Following confirmation of next season's Heineken Cup participants and their national rankings, ERC can announce the Pools for the 2003 / 2004 tournament.

Gloucester and Munster, who had two epic Pool stage matches in last season's Heineken Cup, will clash again in the 2003 / 2004 tournament, which kicks-off on the weekend of 5, 6, 7 December. They are joined in Pool 5 by Italian champions Benetton Treviso and Bourgoin.

The first of their 2002 / 2003 Pool 2 matches, which Gloucester won 35-16 at Kingsholm, attracted a phenomenal BBC Grandstand audience of 3.3m. The second encounter, which Munster won 33-6 at Thomond Park, has gone down in Irish folklore as the 'Miracle Match.'

The final placings in France were confirmed when Stade Francais beat Toulouse 32-18 in the French Championship final at Stade de France. As the French champions, Stade Francais, who reached the final of the Heineken Cup in 2001, will play in Pool 1 where they will meet up with the team that beat them in the final in Paris, Leicester Tigers. Also in that Pool are the 1999 champions, Ulster, and the Ebbw Vale / Newport region.

Current Heineken Cup champions Toulouse will figure in Pool 2 in the 2003/04 campaign where they will face Leeds Tykes, the Neath / Swansea region and Scottish No 1 seeds Edinburgh Rugby.

London Wasps, the newly crowned Zurich Premiership champions, will play in Pool 6 along with 2003 Heineken Cup finalists Perpignan, the Bridgend / Pontypridd region and Ghial Amatori & Calvisano.

Irish No 1 seeds Leinster Lions are drawn with Biarritz Olympique, Sale Sharks and the Cardiff region in Pool 3 with the Llanelli region - the Welsh top seeds - up against Agen, Northampton Saints and Scottish Borders in Pool 4.

HEINEKEN CUP 2003 / 2004

POOL 1: Stade Francais, Leicester Tigers, Ulster, Ebbw Vale / Newport region

POOL 2: Toulouse, Leeds Tykes, Neath / Swansea region, Edinburgh Rugby

POOL 3: Biarritz Olympique, Sale Sharks, Leinster Lions, Cardiff region

POOL 4: Agen, Northampton Saints, Llanelli region, Scottish Borders

POOL 5: Bourgoin, Gloucester, Munster, Benetton Treviso

POOL 6: Perpignan, London Wasps, Bridgend / Pontypridd region, Ghial Amatori & Calvisano