Against a backdrop of increasingly noisy sabre-rattling by those English and French sides who have demanded sweeping changes to the tournament's format, yesterday's draw for the pool stages of next season's Heineken Cup threw up a clutch of fascinating ties in which Scotland's two representatives will renew their acquaintances with foes from campaigns past.

Edinburgh, who delivered the best performance ever by a Scottish side when they reached the semi-final stage last season, find themselves in Pool 1, alongside Racing Metro, Saracens and Munster. Glasgow, who failed to get out of their Heineken pool but claimed a top-four finish in the RaboDiret PRO12, will compete in Pool 4 with Northampton, Ulster and Castres.

The most mouth-watering pairing is that of Edinburgh and Racing Metro, who locked horns in two memorable encounters last season. In the first, at Murrayfield, Edinburgh scraped home 48-47 after a last-minute conversion by Greig Laidlaw, then all but secured their passage into the knockout phase when they won the return match in Paris, 27-24, with an injury-time drop goal by Phil Godman.

While Edinburgh will go into their games against the French side with confidence engendered by those results, Munster and Saracens are unknown quantities in the European context. The Irish side, twice winners of the cup, faded badly towards the end of last season as a number of celebrated players suffered injuries and a loss of form, while the English team, which should feature a fit-again Kelly Brown, have a relatively poor European record, only twice getting past the pool stages.

Glasgow have taken on Northampton in four previous Heineken Cup matches, with the English side holding a 3-1 lead from those games, and they have played Ulster, beaten finalists last season, twice, claiming victories both times. Castres are new opponents, but there is plenty of intrigue in the scenario of Max Evans returning to the club where he first made his name.

"The quality of the teams we've been drawn against speaks for itself," said the Glasgow coach, Gregor Townsend. "But that's always the case in the Heineken Cup, and we strongly believe we can be competitive in terms of qualifying from the pool.

"Northampton have excellent pedigree in the competition, having won it in 2000 and reached the final as recently as 2011. They will be extremely tough opposition both home and away, but we showed against Bath last season that we can live with the best teams in England.

"Ulster we know very well from the RaboDirect PRO12, and they're another skilful, tenacious outfit. They underlined their class in the 2011/12 Heineken Cup, and will no doubt be looking to go one better this time. Castres also have considerable experience of this competition, and you only have to look at how they've done in the Top 14, reaching the semi-finals, to appreciate that they'll mean business."

Edinburgh should carry the confidence of being the first Scottish side to reach the Heineken Cup's semi-final stage, and coach Michael Bradley confirmed that self-belief will be an important factor as they return to the European stage.

"We can certainly draw on last season's experience as we now understand what drives sides like Munster, Toulouse and Leinster, to get back to the latter stages on an annual basis, because it's such an exciting competition.

"Last year Edinburgh Rugby got a taste of that and I think the confidence in our players will have grown from that experience. We fear nobody.

"We will be confident in all our matches, as we were last year. We will prepare well for this group and look forward to the fantastic challenge."

Raised in Cork, Bradley has more reasons than most to relish a couple of matches against Munster, where he was once tipped as a future coach. "Munster have a fantastic pedigree in this competition, as we know, and they will certainly be a formidable opponent," said Bradley. "They have a love affair with this tournament and, now that Leinster have three wins they'll be looking to claw one back, and we'll be in their way."

While no mention was made of events of the past few days at the ceremony in Dublin, the draw was overshadowed by the announcement by English clubs that they intend to withdraw from both the Heineken and second-tier Amlin Cups in 2014.

The English sides, like their counterparts in France, want an overhaul of the European tournaments. Although the official statement from Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty was no more than a terse and formal confirmation of intention to withdraw, it is understood that the English teams want all European competitions to be merit-based, with qualification earned by league position.

In the Heineken Cup, that would mean a 20-team competition – the current number is 24 – with six teams from each of the Aviva Premiership, French Top 14 and RaboDirect PRO12 leagues. If the format was adopted immediately, there would be no Italian sides in next season's tournament, and no place for Edinburgh either. Under current rules, Scotland and Italy are effectively guaranteed two places in the cup, with Wales and Ireland getting a minimum of three apiece.

Reigning champions Leinster have been placed in the same Pool 5 as Clermont Auvergne, the side they beat in last season's semi-final. English champions Harlequins have been treated relatively kindly, drawn against Biarritz, Connacht and new Italian outfit Zebre.