ERC Heineken Cup draw taking place tomorrow.

 Heineken Cup  Comments Off on ERC Heineken Cup draw taking place tomorrow.
Jun 082009
 

It’s that time of year again when we find out who we’re up against in the Heineken Cup next season. It also means the start of the long haul for airfares etc. for those who travel to the away games. Anyway for those who want to know how this works the format  of the draw is laid out below.

Heineken Cup Pool Draw Format

(Info lifted directly from the ERC Rugby Site).

Key Principles
• For the purpose of the draw the 24 qualified teams are ranked based on their ERC European rankings and are divided into four Tiers. Rankings are based on European performance over the past four seasons in the Heineken Cup and knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup.

• Each Pool will have one team from each of the four Tier levels.

• No two teams from the same country will be drawn in the same Pool except for the seventh club from England (Harlequins based on European Ranking) which will be drawn into a Pool with another English team.

• The winner of the Heineken Cup will be seeded in the first Tier and will be drawn into a Pool first.

Draw Format
• The draw will have four stages starting with the allocation of six teams from Tier 1 and then moving to the next Tier.

• Allocation of Tier 1 – The Number 1 ranked team (Leinster Heineken Cup champions) will be drawn into one of the six Pools. The remaining five top Tier teams will then be drawn into the five Pool spots left available.

• For the Allocation of Tier 2, 3 and 4, the teams will be drawn starting with the teams from the country with the highest number of teams participating in the tournament England.
Therefore the order of allocation in each Tier will be teams from England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy until all teams in the Tier have been drawn.

Note as Scotland and Italy both have two teams competing, the Scottish teams will be drawn first as they are ranked higher than either Italian side.

• During each Tier allocation a team will be drawn and then a Pool number for that team from the available Pool options.

• In Tier 4 the seventh English team (Harlequins based on ranking) will be drawn into the Pools last.

• To avoid having two teams from the same country in the same Pool, some teams may be allocated to available Pool spots automatically during the course of the Draw.

Tier 1 Points
Munster 33
Leicester Tigers 26
Leinster 24
Toulouse 21
Bath Rugby 20
Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque 20
Tier 2 Points
Cardiff Blues 16
Stade Francais Paris 14
Gloucester Rugby 14
Perpignan 14
Ospreys 13
London Irish 12
Tier 3 Points
Northampton Saints 12
Sale Sharks 11
ASM Clermont Auvergne 11
Scarlets 11
Ulster Rugby 7
Newport Gwent Dragons 7
Tier 4 Points
Glasgow Warriors 6
Harlequins 6
Edinburgh 5
Benetton Treviso 4
Brive 4
Viadana 1

Jun 052009
 

Bruff RFC Tag Rugby team competed at the International Tag Rugby Festival in England over the June Bank holiday weekend. Twenty teams from all over England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland as well as Fijian side travelled to Rochdale outside Manchester for the first event of its kind to be hosted by the RFL in the UK.

The Bruff touring squad consisted of club members as well as tag players and referees who were involved in our Spring League, in addition we were delighted to be joined by 2 friends from Wigan who were adopted Irish for the weekend! The team displayed some good tag rugby skills in the blazing sunshine, winning 3 of their 4 pool matches to qualify for the plate semi-final. Up against a tough Scotish side, Bruff were narrowly defeated 8-6 in the semis.

We were delighted to catch up with many Irish ex pats living in Manchester who came along on the Saturday afternoon to cheer us on, including Apryl O’Rourke and family.

What we lacked on the pitch we made up for on the dance floor and the locals didn’t know what hit them when the team arrived at the clubhouse on Saturday night, dressed Hawiain style beachwear!!

Thanks a million to all the squad who represented Bruff over the weekend!

Our hosts Rochdale Swarm tag rugby club showed us a fantastic time with a great line up of entertainment organised all evening. We plan to make this an annual trip. Rochdale Swarm are already planning a return visit to our “Bull n Booze” Tag Festival on 15th August and a Scottish and Welsh side have also expressed interest in travelling over. It promises to be the biggest and best festival yet, will places filling up very fast. If your team is up for the challenge, enter now by emailing brufftagrugby@gmail.com or call 087-9312817

Tag Team at International Tag Festival Rochdale UK

Tag Team at International Tag Festival Rochdale UK

Bruff Hawaian fancy dress

Bruff Hawaian fancy dress

6 Nations and Triple Crown Trophies in Bruff during ICCC Rally Weekend.

 Photosets, U13  Comments Off on 6 Nations and Triple Crown Trophies in Bruff during ICCC Rally Weekend.
Jun 012009
 

During the Rally of course we had the visit of the 6 Nations and Triple Crown Trophies courtesy of Noel O’ Meara. Also along for a visit was International 7’s Player Brian Tuohy who is signing for Connacht of course next season.
Brian presented this years Under 13 Squad with their U13 North Munster Cup Medals following their fabulous triple of the League, Cup and the Tralee international Tournament wins.

The 6 Nations & Triple Crown Trophies in Kilballyowen

Click For more photos of the day

Jun 012009
 

What a weekend,

First off I have to thank all of the ICCC members who attended what they have told us was their biggest ever National Rally. It was an absolute pleasure to have you all, you showed us great respect both for the facilities, pitches and to us the people who hosted ye for the weekend, and we would welcome you back with open arms. We think it was a resounding success and I hope that you think the same. When the dust settles later on this week and the bodies recover, myself and Jim will do a complete post-mortem.
What a crowd, you came to us not knowing what to expect, you enjoyed yourselves, you ate, you drank and you toured the countryside. Everyone I have met so far have said that you were the friendliest outfit that they had ever come across.

Again thanks you for a great weekend, and let’s hope that we can do it again.

Irish Caravan and Camping Club Ntional Rally

Click the photo for the rest of Rally Photos