No Group of Death for Munster or LeinsterUlster not so lucky

The Trophy
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The Heineken Cup Pool draw has been kind to Munster and Leinster this year. Munster have that great prize - and Italian club - it give a great chance of a home draw, with lots of scores and bonus points home and away a racing certainty. Ulster are in Pool 4 have probably one of the the toughest pools. They are in with Bath, Stade Francais and Edinburgh.

Leinster, in Pool 6, have Brive, who barely made it into the Heineken this year; Scalets, who they regularly beat in the Magners League - last game Leinster won 45-8 just six days after beating Munster in the semi-final and London Irish had a good season last year losing out to Leicester in the premiership final, but they are not a team that Leinster should fear.

Munster have to face Perpignan recently crowned winners of the Top 14 in France, in Pool 1. Dan Carter was brought into the side last season with that in mind. It worked! However it was a one season deal and he is back to super 14 next year and that will take a lot away from Perpignan. It would have been great to see him in Thomond Park - but we'll take the points instead! Northampton Saints are not the team they were when they beat Munster in their first final all those years ago. They are just back in the Premiership and are in the Heineken Cup because they won the Challenge Cup this year. The real bonus is Treviso - maybe even a trip to Venice thrown in for good measure!

The other Pools are:
Pool 2: Biarritz, Glouster, Dragons, Glasgow
Pool 3: Leicester, Ospreys, Clermont, Viadana
Pool 5: Toulouse, Cardiff, Sale, Harlequins

Leinster Bonus - Leinster 32 Ulster 629th March 2009

Leinster beat Ulster at the RDS on Sunday. Leinster managed to do it in some style at the end - scoring a fourth try in the final minute. The Leinster tries came from Fergus McFadden; Rocky Elstrom; Leo Cullen and finally Simon Keogh.

Leinster V Ulster, Uploaded by M+MD.

The final try was on the back of five minutes camped on the Ulster line. The Ulster defence held solid as the Leinster forwards tried repeatedly to get over the line. Finally the ball was passed back deep to Simon Keogh who took the perfect diagonal line and made it over. Where we were sitting we could see his path to the line as soon as he received the pass. 4th try - bonus point!

Nacewa offloads
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McFadden's Try
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Ulster are a much improved team and I saw them trounce Munster over Christmas. Matt Williams has done a lot with them since the start of the season. The second half was the best RDS performance by Leinster since their victory over Wasps at the start of the Heineken Cup campaign back in October.

Leo and Sparky
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The bonus point brings Leinster within 3 points of Munster who still too the table. Munster had a comfortable 26-13 win away to their bogey team Glasgow on Friday night. This is a great set up for the derby match in Thomond Park next week-end. Neither side can afford to field their very best team because of the Heineken Cup quarter-finals the following week-end. However with the Magners League at stake it should be a great match. Munster were never really interested in the Magners until Leinster won it last year. Its clear that it is a very important - even if secondary - objective this season. The league (and the Irish performances) have been better for than ambition.

An Irish Magners League and Heineken Cup double would be a great conclusion to a Grand Slam year!