Champions Cup Draw – How It Works

Ahead of tomorrow’s Pool Draws for the inaugural European Champions Cup, find out how each draw shall be conducted.

For the purposes of creating the tiers, the Aviva Premiership clubs are ranked based on their League table finishing positions in advance of the knock-out phase. The Top 14 and PRO12 clubs are ranked based on their League performances and on their qualification for the knock-out phases. For clubs who did not qualify for the knock-out phases of their Leagues, or who were eliminated at the same stage of the knock-out phase, rankings are decided by League table finishing positions.

The 20 clubs will be divided into four tiers of five. A draw will be conducted in advance to establish Tier 1 with two of the three second-ranked clubs – Northampton Saints, Castres Olympique and Glasgow Warriors – joining Saracens, Toulon and Leinster in the top tier

Once Tier 1 has been established, the remaining three tiers will fall into place. The draw for the five pools will then be made based on the tiers, and during the draw, some clubs may have to be placed directly into a pool in order to ensure that certain key principles apply (see below).

In Tier 4, Sale Sharks and London Wasps will be drawn into pools which contain one other Aviva Premiership club, and Toulouse will be drawn into a pool which contains one other Top 14 club.

EPCR pool draws – key principles

• The 20 clubs are divided into four tiers based on their qualification position from their Leagues. This will be done in advance by a draw.
• Each of the five pools will have at least one club from each of the three Leagues.
• Each of the five pools will have one club from each of the four tiers.
• There will be no more than two clubs from the same League in a pool.
• No pool will contain two Pro12 clubs from the same country.
• Clubs from the same League will be kept apart until the allocation of the Tier 4 clubs.

The event will get underway with the Pool Draws for the 2014/15 European Rugby Challenge Cup at 12.00pm (Irish time) which will be followed immediately by the Pool Draws for the European Rugby Champions Cup.

Both draws will be broadcast live by BTsport.com, Sky Sports News, TG4 and will also be streamed live on www.epcrugby.com

Follow all the action on Twitter; @epcrugby #ERCCpooldraw