EPCR Pool Draws For 2022/23 Season

20th June 2022 By The Editor

Next season's Champions Cup Pool stage begins in December. Inpho

The EPCR have confirmed seedings for next year’s Champions Cup with Munster to face off against one French team (Bordeaux-Bègles or Stade Toulousain) and one English team (Harlequins or Northampton Saints) in the Pool stages.

See the full EPCR press release below.

As previously communicated, the pool draws for the 2022/23 Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup tournaments will be staged at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Tuesday, 28 June.

Both draws will be streamed live on www.epcrugby.com and the event will start at 12pm Irish time with the draw for the EPCR Challenge Cup pools which will be followed by the Heineken Champions Cup draw at approximately 12.25pm.

For the Heineken Champions Cup draw, which will feature the Stormers, Bulls and Sharks from South Africa for the first time, the 24 qualified clubs will be in four tiers based on their rankings from the TOP 14, Gallagher Premiership and the URC, before being drawn into two pools of 12 – Pool A and Pool B. Clubs from the same league in the same tier will not be drawn into the same pool. (See qualifiers and tiers below)

The number 1 and number 2 ranked clubs from each league will be in Tier 1 – this includes Castres Olympique and Montpellier Hérault Rugby who will compete in TOP 14 final on Friday – the number 3 and number 4 ranked clubs will be in Tier 2, the number 5 and 6 ranked clubs will be in Tier 3, and the number 7 and number 8 ranked clubs will be Tier 4.

The Tier 1 and the Tier 4 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away over four pool stage rounds, as will the Tier 2 and Tier 3 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league.

For example, the Stormers, who won last weekend’s URC Grand Final, will be in Tier 1 and will be drawn against either ASM Clermont Auvergne or Lyon, and against either the Exeter Chiefs or London Irish from Tier 4.

Similarly, Leicester Tigers, who triumphed in the Premiership final, will also be in Tier 1 and will be drawn against either ASM Clermont Auvergne or Lyon, and against either Edinburgh Rugby or Ospreys from Tier 4.

Meanwhile, the losing TOP 14 semi-finalists, Union Bordeaux-Bègles and Stade Toulousain, who will be in Tier 2, will be drawn against either Gloucester Rugby or Sale Sharks, and against either the Sharks or Munster Rugby from Tier 3.

Once the draws have been concluded for the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, EPCR will prepare the fixture schedules for both tournaments with an announcement of exact dates, venues, kick-off times and TV coverage to follow as soon as practicable.

The 2022/23 season will be played over eight weekends with four rounds of matches in the pool stage starting in December, followed by a knockout stage consisting of a Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, culminating in the Dublin finals at the Aviva Stadium on 19 and 20 May 2023.

2022/23 Heineken Champions Cup Qualifiers

United Rugby Championship: 1 Stormers, 2 Bulls, 3 Leinster Rugby, 4 Ulster Rugby, 5 Sharks, 6 Munster Rugby, 7 Edinburgh Rugby, 8 Ospreys.

TOP 14: Castres Olympique, Montpellier Hérault Rugby, 3 Union Bordeaux-Bègles, 4 Stade Toulousain, 5 Stade Rochelais, 6 Racing 92, 7 ASM Clermont Auvergne, 8 Lyon.

Gallagher Premiership: 1 Leicester Tigers, 2 Saracens, 3 Harlequins, 4 Northampton Saints, 5 Gloucester Rugby, 6 Sale Sharks, 7 Exeter Chiefs, 8 London Irish.