Clubs learn Heineken Cup groups

Leinster defeated Leicester in the final of the 2009 competition

Heineken Cup champions Leinster have been drawn alongside London Irish, Scarlets and Brive in next season's pool stages.

Guinness Premiership champions Leicester face Ospreys, Clermont Auvergne and Viadana in Pool Three.

Cardiff Blues, Sale, Harlequins and three-time champions Toulouse are all in a tough-looking Pool Five.

Last season's Heineken Cup semi-finalists Munster face Perpignan, Northampton and Treviso in Pool One.

Munster, winners of the Heineken Cup in 2006 and 2008, lost to Leinster in last season's semi-finals.

The draw in Paris was seeded, with 24 teams from six nations split into four tiers.

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Biarritz are the seeded team in Pool Two and face Gloucester, Newport Gwent Dragons and Glasgow.

"It's a good group for us. It's a group we can really go and attack," Gloucester skipper Mike Tindall told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"There's a couple of horror groups out there, but we've got one we can really go after.

"Glasgow and the Dragons shook up a few people last year and they'll think the same, and with Biarritz you don't know what you get. You either get brilliance or you get something that's not that great."

Bath, who lost to defeated finalists Leicester at the quarter-final stage of the Heineken Cup, are in Pool Four alongside Stade Francais, Ulster and Magners League runners-up Edinburgh.

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Heineken Cup 2009/10 draw:

Pool 1
Munster (Ire)
Perpignan (Fra)
Northampton (Eng)
Treviso (Ita)

Pool 2

Biarritz (Fra)
Gloucester (Eng)
Newport Gwent Dragons (Wal)
Glasgow (Sco)

Pool 3
Leicester (Eng)
Ospreys (Wal)
Clermont Auvergne (Fra)
Viadana (Ita)

Pool 4
Bath (Eng)
Stade Francais (Fra)
Ulster (Ire)
Edinburgh (Sco)

Pool 5
Toulouse (Fra)
Cardiff Blues (Wal)
Sale (Eng)
Harlequins (Eng)

Pool 6
Leinster (Ire)
London Irish (Eng)
Scarlets (Wal)
Brive (Fra)

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Heineken Cup fixtures:

Round One: 9-11 October

Round Two: 16-18 October

Round Three: 11-13 December

Round Four: 18-20 December

Round Five: 15-17 January

Round Six: 22-24 January

Quarter-finals: 9-11 April

Semi-finals: 1-2 May

Final: 22 May (Stade de France)