By Jason Harris
May 21 2009
ERC, the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup organisers, have released the fixture dates for both 2009/10 tournaments, with the European Challenge Cup again set to include Thursday matches. The fixtures are the first year of a confirmed three-year schedule for European weekends that has been agreed by all European rugby stakeholders. So get those leave requests in now!
The 2009-10 European Campaign will kick-off on the weekend of 9 / 10 / 11 October, 2009 - with the Heineken Cup set to reach a climax with the 2010 Paris final being staged at Stade de France on Saturday, 22 May, 2010. Note that the dates below are for Fri/Sat/Sun of the given weekends. ROUND 3 -11/12/13 December QUARTER-FINALS - 9 / 10 / 11 April SEMI-FINALS - 30 April / 1 / 2 May The teams that are likely to be in next month's draw are as follows: England (5): Saracens, Leeds, Worcester, Newcastle and Wasps France: (8) Castres, Montpellier, Toulon, Montauban, Bayonne, Bourgoin, Racing Metro 92, Albi. Ireland (1): Connacht Italy (3 or 4): Petrarca Padova, Overmach Cariparma, Rovigo, Calvisano. Romania (1): Bucuresti (tbc) Spain (1): CRC Madrid (tbc)
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Quote:Rupes
ok, here's the "What's Your Ideal Group" thread. Mine:
Connacht
Montpellier (if not HC bound)
Dax
Is it possible to have 2 French teams in a single group though? If not, I'll take Cetransa El Salvador (Valladolid) instead please.
[I don't even want to contemplate a trip to Newput.]
Quote:large
I'm sure that Valladolid would do it for you, TT, but the rugby is likely to be in Madrid as El Salvador did not win the Spanish league this year. (Unless they are having a playoff - my Spanish is non-existent, but I couldn't find any playoff fixtures on the federation's web site)

Don't mind where we end up playing 

