Heineken Cup Picks From The Six Pack; Our Expert Panel

The ultimate prize in European rugby...for at least one more season.
Please Share.
Someone will hold the Heineken Cup aloft next year...possibly for the last time.
Last lift-off for Heineken Cup?

BELFAST, IRELAND – Today or tonight, depending on which side of the pond you reside on, will be the opening act of the final edition of the Heineken Cup; as we have come to know it. It will kickoff at 8pm Irish Time (we’re very scientific here) at in Belfast and Galway. At Ravenhill, the Leicester Tigers come to Northern Ireland to face down Ulster in what should be a thriller, while Connacht hosts Saracens in Galway. The other Friday night match kicks off at 9 pm Irish Time in Toulouse, where Zebre will likely look like a cruely misplaced soccer squad. But most importantly… It also kicks-off our season-long Heineken Cup Picks from our Expert Panel, aka The Six-Pack.” The Six Pack’s picks are as reliable as your favorite six-pack of cheap beer; they cost you dearly the next day. [Ba doom cha!] Credentials be damned, they each pick the winners of each match and a Pick Of The Week, for which they provide the margin of victory.

And just to refresh your memory/bring you up to speed, the Six Pack has been revised.  The Panel is comprised of West Ghana’s Rugby Rain Man Junoir Blaber, England’s knight of the realm Jamie Loyd,  The English East Midlands Machiavellian Rugger Nick Hall, the infamous Ireland National, Declan Yeats, the Irish Born-Castres residing, unstoppable rugby-writing force, James Harrington, and contrived Kiwi Co-Host, Johnathan Wicklow Barberie.

JWB, Loyd, Hall, Harrington, Blaber, and Yeats
JWB, Loyd, Hall, Harrington, Blaber, and Yeats
Weekend Rugby Wrap-Up: Good things ahead for Connacht? (CLICK PICTURE)
Connacht faithful!

This week, there isn’t much disagreement, as the fixture list lobs us softballs like Connacht vs. Saracens. Five experts have chosen Sarries, while Declan Yeats expects Sarries to win but must always pick an Irish side against an English side for the safety of his house and farm. If Connacht blindside flanker John Muldoon has his way, Yeats may be reaping a fear-sewn money crop,

Nobody is giving us a chance so it is a great opportunity for us to go out as underdogs, as we have hundreds of times before, and with a home crowd and hopefully seven or eight thousand people shouting us on,” said Muldoon.

Muldoon’s guts and grit aside, the weekend will hopefully have a shock or two in store. Jamie Loyd is certainly hoping so – he’s made the bold choice of predicting a draw between Cardiff and Exeter – while our remaining five panelists have opted to tip Chiefs for the win.

Without further ado, here’s are the Six Pack’s Heineken Cup Picks.

MATCH

Season/Week

Blaber

0-0

Harrington

0-0

Yeats

0-0

Loyd

0-0

Hall

0-0

JWB

0-0

Connacht  vs Saracens

Saracens

Saracens

Connacht

Saracens

Saracens

Saracens

Toulouse vs Zebre

Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse

Ulster  vs  Leicester

Ulster

Ulster

Ulster

Ulster

Leicester

Ulster

Castres vs Northampton

Northampton

Castres

Northampton

 Castres

Northampton

Northampton

Ospreys vs Leinster

Leinster

Ospreys

Leinster

Leinster

Leinster

Leinster

Harlequins vs Scarlets

Harlequins

Harlequins

Harlequins

Harlequins

Harlequins

Harlequins

Benetton Treviso vs Montpellier

Montpellier

Montpellier

Montpellier

Montpellier

Montpellier

Montpellier

Edinburgh vs Munster

Munster

Munster

Munster

Munster

Munster

Munster

Gloucester vs Perpignan

Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester

Exeter vs Cardiff Blues

Exeter

Exeter

Exeter

Draw

Exeter

Exeter

Toulon vs Glasgow

Toulon

Toulon

Glasgow

Toulon

Toulon

Toulon

Racing Metro 92 vs  Clermont Auvergne

Clermont

Racing

Clermont

Clermont

Clermont

Racing

PICK OF WEEK + Points

Toulouse by 28

Toulouse by 25

Munster by 30

Saracens by 20

Leicester by 5

Montpellier by 14

PICK OF WEEK Record

0-0

0-0

0-0

0-0

0-0

0-0

As ever, comments are always welcome… and do look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter @: RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber, DJ Eberle, Nick Hall, James HarringtonCody Kuxmann and Declan Yeats, respectively.

About Nicholas Hall 143 Articles
Nick is a senior rugby player at Wheaton College in MA, which is in the Colonial Coast Conference. After being in the slightly less physical "sport" of speech and debate in high school, Nick began playing rugby sophomore year at Wheaton. In addition to writing for RugbyWrapUp.com, Nick writes for the Wheaton Wire - the campus paper.