard games. It is not obvious that they will stay top of this division. All to play for here. Toulouse and O's both get to beat up on Treviso

 

Here is next weeks games. One needs to look ahead to see which teams will be throwing everything at this week's games.

Teams with little to no chance will invariably play a weakened roster.

Next week
Friday, 18 January 2013
Biarritz v Harlequins, Pl3, 20:00
Connacht v Zebre, Pl3, 20:00

Saturday, 19 January 2013
Cardiff Blues v Sale, Pl6, 15:40
Castres v Ulster, Pl4, 13:35
Exeter v Leinster, Pl5, 18:00
Glasgow v Northampton, Pl4, 13:35
Montpellier v Toulon, Pl6, 15:40
Scarlets v Clermont Auvergne, Pl5, 18:00

Sunday, 20 January 2013
Leicester v Toulouse, Pl2, 15:00
Munster v Racing Metro 92, Pl1, 12:45
Saracens v Edinburgh, Pl1, 12:45
Treviso v Ospreys, Pl2, 15:00