EPCR Confirm Champions Cup Qualifiers And Play-Off Details
Following Saturday’s final rounds of matches in the Aviva Premiership, GUINNESS PRO12 and Top 14 regular seasons, EPCR have confirmed that the following 19 teams have qualified for the 2017/18 Champions Cup.
CHAMPIONS CUP QUALIFIED TEAMS:
Aviva Premiership – Wasps, Exeter Chiefs, Saracens, Leicester Tigers, Bath and Harlequins
GUINNESS PRO12 – MUNSTER, LEINSTER, Scarlets, Ospreys, ULSTER, Glasgow Warriors, Benetton Treviso
Top 14 – La Rochelle, Clermont Auvergne, Montpellier, Toulon, Castres Olympique, Racing 92
The 20th place in next season’s tournament will be decided by a series of play-off matches. If Gloucester win this Friday’s Challenge Cup final at BT Murrayfield, they will take the place of Northampton Saints – the seventh-ranked club in the Aviva Premiership – in play-off 1.
CHAMPIONS CUP QUALIFICATION PLAY-OFFS:
Play-Off 1: Northampton Saints (Aviva Premiership seventh-ranked team) or Gloucester v CONNACHT (PRO12 ninth-ranked team), May 19/20/21
Play-Off 2: Stade Francais (Top 14 seventh-ranked team) v Cardiff Blues (PRO12 eighth-ranked team), May 19/20/21
The Aviva Premiership and Top 14 teams will have home advantage
Play-Off Final: Winners Play-Off 1 v Winners Play-Off 2, May 26/27/28
The winners of play-off 1 will have home advantage
The winners of the play-off final takes the 20th place in the 2017/18 Champions Cup. The remaining 18 sides from the Aviva Premiership, PRO12 and Top 14 which have not qualified for the Champions Cup will play in the 2017/18 Challenge Cup.
The 19th and 20th places in next season’s Challenge Cup have been secured by Russia’s Enisei-STM and Krasny Yar who will play in the Continental Shield final at the BT Murrayfield complex on Saturday.
The pool draws for 2017/18 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup will take place in Neuchâtel, Switzerland on Thursday, June 8.