Cardiff Blues head coach John Mulvihill was thrilled by the European Rugby Challenge Cup draw on Wednesday, as it has pitted the Welsh region against some old rivals. The two-time Challenge Cup winners were placed in Pool 5 alongside English side Leicester Tigers, French club Pau and Italian outfit Rugby Calvisano. Cardiff have a particularly rich European history with Leicester, whom they met in an historic European Cup semi-final in 2009, when the Tigers triumphed 7-6 in an unprecedented penalty shoot-out at the Millennium Stadium, after finishing level at 26-26 following extra time. Meanwhile, the Blues have faced Pau on three occasions recently and former Cardiff captain Paul Tito, who was a used substitute in the Welsh region's 2010 Challenge Cup success, is now one of Pau's coaches. https://twitter.com/cardiff_blues/status/1141346604496162816 “It’s an exciting pool for us,” Mulvihill told the region’s Twitter feed. “We’ve got some history with a few clubs in the pool - obviously, Leicester Tigers. I was in South Africa watching the [2009] semi-final when it went down to place kicks. “Leicester have won two European Cups and have a number of players in the England squad, like [Manu] Tuilagi, and those boys will be back after the World Cup. We hope to see them home and away, like we did against Saracens last year, within a week. It was brilliant to host them at Cardiff Arms Park.” As for Pau, the Australian was happy to remember their last meeting in the Challenge Cup in the 2018 semi-finals, when Cardiff won 16-10 en route to lifting the trophy. “Last year’s semi-final against Pau really set up the final for us,” he recalled. “The place was full, the crowd was loud and the boys got the result on the back of that massive support from the Arms Park faithful. We hope it is going to be the same this year. “It will be really good to see what we can do both home and away in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.” https://twitter.com/cardiff_blues/status/1141329470332329984