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| 18 July 2003, 1:15 pm |
| Heineken Cup Fixtures Announced |
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Northampton Saints will begin their fifth consecutive Heineken European Cup campaign with a trip to Llanelli Scarlets in December.
The second pool game, on 13 December, will be a home match against Agen. After a break over Christmas, the competition will resume in January with home and away fixtures against Borders, before a trip to Agen. The last pool match will be a home tie against Llanelli.
ERC Ltd has allocated the following dates for Northampton Saints' Heineken European Cup pool matches:
5-7 December v Llanelli Away
13 December v Agen 3pm Home
10 January v Borders 3pm Home
16-18 January v Borders Away
23-25 January v Agen Away
31 January v Llanelli 3pm Home
Clubs have until 31 October to set a day and kick-off time for matches, so firm dates for away games are unlikely to be available before then. Northampton Saints will play their home games at 3pm on Saturdays, subject to television requirements.
The Heineken Cup will have extra spice this season with the introduction of bonus points, and, according to ERC Chief Executive Derek McGarth, "the bonus points system will encourage and reward positive, attacking play and also benefit those who only narrowly miss out on the match points for a win or draw.
"Teams who score four tries or more in a match will be awarded a bonus point - as will teams who lose by seven or fewer points.
Under the new match points system, there will be four points for a win and two for a draw while teams will be rewarded for both chasing tries and also never giving up the chase in defeat.
With the six Pool winners and best two runners-up qualifying for the knock-out stages, bonus points could make all the difference to both qualification and ranking for the high profile and lucrative quarter-finals.
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