Fourdogs wrote: For anyone interested (not many I would think) most of you have a life.
At the moment (and this is a snap shot as of today) Connacht currently sit at No 21 in the ERC rankings with 7 ranking points.
We will probably end up as No 23 as the points from the knock-out stages have not yet been added in.

If there are no major upsets in either the English Premiership and the Super 14 in France, and neither Leinster or Munster win the HC or Amlin we will be seeded No 5 for the Amlin. With there being 5 groups we would therefore be top seed in whatever group we were drawn in.

Excluding the teams in the Premiership and the Super 14 that are currently in the position to qualify for the HC next year.

There is still a lot of quality below us in the ERC Rankings too, even though we'll stay above Bath & Gloucester as they are both out of the Amlin now and neither were in the HEC so don't get a bonus point for dropping down (2 points each for 12/13 is correct) apart from the Italian sides and the weaker Top 14 sides who are likely to be in a relegation fight next season everyone else is pretty tough, Chiefs/ Irish/ Treviso are no bankers.

But with our lack of consistency I suppose we really are a Cup side...

sea_point wrote:

ConnachtCows wrote:

Front Row Lady wrote: Excellent, that's what I thought

Leinster are our best hope with them having a home semi final, and final.

On a side note, I love seeing us in the Heineken Cup, but would also love to see how we'd fare in the Amlin Cup as a once off again. I know the competition has improved, but so have we.
A home quarter final/semi final would have a cracking atmosphere

Since the change to the teams dropping down from the HEC, the reality is that we are as far or further away from winning that competition. If you consider that the following were 1/4 Finalists this year...

Gloucester Rugby
Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque
London Wasps
Leinster Rugby
Perpignan
Toulouse
Bath Rugby
Stade Francais Paris

Basically we would have to absolutely dominate our group and get Top Seed status for the knockout stages to stand any chance at all IMHO...

Pfft,
Biarritz - beat them already
Gloucester - should have beat them last year. We'd take them this time
Leinster - beat them at home already this year
Bath - relying on Peter Stringer. He's no Marmion
Stade Francais - playing our castaway Paul Warwick
Wasps - Leinster beat them awaay. We beat Leinster at home
Perpignan - Hmmm, dont have anything for them
Toulouse - they fear coming back to the Sportsground. Imagine how many penalty tries we'd get this time

ConnachtCows wrote:

Front Row Lady wrote: Excellent, that's what I thought

Leinster are our best hope with them having a home semi final, and final.

On a side note, I love seeing us in the Heineken Cup, but would also love to see how we'd fare in the Amlin Cup as a once off again. I know the competition has improved, but so have we.
A home quarter final/semi final would have a cracking atmosphere

Since the change to the teams dropping down from the HEC, the reality is that we are as far or further away from winning that competition. If you consider that the following were 1/4 Finalists this year...

Gloucester Rugby
Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque
London Wasps
Leinster Rugby
Perpignan
Toulouse
Bath Rugby
Stade Francais Paris

Basically we would have to absolutely dominate our group and get Top Seed status for the knockout stages to stand any chance at all IMHO...

For anyone interested (not many I would think) most of you have a life.

At the moment (and this is a snap shot as of today) Connacht currently sit at No 21 in the ERC rankings with 7 ranking points.
We will probably end up as No 23 as the points from the knock-out stages have not yet been added in.

If there are no major upsets in either the English Premiership and the Super 14 in France, and neither Leinster or Munster win the HC or Amlin we will be seeded No 5 for the Amlin. With there being 5 groups we would therefore be top seed in whatever group we were drawn in.

Excluding the teams in the Premiership and the Super 14 that are currently in the position to qualify for the HC next year.

Biarritz, Stade Feancais Perpignan and Wasps are above us in the ERC rankings for the Amlin. Being seeded No 1 in our group would indeed give us a reasonable chance to qualify for the knock-out stages of that competition again.

Yeah it would be great to see. Especially next year seen as it is the last year of our 4 points from the Toulon semi in the ERC rankings. But I suppose picking up a point for each season in the HC will help too.

Leinster are our best hope with them having a home semi final, and final.

On a side note, I love seeing us in the Heineken Cup, but would also love to see how we'd fare in the Amlin Cup as a once off again. I know the competition has improved, but so have we.
A home quarter final/semi final would have a cracking atmosphere

I've often thought that myself, I'd say we'd have a great chance of bringing home some silverware!!

Front Row Lady wrote: Excellent, that's what I thought

Leinster are our best hope with them having a home semi final, and final.

On a side note, I love seeing us in the Heineken Cup, but would also love to see how we'd fare in the Amlin Cup as a once off again. I know the competition has improved, but so have we.
A home quarter final/semi final would have a cracking atmosphere

Excellent, that's what I thought

Short answer: yes.

If either Munster or Leinster win Ireland (i.e. Connacht) get an extra place.

Yes.

Forgive the stupid question but anyone I ask gives me a different answer, here goes....If Leinster win the Challenge Cup do we then qualify for the HCup next season????? Thanks