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Heineken Cup: Ask Jeremy Guscott

By Jeremy GuscottRugby union analyst, BBC Sport

Last updated on .From the section Rugby Unioncomments308

Leicester 10 Toby Flood is tackled by Paddy Jackson and Andrew Trimble of Ulster

Among the topics making the headlines this week are:

- No Welsh or Scottish sides making it past the group stages in Europe

- Ulster and Saracens meeting in the Heineken Cup quarters for the second year in a row

- Leicester having to travel to Clermont Auvergne after losing at home to Ulster

- Munster earning a home tie against French giants Toulouse

- Leinster facing a trip to champions Toulon

If you have a question for Jerry, on any rugby-related topic, post it in the comments section at the bottom of the page. He will answer as many as possible in the next day or two but not every question submitted can be used.

You can also follow Jerry on Twitter.external-link

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308 comments

  • Comment posted by User0164146250, at 03:03 20 Jan 2014

    @71.Tom Quin
    suppose excuses have to be made when your teams are so badly underachieving and smaller countries are doing the business
    it's very disingenuous of them not to praise the irish teams
    blaming a weak "domestic" league is no excuse as English team rest key players in lesser games in AP. maybe they should comment on Ospreys/Cardif and their 5/4 lions or are these weak teams?

  • Comment posted by JSW, at 02:06 20 Jan 2014

    @62 Bob its a myth that Irish teams rest players. English teams rest players against weaker teams as would any sporting team. French and Irish are the best teams at present. Italians and Welsh the worst.

  • Comment posted by WLAY, at 12:03 20 Jan 2014

    Reading these comments, one can easily see why England 'fans' are so disliked by others. After 6 games, home and away, bonus points etc the HC ends up with 3 Irish qualifiers & 3 French qualifiers all as group winners and 2 English teams in the back door as best runners up.
    Rather than acknowledge this, the WUMs find excuses to belittle the effort.
    Man up and accept the table does not lie.

  • Comment posted by Tom Quin, at 02:49 20 Jan 2014

    Jerry, do you not think it is time that pundits (yourself/Austin Healey) stop citing the excuse that Irish teams do well in the H-cup as they are able to build their season with "light games" in the Rabo12 compared with english clubs having to "battle every game"? The welsh/scottish teams play in the same league and are as yet to produce a finalist aside from the inaugural tournament in 1996!!!

  • Comment posted by User0358901425, at 15:45 20 Jan 2014

    @208 look at how much 1/2p is being offered a year to play in France 500k the regions and the WRU cannot compete, no more than the other team in the Rabo (or prob the Aviva Prem). There is no point having a salary cap unless all teams globally sign up to it. The WRU's buget would be gone just by paying North, Halphpenny and JD2. On the upside it's ruined the French National Team

  • Comment posted by User0164146250, at 17:43 20 Jan 2014

    @244.CR7
    have a look at the squads from Ulster, Munster Leinster and there are only 2/3 teams in the English Prem that would match their depth
    The only way relegation from Rabo would work wld be if there were 2 leagues, 10 teams in each but this would mean Welsh/Scot/Ital and Connacht wld suffer not the 3 Irish Teams
    Rabo has improved Italians no end, to cut them wld not progress the game

  • Comment posted by User0556751910, at 00:29 20 Jan 2014

    The Welsh regions have openly admitted to planning on joining the Premiership if there is no European competition next season but how can they justify their place if they can't even qualify for the Amlin cup?

  • Comment posted by al777, at 07:55 20 Jan 2014

    @70, 71 - It is not that the Irish teams rest players (which all teams do to a degree) but the management of top players in Ireland. With central contracts, players are prepared so that they have the best opportunity to perform at H'ken/Int level. It is a complete package based on the NZ model. While Sexton gets released for Irish games, the IRFU cannot 'manage' him in the same way.

  • Comment posted by User0164146250, at 22:17 19 Jan 2014

    @24.Calculator
    1 player, that's ONE! Yes JS is a big player but by no means is he irreplaceable we currently have 3-4 top class 10's and all under 24 so it wasn't the loss you might think
    We have managed to hold on to SOB, Murray, Healey and about 10 other top class players. England/Wales have lost how many? Yea and you call me a WUM! Think you need to go back, check a few facts and then post.

  • Comment posted by User0014627509, at 12:47 20 Jan 2014

    Hi Jerry,

    With Georgia winning the European Nations Cup for the last three years and recently beating Samoa, how much incentive is there for the Six Nations to start employing relegation and promotion to allow such European teams to become more competitive?

  • Comment posted by Les Harvey, at 23:26 19 Jan 2014

    @44. I don't know Anyone in England who wants only 3-4 teams.

    Not one.

  • Comment posted by User0164146250, at 12:11 20 Jan 2014

    @140.LordMarmalade
    cold harsh truth...

  • Comment posted by Uls_driver, at 11:13 20 Jan 2014

    To improve the English clubs maybe they should be invited to join the pro12. Playing the Irish teams regulary would help them.

  • Comment posted by Jengibre, at 11:50 20 Jan 2014

    There is nothing wrong with the AP as it is. Every week we get to see exciting competitive games, with world class players and a crop of exciting young players emerging. There is no clamour from the English clubs to change things. The English games doesn't need regions coming into the game, either generated from our clubs or imported from other leagues. T'ah

  • Comment posted by TheLastKingOfEngland, at 10:41 20 Jan 2014

    @95 but Scotland and Italy finished 3rd and 4th, respectively, in last years competition. So if you dream of a 4 nations competition, which I don't back at all, surely you should be looking to drop France and Ireland?

    Anyway ridiculous idea to drop any of them. I mean to destroy the Calcutta cup! The oldest competition in the world. For shame.

  • Comment posted by Dom, at 23:16 19 Jan 2014

    The top 6 teams in the Heineken Cup table are French or Irish. Why is that not reflected in the national teams?

  • Comment posted by TheSweetMan, at 01:20 20 Jan 2014

    joelyons,
    as is regularly pointed out on this forum, England have a much larger number of registered players that the other 3 British teams. It is therefore logical that they'd have more teams in their top tier domestic competition.

  • Comment posted by User0749450206, at 11:37 20 Jan 2014

    With all the fuss about the Welsh wanting to join the English Premiership, surely the English sides would be better offering Leinster, Munster & Ulster into the league to make it more competitive.

  • Comment posted by al777, at 15:40 20 Jan 2014

    @208 If you took that to its logical conclusion, you'd just have a team of foreigners who would jump ship for the next big pay cheque. The regions are supposed to be preparing the next gen to step up. If for example, the Blues were short of a 9, they should be looking to Ponty, say. You might then get a few Ponty supporters watching the Blues.

  • Comment posted by givetherefabreak, at 15:09 20 Jan 2014

    195.Tim Leicester??

    196.GM Massingbird In these enlightened times the IRB & 6 Nations care about a small thing called 'player welfare'. A completely unfamiliar term I know to anyone connected with the "Aviva Grab-All Prem'

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