Draws Made For Next Season’s European Tournaments
The draws for the 2014/15 European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup were made at the Stade de la Maladière in Neuchatel, Switzerland this afternoon.
The draws for the pool stages of both tournaments were compered by Craig Doyle of BT Sport and Raphael Ibanez, and conducted by three-time European tournament winner, Simon Shaw, and Scott Quinnell of Sky Sports.
For the first time, the competing teams from the Aviva Premiership, Top 14 and PRO12 qualified on merit.
The draws, held in Neuchatel, Switzerland which will be EPCR’s new headquarters, were broadcast live on BTsport.com, Sky Sports News, TG4 and Infosport + and streamed live on epcrugby.com.
Recently-crowned RaboDirect PRO12 champions Leinster were the first team out of the pot for the Champions Cup draw, and will have Castres Olympique, Harlequins and London Wasps for company in Pool 2.
Matt O’Connor’s men beat Castres home and away in the 2013/14 Heineken Cup and overcame Harlequins in a hard-fought quarter-final at the Stoop on the way to winning their first European title in 2009.
Wasps are no strangers to Leinster, their most recent meeting being a 48-28 Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final win for the province in April of last year.
Anthony Foley’s first European campaign as Munster head coach will see them come up against two of the Heineken Cup’s most recent runners-up, Saracens and Clermont Auvergne, as well as Sale Sharks in Pool 1.
Foley’s charges could be off to Wembley for their away fixture against Saracens, who beat the Reds 19-13 in their last meeting at Vicarage Road in December 2012. Clermont were also victorious – 16-10 – when they hosted Munster in the Heineken Cup’s last-four the following April.
Scarlets boss Simon Easterby has dubbed it a ‘pool of death’ and it is hard to disagree with the former Ireland flanker when you look at the line-up in Pool 3 – reigning European champions Toulon, Leicester Tigers, Ulster and the Scarlets.
Ulster and the Scarlets are regular rivals in the PRO12, while the province will be meeting French giants Toulon for the first time.
Leicester are familiar opponents – this is the third time in four seasons that Ulster and Tigers have faced off in Europe and Mark Anscombe’s side achieved a notable double over the Welford Road outfit in 2013/14.
Meanwhile, Connacht will have two trips to France during their Pool 2 run in the European Rugby Challenge Cup. Bayonne and La Rochelle are the destinations for the Pat Lam-coached westerners who are also set to play Exeter Chiefs, the number one-ranked English club in the competition.
Connacht Reaction: John Muldoon
Leinster Reaction: Sean Cronin
Munster Reaction: Anthony Foley
2014/15 EUROPEAN RUGBY CHAMPIONS CUP –
POOL 1:
Saracens
MUNSTER
Clermont Auvergne
Sale Sharks
POOL 2:
LEINSTER
Castres Olympique
Harlequins
London Wasps
POOL 3:
Toulon
Leicester Tigers
ULSTER
Scarlets
POOL 4:
Glasgow Warriors
Montpellier
Bath
Toulouse
POOL 5:
Northampton Saints
Racing Metro 92
Ospreys
Benetton Treviso
2014/15 EUROPEAN RUGBY CHALLENGE CUP –
POOL 1:
Cardiff Blues
London Irish
Grenoble
FIRA-AER 1
POOL 2:
Exeter Chiefs
Bayonne
CONNACHT
La Rochelle-ASR
POOL 3:
Stade Francais
Newport Gwent Dragons
Newcastle Falcons
FIRA-AER 2
POOL 4:
Edinburgh
Bordeaux-Bègles
London Welsh
Lyon
POOL 5:
Gloucester
Brive
Zebre
Oyonnax
POOL MATCH DATES –
Round 1: October 16/17/18/19, 2014
Round 2: October 23/24/25/26
Round 3: December 4/5/6/7
Round 4: December 11/12/13/14
Round 5: January 15/16/17/18, 2015
Round 6: January 22/23/24/25