URC defending champions, the Stormers, now face an even bigger test in the Champions Cup. Picture: Michael Sheehan/Gallo Images
With the five South African franchises set to get down to business in the Champions and Challenge Cup competitions this weekend, The Citizen looks at the complicated structure of the two competitions.
The 2022/23 Champions Cup will be competed for by 24 clubs with eight teams from each of the United Rugby Championship (URC), English Premiership and French Top 14 club competitions.
The 24 clubs are separated into four tiers based on their rankings from last season, and then drawn into two pools, A and B, with clubs from the same league in the same tier not drawn into the same pool.
The Tier 1 and the Tier 4 clubs in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, play one another home and away during the pool stage, as do the Tier 2 and Tier 3 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league.
The tournament will be played over eight weekends with the four rounds of matches in the pool stage starting on Saturday.
The eight highest ranked clubs from each pool will qualify for the knockout stage which will consist of a round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the showpiece final at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in May.
La Rochelle are the defending champions after they beat Leinster in last season’s final back in June.
URC: Stormers, Bulls, Leinster, Ulster, Sharks, Munster, Edinburgh, Ospreys
French Top 14: Castres Olympique, Montpellier Hérault, Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Stade Toulousain, Stade Rochelais, Racing 92, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Lyon
English Premiership: Leicester Tigers, Saracens, Harlequins, Northampton Saints, Gloucester Rugby, Sale Sharks, Exeter Chiefs, London Irish
SA team fixtures (all on Saturday)
Sharks v Harlequins – 3pm
Clermont v Stormers – 5:15pm
Bulls v Lyon – 7:30pm
The Challenge Cup is made up of teams who did not qualify for the Champions Cup, from the three major club competitions, and will feature 18 teams split into two pools, with 10 teams in pool A and eight teams in pool B.
English Premiership sides Worcester Warriors and Wasps were supposed to take part in the competition but were removed after they went into administration, while South African side the Cheetahs were invited to take part in this season’s edition.
Each team has been drawn against two sides, which they will each play home and away in the pool stage of the competition.
The top five teams from each pool will then progress to the last 16 phase of the competition, where they will be joined by the teams ranked ninth to 11th from the two Champions Cup pools, from which they will compete in the knockouts until the final at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in May.
Lyon are the current Challenge Cup champions after beating Toulon in last season’s final, however they are in the Champions Cup, so will only defend their title if they drop into the Challenge Cup in the last 16.
URC: Glasgow Warriors, Connacht, Lions, Scarlets, Benetton, Cardiff, Dragons, Zebre
French Top 14: Bayonne, Brive, Pau, Perpignan, Stade Francais, Toulon
English Premiership: Bath, Bristol Bears, Newcastle Falcons
Invited: Cheetahs
SA team fixtures (all on Saturday)
Lions v Dragons – 12:45pm
Pau v Cheetahs – 3pm
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
