European Champions Cup

After being the leading clubs in the Champions Cup last year and after a disastrous WC campaign, it seems as if the French cup sides has gone on the slide and all of Toulouse, Clermont, Montpellier and Stade Francais is nowhere i n sight this year.  Even Toulon is struggling badly - as was evidenced this past weekend.  
Seems to me that their policy of signing up of too many hasbeens is biting them badly.       

As things stand at this moment, we have the following sides involved in the play-offs:
France (4 Clubs):RacingToulonStade FrancaisClermont
England (3 Clubs):SaracensLeicesterWasps
Wales (1 Club):Ospreys
Both of Northampton and Ulster still have a chance of making it into the play-offs. IMO, Ulster have probably the best chance. They face Oyonax at home while Saints have to travel to face the Scarlets. Unfortunately these two sides (Saints and Ulster), do not hold their fate in their own hands, since they would need one or two of Wasps, SF or Clermont to slip up against Leinster, Leicester or Bordeaux. 
The above are not the only permutations that can influence the outcome,though. If, for instance, Toulon slip against Bath, in Bath (which is quite possible), then Toulon moves back into the second places and could  push out any of the current three top second placed clubs.
The bottom line is that, like the Top14, this is also a difficult competition to judge until the last round of the pool stages has been played.
The ones who are really on a slide, though, are the Irish clubs who have always been strong on this competition. Both Leinster and Munster have often featured in finals. We have even seen two Irish sides face each other (Leinster and Ulster) in the final of the 2011/2 season.
Toulouse has not been that good in recent years in any case. They have only won it once in the last ten years. 
Clermont has never won it and  was runners-up on only 2 occasions ever.
Montpellier has never even featured in a final ever. In fact they have no chance in hell this year either, since they are not even playing in the Champions Cup. They are playing in the Challenge Cup.
Stade Francais has also never won it and have only been runners-up on two occasions, the last being ten years ago. This is their first year back in the Champions/Heineken Cup in a long time.

 Ceradyne
Thanks for the info - I think this coming weekend will decide the quarter-finals as far as I could make out.  I am not saying anything about the French teams - they looked putrid compared to what they were last year.

 The real deal starts in the play-offs. 

 Quote no 1:
"......it seems as if the French cup sides has gone on the slide and all of Toulouse,......"
Quote no 2:
"....I am not saying anything about the French teams..."
Trut h is sometimes stranger than fiction.