14 June 2005
Saracens were drawn against Biarritz, Ulster and Benetton Treviso in the pool stages of the 2005/06 Heineken Cup earlier today and Head Coach Steve Diamond admitted his side are relishing the prospect of competing with Europe's elite.

The Heineken Cup action starts on the weekend of October 21-23 but the excitement is already building - especially with the prospect of facing French champions Biarritz.

Speaking to www.saracens.com, Diamond said:"It's a very tough group, but it's also very exciting to be facing such quality teams. Having sides likes Biarritz coming to Vicarage Road is what everyone connected with the club wants.

"Biarritz are the French champions and have some fantastic players in their squad. Ulster are traditionally a strong Celtic side and in Treviso, we face one of the up and coming Italian sides and they proved that last season with their victory over Bath in the competition.

"Qualifying for the competition via the Wildcard route meant we would be included with some quality teams in the pool stages. It's been four seasons since Saracens were involved in the Heineken Cup so we are all looking forward to competing against the best of Europe."
 
His views were echoed by centre Kevin Sorrell who was in the Saracens team when the club faced Ulster in the pool stages of the 2000/01 competition.
 
Sorrell added: Biarritz are a fantastic side with some great players and were crowned French champions at the weekend. We know Ulster is a tough place to play as we played them in the competition a few seasons ago and Treviso are an up and coming side.
 
It's a tough group, but we are all very excited by the prospect of playing teams like this. We want to be competing against the best in Europe and this draw will see us doing just that."