Dewi, not to mention his fellow former-England-halfback-cum-pundit Stuart Barnes, was unhappy that the system was flawed to the point that strong teams like Wasps, Munster and ASM Clermont Auvergne were drawn together and that at least one of them would miss out on the quarter finals, while the likes of London Irish and, of course, Saracens  - two teams with no Heineken pedigree - could cruise into the last eight without having to break sweat, thanks to having unfancied opposition in their Pools.

It was argued, at length, that the Pools looking the way the did, would mean that the Heineken Cup would be devalued and the fans robbed of quality teams and matches at the business end of the tournament.

What the dynamic duo failed to acknowledge (or if they did, I missed it) was that those quality teams threw out a good few quality matches during the Pool stages and got us all hooked from the very start; instead of having to wait until the knock-out phase before the heavyweights squared up to one another.

ERC agreed with the chaps on Sky and others (but not me) that the reasonably open draw based upon a single seeded team per participating nation was not workable, as having Sarries and Irish 80 minutes from a final was short-changing the broadcasters and armchair fans who, presumably, wanted to see Munster, Wasps, Toulouse and Leicester reaching the last four.

So it was decided by the doyens of Dublin that a new, official ranking system would be put into place to take into account the past performance of all teams eligible to compete in ERC’s competitions. The points system devised threw up no surprises as the “big” teams ended up avoiding one another in the revised draw, already contrived so that teams from the same country would not be pooled together.

There are a few anomalies in the 2008-09 draw in the shapes of a couple of three-way scraps in Pools 3 (Ospreys, Leicester and Perpignan) and 6 (Biarritz, Cardiff Blues and Gloucester) and the upwardly-mobile ASM possibly upsetting the Munster apple cart – although I believe the kybosh will be put on any premature removal of the darlings of Sky and ERC as Munster will, as they have in eight of the last nine Heinekens, have a home game in Round 6 against their prospective usurpers. And by looking at the 2008-09 Pools one can, I reckon, pick five of the eight quarter finalists already, without a ball being kicked.

Munster, Wasps, Stade Français Paris, Toulouse and Bath (with one of that last pair in as a fastest loser) should make it through their Pools without too much trouble (ERC, Dewi and Stuart will love that, no doubt), and no more than one interesting game involving each of them to watch, such is the way the draw is formatted.

The counter-argument is that the same teams, year after year, will be there almost in perpetuity due to the nature of the raking points system, with Munster being the main beneficiaries. Already given a free pass into the Heineken, along with Leinster and Ulster, thanks to the IRFU’s shameful under-funding of Connacht, the Red Army will be able to consolidate its position atop the rankings as they will be guaranteed entry and guaranteed a Tier 1 place for the annual draw. And a tier 1 place will give them teams lower in the ERC pecking order and an easier route into the knock-out phase where they can pick up more precious ranking points.

Give this new system three or four seasons and it will settle into the same old routine featuring the same old names in the same old Tiers. Bearing in mind the competition must have multiple entrants from the half dozen participating countries in order to make it truly European and cosmopolitan, many of the teams in Tiers 2, 3 and 4 this year will be in the same Tiers come 2012.

My prediction is that Tier 1 with all its privileges will, half a decade hence, contain at least four of the current half dozen. Tier 4 will, I have no doubt whatsoever, feature two Italian and two Scottish teams. Tiers 2 and 3 will have the same Celtic teams and the only variations will be some changes to the French and English participants, thanks to the competitive nature of their respective domestic leagues meaning that different teams may qualify.

It is a well-known fact that past performance is no guarantee of future performance, but this new system will make, for the chosen few at least, future performance a little easier, while teams who have to scrap just to qualify will always be presented with a tough Pool.

One could argue that the Tier 1 sides are there because the cream rises to the top. To the contrary, I will argue that it is nothing other than a cartel created to appease those teams who want insurance that, should they fail to reach their historical heights for whatever reason, they get the easiest possible route back. Not to mention giving us more predictable, one-sided matches in the Pool stages which do no favours for either of the teams playing those matches, or for the broadcasters and viewing public.

I give it five years before those complaining that something had to be done about the previous system will be saying that they are fed up with Pool stage walkovers and the same teams in the frame come April and May. Frankly, ERC should have left the draw the way it was, Pools of Death and all. At least then we’d have had some full-on, meaningful games from Round 1, instead of going through the motions until the quarter finals and beyond.

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