Wasps and Leicester, who have won the Heineken Cup three times between them this decade, were yesterday drawn together in the group stage of next season's tournament. It is the first time English clubs have been paired in a Heineken Cup pool and was inevitable when Wasps defeated Toulouse in last month's final to secure a seventh place for the Zurich Premiership which the Tigers claimed the following weekend.

The clubs will face each other in back-to-back matches in December, with Wasps having home advantage first, and they will meet each other three times in four weekends with the first league match between the pair falling on November 21 at the Causeway Stadium.

"There will be a lot of domestic pride at stake," said the Wasps and England captain Lawrence Dallaglio. "English teams have met only in the latter stages before and the two matches will be huge. Biarritz make it a very tough group and we launch our defence of the title against them at home."

The Leicester head coach John Wells, whose side did the double over Wasps in the league last season, believes only the group winner will make it to the quarter-finals. "All the away matches are going to be tough with Calvisano having improved in recent years," said Wells. "Biarritz have recruited well this summer and, while our games against Wasps are going to be ding-dong affairs, we are both going to have our work cut out against Biarritz."

Wasps will have an early taste of the French champions of two years ago when they play a friendly in Biarritz on August 6 and their Wales and Lions' scrum-half Rob Howley hopes to return from a wrist operation in time for the November league match against Leicester. "I had the operation last week and it went well apart from some internal bleeding which had to be sorted out," said Howley. "I have targeted the middle of November as my comeback target when Matt Dawson will be involved with England.

"Our Heineken Cup draw is a mouth-watering one and I should be available for the bulk of the pool games. I want the arrival of Matt to spur me on to become a better player and, if Wasps go as well as we did last season, I hope to have a chance of making the Lions tour to New Zealand."

In the other groups the 2000 winners Northampton face last month's beaten finalists Toulouse as well as Llanelli, who won at Franklin's Gardens last January to secure a place in the quarter-finals, and the 1998 victors Bath are up against Leinster, Bourgoin and Treviso.

Munster will fancy their chances of topping the group with Neath-Swansea Ospreys, Harlequins and Castres providing the opposition, and Gloucester, relieved at not drawing Munster again, are in a pool where away victories will be at a premium with Ulster, the French champions Stade Français and Cardiff Blues making up the foursome.

Newcastle's second Heineken Cup campaign has bracketed them with Newport Gwent Dragons, the French league runners-up Perpignan and Edinburgh.

· Ireland, meanwhile, have announced that they will be redeveloping Lansdowne Road after the 2006 Six Nations, turning the stadium into a 50,000 all-seater with provision for 100 hospitality boxes. The work is expected to be completed before the start of the 2008-09 season, meaning that, if they are to host matches in the 2007 World Cup, they will need to find a suitable alternative venue.

Croke Park in Dublin has a 79,500 capacity but it has always been out of bounds to rugby union and the Irish RFU said it had no plans to open talks with the owners of the ground, the Gaelic Athletic Association, raising the possibility that it will have to forfeit home advantage in the World Cup and play out of Ireland in the 2007 and 2008 Six Nations.

· Stade Français are holding talks with the Wales hooker Mefin Davies who is out of a job after the closure of the Celtic Warriors. The Warriors' head coach Lynn Howells is to take charge of the Italian side Leonessa, after turning down an offer from Cardiff Blues saying he was disillusioned with the state of the game in Wales.

Pool 1
Wasps
Calvisano
Biarritz
Leicester

Pool 2
Treviso
Leinster
Bath
Bourgoin

Pool 3
Northampton
Toulouse
Llanelli
Glasgow

Pool 4
Munster
Neath-Swansea Ospreys
Castres
Harlequins

Pool 5
Edinburgh
Perpignan
Newport-Gwent Dragons
Newcastle

Pool 6
Stade Francais
Ulster
Cardiff Blues
Gloucester