European Cup Draws To Take Place On Thursday

Ieuan Evans was a winner with Bath in Bordeaux in 1998, while Austin Healey won back-to-back titles with Leicester Tigers in 2001 and 2002. They will select the balls to determine the shape of the draw for next season at approximately 1.20pm Irish time on Thursday.

The three newly-crowned domestic champions, Clermont Auvergne (Top 14), Exeter Chiefs (Aviva Premiership) and the Scarlets (GUINNESS PRO12) will have pride of place in Tier 1, while Champions Cup holders Saracens are currently sitting in tier 2.

Mark McCall’s side are hoping to make it a hat-trick of European titles next season to match the record of Toulon between 2013 and 2015. When they beat Clermont Auvergne in the final at BT Murrayfield last month, Sarries extended their unbeaten European run to a record 18 matches.

The Champions Cup draw will follow the draw for the Challenge Cup, which is due to start at 1pm Irish time. Both draws will be streamed live on epcrugby.com, YouTube and the official tournament channels on Facebook.

The mechanics of the Champions Cup draw are as follows:

CHAMPIONS CUP RANKINGS:

For the purposes of creating the tiers, the Aviva Premiership, GUINNESS PRO12 and Top 14 teams are ranked based on their league performances and on their performances in the knockout phases. For teams who did not qualify for the knockout phases of their leagues, or who were eliminated at the same stage of the knockout phase, rankings are decided by league table finishing positions.

GUINNESS PRO12 – (1) Scarlets, (2) MUNSTER, (3) LEINSTER, (4) Ospreys, (5) ULSTER, (6) Glasgow Warriors, (7) Benetton Treviso

Aviva Premiership – (1) Exeter Chiefs, (2) Wasps, (3) Saracens, (4) Leicester Tigers, (5) Bath, (6) Harlequins, (7) Northampton Saints

Top 14 – (1) Clermont Auvergne, (2) Toulon, (3) La Rochelle, (4) Racing 92, (5) Montpellier, (6) Castres Olympique

CHAMPIONS CUP DRAW:

– The 20 teams will compete in five pools of four
– The teams are divided into 4 tiers based on their status as Championship winners and/or on qualification positions in their league. This will be done by a draw in advance of the main pool draw
– Each pool will have at least 1 team from each of the 3 leagues
– Each of the 5 pools will have 1 team from each of the 4 tiers
– There will be no more than 2 teams from the same league in a pool
– No Pool will contain 2 PRO12 teams from the same country
– Teams from the same league will be kept apart until the allocation of the tier 4 teams

HOW THE TIERS ARE FILLED –

Tier 1:

– Tier 1 will include the Premiership, PRO12 and Top 14 champions
– Tier 1 will also include 2 of the 3 teams ranked second from the three leagues. The 2 teams will be decided by a draw

Tier 2:

– Tier 2 will include 3 teams who are ranked third from the three leagues
– Tier 2 will also include the second-ranked team not drawn into Tier 1, and the team ranked fourth from the same league as the team that was not drawn into Tier 1

Tier 3:

– Tier 3 will include the 2 teams ranked fourth who are not in Tier 2
– Tier 3 will also include the 3 teams who are ranked fifth from each league

Tier 4:

– Tier 4 will include the 3 teams who are ranked sixth in the leagues, as well as the Italian qualifiers from the PRO12, Benetton Treviso, and Northampton Saints who qualified as winners of the Champions Cup play-offs

Step 1:

– Only Tier 4 teams are confirmed. A draw is made to establish the 5 Tier 1 teams. Once Tier 1 is confirmed, Tiers 2 and 3 fall into place as per key principles
– The draw will determine which 2 teams from the 3 teams ranked number two in the leagues will join the three Championship winners in Tier 1.
– The three Championship runners-up balls – Wasps, Munster and Toulon – are placed in the drum, and two teams are then drawn into Tier 1

Tier 1 teams:  Exeter Chiefs (Premiership champions), Scarlets (PRO12 champions), Clermont Auvergne (Top 14 champions), Drawn team 1 (Wasps/Munster/Toulon), Drawn team 2 (Wasps/Munster/Toulon)

Step 2:

Once Tier 1 teams are established, the 5 Tier 2 teams can be confirmed.

– 3 teams ranked third in the leagues – Saracens, Leinster and La Rochelle
– Plus the team not drawn into Tier 1
– Plus fourth-ranked team from same league as team not drawn into Tier 1

Tier 2 teams: Saracens, Leinster, La Rochelle, Undrawn team (Wasps/Munster/Toulon), One of Leicester Tigers/Racing 92/Ospreys

Step 3:

Once Tier 2 teams are established, 5 Tier 3 teams can be confirmed as follows:

– 2 remaining fourth-ranked teams (Leicester Tigers/Racing 92/Ospreys)
– 3 fifth-ranked teams – Bath, Montpellier and Ulster

Tier 3 teams: Two of Leicester Tigers/Racing 92/Ospreys), Bath, Montpellier, Ulster

Step 4:

Each of the 5 Tier 1 teams are drawn, followed by a pool number for that team

Step 5:

Draw for the five Tier 2 teams – as each team ball is selected, a draw is made to allocate the team a pool from available pools based on the key principles. Some teams may have to be placed directly into a pool in order to ensure the key principles.

Step 6:

Draw for the five Tier 3 teams – as each team ball is selected, a draw is made to allocate the team a pool from available pools based on the key principles. Some teams may have to be placed directly into a pool in order to ensure the key principles apply. 

Step 7:

Draw for the five Tier 4 teams – Harlequins, Northampton Saints, Castres Olympique, Glasgow Warriors, Benetton Treviso. As each team ball is selected, a draw is made to allocate the team a pool from the available pools based on the key principles. Some teams may have to be placed directly into a pool in order to ensure the key principles apply.