I think Stella has described it perfectly, the first 6 will qualify from Pro 12 with Treviso qualify ahead of Edinburgh on the one team from each country rule.
I think the Pro12 has done alright out of this with getting 7 qualifiers out of a possible 12. England haveing 6 out of 12 and France coming out the worst with only 6 of of 14 teams going through.
I'm not sure how what the play off for the 20th spot is. It may be between the 7th placed teams in each of the english and french leagues.
Fingers crossed it will have the excitment as the heineken cup. I can see why not its still going to be more or less all the same teams.
Question what happens if the defending champions don't qualify automatically?