The draw for the composition of the Pools for future Heineken Cup tournaments will be based on a new merit based ranking structure - the ERC European Ranking.

It means consistently-successful Heineken Cup teams like Munster, Toulouse and Leicester are likely to avoid each other in the group stage.

This season's tournament saw sides drawn at random, except each competing country's respective top seed, who were kept apart.

And it resulted in the six pools having a lopsided appearance, with two groups each containing two former European champions when Wasps and Munster were drawn alongside each other, plus Toulouse and Leicester.

The Wasps pool also contained French giants Clermont Auvergne and three-time Heineken semi-finalists Llanelli, while powerful Irish challengers Leinster featured in Leicester's group.

Only one point separated the top three teams in Wasps' group, whereas the leading three sides covered a 16-point span in two other pools where the second-placed teams - Perpignan and Ospreys - filled best runner-up vacancies in the quarter-finals.

Following the recent signing of the 2007 Accord, the Board of ERC directed a Working Party, made up of representatives of Clubs, Unions and the ERC Executive; to develop a merit based ranking system to reward consistent European performance.

The new ERC European Ranking aims to reward and incentivise teams who consistently perform at the highest level in European competition over four seasons by separating the leading teams in the Pool stages.

The 24 competing teams will continue to qualify through their domestic tournaments and will then, for the purposes of the Pool draw, be awarded different points for their finishing positions in the two ERC organised competitions, the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup, over the previous four seasons.

Teams can earn between one to 11 points each season in the Heineken Cup and up to five points in the European Challenge Cup to go towards their four season roll-over ERC European Ranking.

The rankings will establish four tiers of six teams each with the reigning Heineken Cup champions automatically going into top spot of Tier 1 along with Europe's other, currently, most successful teams.

The draw, which is scheduled to take place in June, will distribute one team from each of the four Tier levels into each of the six Pools. As before, no teams from the same country will be drawn in the same Pool with the exception of when there are seven teams qualified from either England or France.

Under the new system, irrespective of qualification for the knock-out stages, all teams will be incentivised to finish in the highest possible position in the Heineken Cup. And progress through to the knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup will also carry extra value and be of major importance for those emerging clubs as they attempt to climb the European ladder.

"We believe this new ranking system to be a major and important step forward in the on-going development and growth of European club rugby's premier tournaments, a bold move that reflects the positive thinking of those involved in the ERC competitions following the signing of the recent 2007 Accord," said ERC Chairman, Jean-Pierre Lux.

"European results have become the accepted yardstick by which clubs judge themselves and now those same results will have a direct bearing on their European rankings as we look forward to the initiative enhancing both tournaments in the seasons ahead."

Click here for the current standings of teams before the 2007 / 2008 knock-out stages