The Scarlets have reacted with excitement after landing a place in one of the most competitive pools in the new European Rugby Champions Cup alongside successive Heineken Cup winners Toulon, Leicester Tigers and Ulster.
The Pool Draw was held today for 20 clubs from the Aviva Premiership, the Top 14 and PRO12 who have qualified on merit for the inaugural European competition –to be run by newly constituted tournament organiser European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR).
The Scarlets will look forward to hosting three showcase European pool games for season ticket holders and supporters at Parc y Scarlets to enjoy in 2014/15 including a big contests against the impressive double reigning European champions Toulon and English giants Leicester Tigers.
The Scarlets, who regularly come up against Ulster in their domestic league, know plenty about the quality they’ll face in an Irish provincial side that has made huge strides in recent years, winning both a European quarter place last season as well as top four PRO12 play-off again this year.
The Scarlets last played Leicester Tigers in the 2010/11 season with two high impact capacity crowd games that saw the West Wales side lose out home and away to the English top four Aviva Premiership club.
The last Scarlets encounter against Toulon was in the Amlin quarter final in April 2010, where the hosts took the spoils 38-10.
Scarlets Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “I don’t think our former Scarlet Scott Quinnell could have picked us out to be in a more difficult pool to be honest so there’s a certain irony in that! But the Scarlets are a proud West Wales Region and we all love a challenge in Europe and will certainly have that again this season.
“Along with Pool One, which is another pretty impressive group, we’ve got ourselves into one of the two toughest pools in the competition, which to our rugby group is really exciting.
“For our players to be up against the reigning champions in Europe and pit themselves against a side packed with so many of the top players in world rugby is something we will all look forward to.
“We’ll also relish the challenge of facing Leicester. We haven’t played them for a while, there’s been some great games in our past against the big English clubs and they are entertaining, high impact games with plenty for both sets of supporters to get behind. I’m sure there will be lots of excitement amongst our supporters to go up to Welford Road, the Anglo-Welsh contests always generate a lot of emotion and great support.
“I can remember the atmosphere in Toulon for the Amlin quarter-final out in France, it was a huge occasion to be a part of and with the array of talent and depth they have in their squad now it will be another big trip for us as Scarlets and one to relish.
“Reducing the number of teams to 20 means there really is quality in every Pool and all the fixtures are tough in Europe – we always knew that whatever Pool we were in we’d have to face teams with many of the best players in the game.
“What’s positive for us is that we showed a real improvement in our European form last season, with significant results against Harlequins away and beating Racing Metro as sides with far bigger budgets and resources than us. We have a pedigree of being able to deliver big results in Europe regardless of whether the odds are with or against us and there is nothing more motivating that contests against the best in European Rugby.”
Easterby added that after the uncertainty around the competition’s future and format over the past season, he was delighted so see how preparations are advancing for next season’s competition.
He added: “It took a long time to secure a new Europe and it wasn’t the easiest in terms of our future planning and preparation, however our Regions worked hard and were committed to securing a positive way forward for Welsh Regional Rugby and the ability to drive forward commercial revenues for the most significant rugby club competition in the world.
“As coaches and players can all now look forward to a more developed, competitive and high quality European competition next season and we’re thankful that we now have this competition.
“It’s going to be exciting to be part of it with quality competition across the board including the European Rugby Challenge Cup which also has strong teams competing within it.”
The Pool Draw for the 2014/15 European Rugby Champions Cup took place Neuchatel, Switzerland on Tuesday, 10th June at 12.30 (UK and Irish time) following the draw for the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
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