by Paul Cook –

Things are hotting up with one round remaining of this year’s Heineken Cup group stages, after four teams booked their place in the Quarter-Finals last weekend. That leaves the final four spots to be played out this weekend with ten teams still a mathematical chance of progress.

With six groups in total, it’s the group winners plus the two best placed runners-up across all the groups that go on to the Quarter-Finals and the possible permutations from the final round are endless. Saracens, Munster, Racing Metro 92, Toulouse, Leicester Tigers, Biarritz, Northampton Saints, Castres, Leinster and Montpellier are all still a shout of making it through, setting up a nail biting last weekend which could see many fans needing to keep their calculators handy.

The French sides have continued the good form shown by the national team in the November internationals with Toulon and Clermont Auvergne both cementing their presence in the final eight with a game to spare. After years of bankrolling the club from the Côte d’Azur, Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal may finally be about to realise his dream of sitting at the head of European club rugby’s table.

Joining them in the draw thus far are reigning English champions Harlequins, who breezed through their group with aplomb and current Magners League leaders Ulster, who emerged with honours from a tough Pool 4 to sustain their impressive season. However, neither Scotland or Wales – Grand Slam winners in 2012 – will see any of their sides make further progress.

Owen Farrell racked up eleven successful kicks to help Sarries to victory

The two countries are yet to produce a Heineken Cup winner and while the absence of a Scottish presence isn’t necessarily a great surprise given their paucity of success in the Six Nations in recent years, it is one of European rugby’s mysteries as to why Wales – a nation that has achieved more Grand Slams in the last 10 years than England, Ireland and Scotland combined – cannot translate those achievements into their club rugby.

Their great hope for success this year was Ospreys, winners of last season’s Magners League and with a squad containing eight of the Welsh players that featured in the November international series but their interest in the competition was ended for another year in a thrilling 15-15 draw at home with Leicester.

With British & Irish Lions selection for the upcoming tour of Australia providing a backdrop, it was with some relish that the crowd witnessed the two favoured contenders for the pivotal tight head role – Ospreys’ Adam Jones and the Tigers’ Dan Cole – go at it in the scrum and it was Jones who struck first, winning a penalty as his opponent Marcos Ayerza, folded.

However, fly-half Dan Biggar missed the kick on what was to prove a difficult afternoon off the tee for the 23yr old, another two penalty failures letting Leicester off the hook early on as they struggled to contain the Welsh onslaught. Ospreys did get themselves 10-3 in front by half-time, Joe Bearman on the end of some fine build up play, but they couldn’t go on with it as the Tigers clawed their way back in the second stanza. Tries from Ben Youngs and Niall Morris put the English side ahead before a late score from home winger Jonathan Spratt levelled the match at 15-15 and gave Biggar the chance to be a hero. However, his fifth miss of the day forced Ospreys – and Wales – to wait for another year.

That draw now leaves a last weekend shoot-out for qualification from Pool 2, with Leicester hosting Toulouse next Sunday. The reigning French Top 14 champions hold a 2pt lead over their English counterparts and while a loss for the ‘Rouges et Noir’ may still be just enough to scrape through as a best runner-up, it will be far too tight to call. Lose and two time champions Leicester are gone.

Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill thought the draw was a disappointing but fair result. “We made far too many errors and we hurt ourselves but we stuck in there as Leicester teams do. In the end we deserved a draw.”

French international utility back Wesley Fofana on the run for Clermont Auvergne

He also summed up the magnitude of the impending do-or-die clash with Toulouse. “Three o’clock next Sunday we’re bringing the most successful side in European history to a sold-out Welford Road. It’s winner takes all – that’s where you want to be.”

Elsewhere, England fly-half Owen Farrell put his side Saracens in pole position in Pool 1, slotting eleven kicks from eleven, including ten penalties – a Heineken Cup record – to help them towards a 37-28 win away to Racing Metro 92. A win in their last game against Edinburgh would see them safely through as group winners, leaving two time champions Munster to battle it out with Racing for second spot and a potential backdoor qualification.

Reigning champions Leinster are going to have to do it the hard way if they want to make it a hat-trick of titles and four in the last five years. Two defeats in Pool 5 have left them unable to catch the impressive Clermont Auvergne, so they now require a bonus point win away to Exeter Chiefs on Saturday to cement their finals spot, although they won’t be afforded that all important home advantage in the Quarter-Final even if they succeed.

Northampton must take 5pts away from Glasgow and hope that other results go their way if they are to progress from Pool 4, while Castres will be hoping the Saints slip up and that they can catch Ulster on a rare off day to sneak in themselves. In Pool 6, Montpellier have it in their own hands to qualify by beating Toulon and they can have no greater motivation than the sad passing this week of their joint head coach Éric Béchu, who finally succumbed to a long battle with cancer. Vale.

Friday, 18 January 2013

Biarritz v Harlequins, Pool 3

Connacht v Zebre, Pool 3

Saturday, 19 January 2013

Cardiff Blues v Sale, Pool 6

Castres v Ulster, Pool 4

Exeter v Leinster, Pool 5

Glasgow v Northampton, Pool 4

Montpellier v Toulon, Pool 6

Scarlets v Clermont Auvergne, Pool 5

Sunday, 20 January 2013

Leicester v Toulouse, Pool 2

Munster v Racing Metro 92, Pool 1

Saracens v Edinburgh, Pool 1

Treviso v Ospreys, Pool 2