European rugby’s elite competition returns this weekend under an unfamiliar guise with a new name, a new format and a new trophy. And former Wales international Ieuan Evans says he is ‘salivating’ at the prospect of watching the continent’s best in action in a revitalised tournament. It has taken more than two years for the European leagues to resolve the issue of how to re-format the Heineken Cup in order to ensure the Premiership and Top 14 are kept happy – as well as to maximise the potential riches on offer to each club – but now they seem to have settled on a competition which has intrigue in almost every single match-up. Representatives of the England clubs competing for the new European Rugby Champions Cup, which starts on Friday - (from left) Chris Bell (Wasps), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Ed Slater (Leicester), Alistair Hargreaves (Saracens), Stuart Hooper (Bath), George North (Northampton) and Dan Braid (Sale) Sky Sports pundit Ieuan Evans is 'salivating' at the thought of the European Champions Cup . The inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup, which begins on Friday when Harlequins host French side Castres at The Stoop, will see five pools of four – as opposed to the six groups of four in the Heineken Cup – battle it out to qualify for the last eight. Pool winners are guaranteed qualification, while the three best runners-up will also progress, meaning competition will be more fierce than ever and even one home loss could mean the difference between potentially winning the competition and going home early. And Sky Sports rugby pundit Evans, who scored 33 tries in 72 internationals for Wales and one in seven Test appearances for the British and Irish Lions, told Sportsmail: ‘You look at the quality this year of the teams and the groups and how close they’re likely to be you salivate the prospect because there’s no breathing space. There will be pressure, intensity, challenges. That’s what you get with the elite comp. ‘Three second-placed teams means sides are going to scrap for every single bonus point. Because of the quality of the pools as well there are going to be some top-end teams who aren’t even going to make it through to the knockout stages. ‘Quality is always quality no matter if the competition and format has changed. I suppose what does change is that now there’s five pools instead of four it means it’s a far harder task to rest players and to rotate players because there’s no respite.’ The 50-year-old, who was dubbed ‘Merlin’ during his playing days by legendary commentator Bill McLaren for his exceptional poise when running with the rugby ball, is amazed by the strength and competition in every single group. (Left to right) Matt Corker of London Welsh, Matt Mullan of Wasps, Alistair Hargreaves of Saracens, George North of Northampton Saints, Stuart Hooper of Bath Rugby, Ed Slater of Leicester Tigers, Joe Marler of Harlequins, Dan Braid of Sale Sharks and George Skivington of London Irish pose with the the two trophies during the 2014/15 European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup Tournament Launch . Harlequins Director of Rugby Conor O'Shea during the European Rugby Launch at Twickenham Stoop . ‘If you look at Pool One – Munster, Sarries (Saracens), Clermont – all these sides would expect to get into the last four and beyond,’ the former winger continued. ‘You have three potential winners and three semi-finalists from last season in one group. Where’s the easy game? ‘(Northampton) Saints have got Racing Metro and Ospreys – Ospreys are top of the Guinness Pro 12 at the moment. There’s very little respite there and we can have some surprises but a team will rise to the top in this competition – it always does.’ Evans won the now defunct Heineken Cup with Bath in 1998 and he has been impressed with the dynamism on offer in the West Country side’s backline this season. And the (now unlikely) prospect of the European Player of the Year Steffon Armitage returning to England to play at The Rec in order to force his way into Stuart Lancaster’s England World Cup squad is one which Evans would welcome. ‘Armitage really adds to the storyline going into this weekend’s games – will he play for Toulon, will he not play for Toulon? He would be a huge coup for whoever could snap him up. ‘The talk all week has been about who is coming back from France. Will Steffon Armitage come back? Will Jamie Roberts and Lydiate come back to the Welsh regions? ‘If Armitage was to go to Bath he would be a huge signing. Not that they need strengthening in that area – we don’t know where Sam Burgess is going to play – but they also have Francois Louw to come back. To have Louw and Armitage – well that would be an interesting one for them! ‘You are not going to sniff at an opportunity to have Steffon Armitage though because he has been sensational for Toulon. Top 14 Player of the Year is not an award that French teams hand out lightly. ‘I’d be surprised if Toulon let him go but you never know with (owner) Mourad Boudjellal – they could be chasing Richie McCaw!’ Toulon forward Steffon Armitage will not be returning to the Premiership with Bath . England legend Jonny Wilkinson became the last man to lift the Heineken Cup for Toulon in May . The ex-Scarlets flyer, who captained Wales to the 1994 Five Nations title, expects the usual suspects to compete for the first European Rugby Champions Cup title – with Leicester having too many injuries to really challenge and former side Bath being too early in their development to contend with the continent’s elite – but he believes one Scottish side could be a dark horse this year. Evans explained: ‘The four favourites in most bookies’ minds are probably double-champions Toulon, Clermont, plus Saints and Sarries. ‘I’m interested to see if Glasgow can start to find their European performances step-up a notch. We’ve seen their domestic performances really improve but are they capable of stepping-up in Europe? That’s an interesting one for me. ‘Toulon, having so much depth, you have still got to fancy them though.’ In that sense, the more that things change, the more they stay the same… . Sky Sports’ biggest ever season of rugby includes more than 360 matches from competitions including The European Rugby Champions Cup, Top 14, PRO12 and Autumn Internationals.
European rugby's elite competition returns this weekend under new guise .
Heineken Cup has been re-formatted into the new tournament .
Set to get underway on Friday night when Harlequins face Castres .
Sky pundit Ieuan Evans 'salivating' at the prospect of the competition .
