The European club rugby season kicked off in Cardiff yesterday, where we had the opportunity to speak with the captains and coaches of some of the English and Welsh clubs that will take part in the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup. The 11 club captains were on hand at the Millennium Stadium to provide their thoughts ahead of the upcoming European season, including Test stars Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Davies, Chris Robshaw, Dylan Hartley, Matthew Rees, Steve Borthwick and Toby Flood. We were fortunate enough to get some time for a casual chat with a few of the players and coaches ahead of what could be the final year of the tournaments as we know them. ERC Chief Executive, Derek McGrath, who is of course tasked with trying to keep European club rugby together, spoke at the press conference, reiterating ERC's strong commercial performance with the tournaments having generated 520 million Euro to the professional game since 1995. The Heineken Cup kicks off on October 11th, with the Amlin Challenge Cup kicking off on the 10th. You can view a portion of the press conference with Derek McGrath over on page two of this post

Thanks to Lloyd and

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