Hi all this is my first article for the Layfield report so Hello to you all.  I am going to be writing on European rugby a few times a week.  I will be writing on everything from Rabo Direct Pro 12, The Aviva Premiership, French Top 14, Heineken Cup, Amlin Challenge Cup and International matches.  This piece will be all about this weekend’s Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cup matches.  This weekend see the final group games in both the Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cups.  This is the crucial time in both of these competitions as not only do you want to get through to the knockout stages you also want to get a good draw. For those of you who don’t know how the Heineken Cup works I will explain. 

There is a group stage to begin with where the 24 teams are divided into 6 groups each containing 4 teams determined by a draw near the start of the season.  Each team in the group plays the other 3 teams in their group twice once at home and once away.  The points scoring is as follows 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss, however there are what are called bonus points where a point will be awarded if a team loses the game by 7 points or less or where a team scores 4 or more tries in a game.  In theory then you could lose and get 2 points.  At the end of the group stage 8 teams move on to the Quarter Finals of the tournament these 8 teams are made up from the 6 group winners and the 2 second placed teams from the group stage with the highest point’s totals.  The 3 second placed group teams with the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th highest points totals will go into the European Challenge cup knock out stages for the rest of the group teams their Heineken cup campaigns are over and it is time for them to focus on their leagues.

Now here is a hard part to understand for first timers, the Quarter Finals are not decided by a random draw but instead by the qualifying team’s points total from the group stage.  The 6 group winners are ranked 1-6 depending on their points total’s in the group stage and the 2 best runner up who qualify ranked 7^th and 8^th again based on their group stage points totals.  The quarter final draw will then be 1^st v 8^th, 2^nd v 7^th, 3^rd v 6^th and 4^th v 5^th.  The 4 teams with the highest point’s totals will be the home teams in the quarter final stage making it vitally important to try and get as many points as possible in the group stage which is what makes this weekend so crucial in the competition.  This is the last chance for the teams to try and get through to the quarter finals and for the teams to try and get the best draw they can. 

So things are shaping up like this Harlequins, Ulster and Clermont Auvergne have all qualified for the quarter final stage by winning their groups.  Toulon of France have qualified by the fact they have scored enough points to definitely be one of the best runner’s up and have won their group barring a big shock this weekend.  The rest is still all to play for and there is no doubt where the tie of the round is to be found.  At Welford Road in England where English Giants Leicester Tigers face off against French Giants Toulouse, the winner of that match will win that group while it is likely the loser will be out of the competition.  With a mouth watering array of International stars on display this is a match many will be looking forward to as a possible classic. 

Finally to leave you all I want to say thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this if you want to keep up with how things are going this weekend follow me on twitter @thomthom1988 as I will be posting scores and my thoughts on the matches. Enjoy the rugby everyone.