European rugby’s elite competition returns this weekend under an unfamiliar guise with a new name, a new format and a new trophy. And former Wales international Ieuan Evans says he is ‘salivating’ at the prospect of watching the continent’s best in action in a revitalised tournament. It has taken more than two years for the European leagues to resolve the issue of how to re-format the Heineken Cup in order to ensure the Premiership and Top 14 are kept happy – as well as to maximise the potential riches on offer to each club – but now they seem to have settled on a competition which has intrigue in almost every single match-up. Representatives of the England clubs competing for the new European Rugby Champions Cup, which starts on Friday - (from left) Chris Bell (Wasps), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Ed Slater (Leicester), Alistair Hargreaves (Saracens), Stuart Hooper (Bath), George North (Northampton) and Dan Braid (Sale) Sky Sports pundit Ieuan Evans is 'salivating' at the thought of the European Champions Cup . The inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup, which begins on Friday when Harlequins host French side Castres at The Stoop, will see five pools of four – as opposed to the six groups of four in the Heineken Cup – battle it out to qualify for the last eight. Pool winners are guaranteed qualification, while the three best runners-up will also progress, meaning competition will be more fierce than ever and even one home loss could mean the difference between potentially winning the competition and going home early. And Sky Sports rugby pundit Evans, who scored 33 tries in 72 internationals for Wales and one in seven Test appearances for the British and Irish Lions, told Sportsmail: ‘You look at the quality this year of the teams and the groups and how close they’re likely to be you salivate the prospect because there’s no breathing space. There will be pressure, intensity, challenges. That’s what you get with the elite comp. ‘Three second-placed teams means sides are going to scrap for every single bonus point. Because of the quality of the pools as well there are going to be some top-end teams who aren’t even going to make it through to the knockout stages. ‘Quality is always quality no matter if the competition and format has changed. I suppose what does change is that now there’s five pools instead of four it means it’s a far harder task to rest players and to rotate players because there’s no respite.’ The 50-year-old, who was dubbed ‘Merlin’ during his playing days by legendary commentator Bill McLaren for his exceptional poise when running with the rugby ball, is amazed by the strength and competition in every single group. (Left to right) Matt Corker of London Welsh, Matt Mullan of Wasps, Alistair Hargreaves of Saracens, George North of Northampton Saints, Stuart Hooper of Bath Rugby, Ed Slater of Leicester Tigers, Joe Marler of Harlequins, Dan Braid of Sale Sharks and George Skivington of London Irish pose with the the two trophies during the 2014/15 European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup Tournament Launch . Harlequins Director of Rugby Conor O'Shea during the European Rugby Launch at Twickenham Stoop . ‘If you look at Pool One – Munster, Sarries (Saracens), Clermont – all these sides would expect to get into the last four and beyond,’ the former winger continued. ‘You have three potential winners and three semi-finalists from last season in one group. Where’s the easy game? ‘(Northampton) Saints have got Racing Metro and Ospreys – Ospreys are top of the Guinness Pro 12 at the moment. There’s very little respite there and we can have some surprises but a team will rise to the top in this competition – it always does.’ Evans won the now defunct Heineken Cup with Bath in 1998 and he has been impressed with the dynamism on offer in the West Country side’s backline this season. And the (now unlikely) prospect of the European Player of the Year Steffon Armitage returning to England to play at The Rec in order to force his way into Stuart Lancaster’s England World Cup squad is one which Evans would welcome. ‘Armitage really adds to the storyline going into this weekend’s games – will he play for Toulon, will he not play for Toulon? He would be a huge coup for whoever could snap him up. ‘The talk all week has been about who is coming back from France. Will Steffon Armitage come back? Will Jamie Roberts and Lydiate come back to the Welsh regions? ‘If Armitage was to go to Bath he would be a huge signing. Not that they need strengthening in that area – we don’t know where Sam Burgess is going to play – but they also have Francois Louw to come back. To have Louw and Armitage – well that would be an interesting one for them! ‘You are not going to sniff at an opportunity to have Steffon Armitage though because he has been sensational for Toulon. Top 14 Player of the Year is not an award that French teams hand out lightly. ‘I’d be surprised if Toulon let him go but you never know with (owner) Mourad Boudjellal – they could be chasing Richie McCaw!’ Toulon forward Steffon Armitage will not be returning to the Premiership with Bath . England legend Jonny Wilkinson became the last man to lift the Heineken Cup for Toulon in May . The ex-Scarlets flyer, who captained Wales to the 1994 Five Nations title, expects the usual suspects to compete for the first European Rugby Champions Cup title – with Leicester having too many injuries to really challenge and former side Bath being too early in their development to contend with the continent’s elite – but he believes one Scottish side could be a dark horse this year. Evans explained: ‘The four favourites in most bookies’ minds are probably double-champions Toulon, Clermont, plus Saints and Sarries. ‘I’m interested to see if Glasgow can start to find their European performances step-up a notch. We’ve seen their domestic performances really improve but are they capable of stepping-up in Europe? That’s an interesting one for me. ‘Toulon, having so much depth, you have still got to fancy them though.’ In that sense, the more that things change, the more they stay the same… . Sky Sports’ biggest ever season of rugby includes more than 360 matches from competitions including The European Rugby Champions Cup, Top 14, PRO12 and Autumn Internationals.
European rugby’s elite competition returns this weekend under an unfamiliar guise with a new ‘salivating’ at the prospect of watching the Sky Sports pundit Ieuan Evans is 'salivating' at begins on Friday when Harlequins host French side sides would expect to get into the last four and