In the new year we shall be doing our annual thing for the Six Nations, calling it a dear old friend and the perfect springboard for the Lions tour to New Zealand. For the moment, however, the oldest championship in the game is looking like the most moveable piece of furniture in rugby's showroom.

Times have changed. England's World Cup triumph has given the northern hemisphere the confidence to think afresh about its lay-out. February used to be good because nothing much else in sport else was happening. Now rugby will have to do something pretty gruesome not to be able to pull a punter or two at whatever time of year. The Six Nations can go to the end of the season because it no longer needs to be its centrepiece. The logical place in the calendar is April-May.

Once, the Six Nations was the sole means of cross-pollinating the various strains of the game as played across the continent. But as soon as European club rugby - and in particular the Heineken Cup - arrived, and Munster started to paint The Capitole central square of Toulouse red, a new cultural experience was born.

In fact, Munster on their travels - and they have gone further than anyone without ever raising the grail - have simply been the most successful mobile publicity campaign ever mounted by a sport. If you want a laugh and a cry and then a laugh, go with Munster, go.

Of course, on the field of play the Irish province are a little more savage than their supporters. It is the secret of their perennial advance to the last four. Nobody makes it through six pool games and three knockout stages without being more formidable than fancy. French and English clubs have dominated the nine years of competition because they do rigour week in week out.

Rigour takes you 99 per cent of the way. And then you need a spark of genius, like Austin Healey in two finals. Or a bit of luck - like Neil Back not having his hand caught in the till in the second of Leicester's back-to-back wins. That was against Munster, as they still remind you every second breath in Cork and Limerick. Or a bit of both luck and genius, like last year when Clement Poitrenaud's instant of mind-fuzz let Robert Howley steal the game for Wasps.

Wasps and Leicester: Lawrence Dallaglio and Martin Johnson. The one, captain of the reigning champion; the other, still the giant beam-engine of the club that are back where they belong, in contention for the main prize. It just so happens that both former England captains and their clubs are in the same pool. And all you can say on that is that even Biarritz, semi-finalists last year, will have to be at their very best to avoid being caught in the shock-wave that will go with the struggle to finish top of Pool 1. And as for the fourth team, Calvisano - say a little pray for them.

The French and English clubs have been building up for the forthrightness of Europe by being utterly forthright in their respective domestic tournaments. It is simply the way in England. The Premiership may lack significance until the summer play-offs but it remains seismic in its collisions.

The French at this stage of the season are usually playing with one hand reserved for doodling. Their championship used to be a slow-burner, and there was no point in becoming too agitated in the first phase of round-robin pool games.

But the French have shuffled themselves into one big league of 16. The aim is to shrink to 14 next season, and there is no time for dilly-doodling. The French are at themselves already; their six Heineken teams are all towards the top of their championship table, with Perpignan, Toulouse and Stade Français filling spots one, two three and Bourgoin the lowest in eighth.

The Irish have opted for a different approach. They held their stars back from involvement in the Celtic League until October. When Brian O'Driscoll & Co finally took to the field for Leinster, they were thumped at Rodney Parade, Newport, by the Dragons. The provision of rest is admirable but it courts danger, with Europe upon us so soon.

On the other hand, would anyone really bet against Munster setting off on their travels again? Their Pool 4 contains Harlequins, struggling so badly in the Premiership that the London club are probably thinking more of their relegation dog-fight there than they are of sweeping the best of the continent aside.

Castres will be brutal in their Tarn lair south-west of Toulouse for Munster, but they are not the most intimidating of the French teams. And facing a brutal challenge, without a lick of pure class, leaves Munster unflustered.

The class in Pool 4 may be provided by the Ospreys, that amalgam of old Neath and Swansea, reinforced with a recent injection of Warriors from the fifth Welsh region, the one that went to the wall in the summer. The Welsh are now running what the Welsh Rugby Union regard as the optimum number of four regions.

So far, the Ospreys and the Dragons have absorbed wandering Warriors of Bridgend and Pontypridd and are producing the goods. Shane Williams is dancing his socks off and Gavin Henson, so close to being another good, young 'un that never made it, is suddenly looking very much the real thing. If anyone kicks the ball farther in the game, then it must be touching the limits of breathable air. But do they have that horrible obduracy up front? The Dragons may. They may not be exactly relishing the thought of going to Perpignan in their pool 5, but who does? (Apart from Wasps, that is.)

The Dragons will have to spend a fair bit of time travelling in the opposite direction, but Newcastle and Edinburgh do not provide quite the same welcome - I think it's called a euphemism - as will be found in the Catalan corner.

In Wales, that leaves the Blues and the Scarlets. Cardiff once went to a Heineken final, losing in the inaugural season to Toulouse after extra time. They once won away in Munster and there aren't many clubs who can say that. But now, as the Blues, they are the blot on the blueprint. Four professional regions look great on paper, but the form of the Blues suggests it is still one too many.

And the way the Scarlets have begun the season, Wales could be down to two pro sides. But just as Munster may stir their stars into action at just the right time, so it is difficult to see the old spirit of Llanelli failing to rise to the Euro occasion. They have a bit of a pig of a group, with Toulouse and Northampton rearing before them, but Stradey Park can still send a shiver down the spine of even the grandest.

Which leaves Scotland and Italy. The Italian clubs are getting better and the Scottish teams are not. Neither country will provide a quarter-finalist. The Heineken Cup may be the most glittering of success stories, but for all that it promotes advancement and glamour, it also cruelly exposes weakness. In the cross-pollination of rugby cultures not every hybrid will survive.

HEINEKEN CUP GROUPS

Pool 1 : Wasps, Calvisano, Biarritz Leicester

Pool 2 : Treviso, Leinster, Bath, Bourgoin

Pool 3 : Llanelli, Glasgow, Northampton, Toulouse

Pool 4 : Munster, Neath-Swansea, Castres, Harlequins

Pool 5 : Edinburgh, Perpignan, Newport-Gwent, Newcastle

Pool 6 : Stade Français, Ulster, Cardiff, Gloucester

ROUND ONE FIXTURES

Fri 22 October : Llanelli v Toulouse (7.30pm), Perpignan v Edinburgh (7.30pm), Ulster v Cardiff (7.30pm)

Sat 23 October : Leicester v Calvisano (2.45pm), Bath v Bourgoin (2.15pm), Treviso v Leinster (3pm), Munster v Harlequins (5.15pm), Castres v Neath-Swansea (5.30pm), Newport-Gwent v Newcastle (1pm), Stade Français v Gloucester (3pm)

Sun 24 October : Wasps v Biarritz (3pm), Glasgow v Northampton (1pm)