The draw has been completed for the 2023/24 Heineken Champions Cup and the reformatted competition has served up some tasty ties in the group stages.
This season clubs will play four pool matches, two matches at home and two away in December and January, Under the new format clubs from the same domestic competitions avoid each other until the knockout rounds when the top four teams in each of the four groups will go through to the round of 16.
Bristol Bears, who replaced London Irish after the Exiles went into administration, have joined Premiership champions Saracens in Pool One and will tackle Bordeaux-Begles, Vodacom Bulls, Lyon and Connacht.
Bath, Champions Cup qualifiers following a dramatic last day of the Premiership season, are in Pool Two alongside Harlequins. The English pair will face newly-crowned French champions Toulouse, Racing 92, Ulster and the solitary Welsh representative Cardiff Rugy.
Past tournament winners Exeter Chiefs and Northampton Saints are in Pool Three where they will face fixtures against United Rugby Championship title holders Munster, Glasgow, Bayonne and Toulon. Chiefs, who won the tournament in 2020, were of course semi-finalists last season while Toulon are the reigning Challenge Cup holders.
Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers, who finished second and third respectively in the Premiership last season, have landed a fearsome drwa in Pool Four alongside Champions Cup holders La Rochelle, runners-up Leinster, South African heavyweights DHL Stormers and Parisians Stade Francais.
Premiership challengers Gloucester have been handed a tough European Challenge Cup draw, being grouped in Pool 3 alongside Clermont Auvergne, Scarlets, Edinburgh, Castres and a yet-to-be-announced invited club.
Newcastle are in Pool 2 with Ospreys, Benetton, Montpellier, Perpignan and Emirates Lions, while Pool 1 comprises another invited club alongside Dragons, Pau, Oyonnax, Zebre Parma and Cell Sharks.
The top four in each group progress to the Challenge Cup round of 16, where they will be joined by the four fifth-placed Champions Cup teams.
The Challenge Cup and Champions Cup finals take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 24 and 25, the exact dates and location of the pool stage fixtures will be confirmed at a later date by tournament organisers EPCR.
2023/24 CHAMPIONS CUP
Pool 1: Saracens, Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Vodacom Bulls, Bristol Bears, Connacht Rugby, Lyon
Pool 2: Stade Toulousain, Cardiff Rugby, Bath Rugby, Racing 92, Harlequins, Ulster Rugby
Pool 3: Munster Rugby, Aviron Bayonnais, Glasgow Warriors, Exeter Chiefs, RC Toulon, Northampton Saints
Pool 4: Stade Rochelais, Stade Français Paris, Leicester Tigers, DHL Stormers, Leinster Rugby, Sale Sharks
2023/24 EPCR CHALLENGE CUP
Pool 1: Invitee 1, Section Paloise, Dragons RFC, Zebre Parma, Oyonnax Rugby, Cell C Sharks
Pool 2: Ospreys, USAP, Newcastle Falcons, Emirates Lions, Montpellier Hérault Rugby, Benetton Rugby
Pool 3: Edinburgh Rugby, Castres Olympique, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Invitee 2, Gloucester Rugby, Scarlets
2023/24 weekends
Round 1 – 8/9/10 December 2023
Round 2 – 15/16/17 December 2023
Round 3 – 12/13/14 January 2024
Round 4 – 19/20/21 January 2024
Round of 16 – 5/6/7 April 2024
Quarter-finals – 12/13/14 April 2024
Semi-finals – 3/4/5 May 2024
EPCR Challenge Cup final – Friday 24 May 2024, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Champions Cup final – Saturday 25 May 2024, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
