My dream draw for Connacht: London Wasps, Toulon and Racing Metro 92.

Bear with me for a second on this as I know that would quite probably be the toughest draw we have ever been given but there is a method to my madness.

Reason number one, good gates for the home games. Racing Metro from Paris are signing big names and will be an attractive opponent, Toulon also, if to a lesser extent as they will field a second team and London Wasps would naturally be a huge crowd draw.

Reason number two: The away trips, the south east of France, a weekend in London and a weekend in Paris. Happy days.

Reason number three: At least this time Connacht wouldn't cruise into the last eight with facile wins over the number three and four seeds having learnt little or nothing.

Last year Dax didn't care and Rovigo didn't have time to care. With this draw Connacht would be doing brilliant to get a place in the last eight and they would be a better team come the quarter final stage having learnt from the experience.

Reason number four: The whole event is a distraction from the main objective which is Heineken Cup qualification via the Magners League, Sure you can do it via the Challenge cup but honestly it is probably as easy to win the Magners League outright than the Challenge Cup.

So roll on pool of death I say.

By the way the nightmare draw would be Newcastle (not again please), Parma (yawn), Rovigo (double yawn)

Draw Details

For the purposes of the draw the 20 qualified and invited teams will be divided into four Tiers of five teams each, based on their European performances over the past four seasons. The teams from each Tier level will then be kept apart in the draw for the Pools.

European Challenge Cup 2009/10 - Teams and Tiers
TIER 1: London Wasps, Saracens, Bourgoin, Worcester Warriors, Newcastle Falcons
TIER 2: Castres Olympique, Leeds Carnegie , Rugby Calvisano, Connacht Rugby, Montauban
TIER 3: Montpellier, Overmach Rugby Parma, Bayonne, Petrarca Rugby, Toulon
TIER 4 : Rugby Rovigo, Racing-Metro 92, Albi , Bucuresti Oaks, Second Invite team (TBC)

European Challenge Cup Draw Format
* There are 20 participating teams from six countries who will be drawn into five Pools of four teams each.
* For the purpose of the draw the 20 qualified and invited teams are ranked based on their ERC European rankings and are divided into four Tiers of five. 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 sixth, seventh and eighth clubs from France (based on ERC European Ranking) who will be drawn into Pools with another French team.

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