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Date set for new-look pool stage draw for 2020/21 Champions Cup season
By Online Editors
The EPCR have confirmed the date for the draw for the new-look pool stage of the 2020/21 Heineken Champions Cup. The draw will be staged in Lausanne for the third successive year, taking place on Wednesday October 28. As previously announced, the new tournament format will see 24 clubs made up of eight representatives from each of the Gallagher Premiership, the Guinness Pro14 and the Top 14 drawn into two pools of 12 – Pool A and Pool B.
The clubs ranked numbers 1 and 2 in their leagues will be in Tier 1 for the purposes of the draw, the clubs ranked numbers 3 and 4 will be in Tier 2, the clubs ranked 5 and 6 will be in Tier 3, and the clubs ranked 7 and 8 will be in Tier 4.
Clubs from the same league who are in the same tier will not be drawn into the same pool.
Once the two pools are constituted, the new format demands that clubs will only play against opposition which has been drawn into the same pool, and in addition, clubs from the same league will not play against one another.
In order to create the fixtures, clubs in Tier 1 will play against clubs in Tier 4 and clubs in Tier 2 will play clubs in Tier 3. Each club will have four pool stage matches – two home and two away - and the new format will include an expanded knockout stage with quarter-finals played over two legs on consecutive weekends.
The top four clubs from each pool will secure their places in the quarter-finals with the clubs ranked fifth to eighth qualifying for the Round of 16 of the Challenge Cup.
The new Challenge Cup format does not necessitate a draw and the fixtures for the preliminary stage of the 2020/21 tournament will be announced in due course.
The 2020/21 Champions Cup season is due to kick-off on the weekend of December 11/12/13.
QUALIFIED CLUBS:
TIER 1: Leinster, Ulster, Exeter*, Wasps*, Bordeaux-Begles, Lyon/Racing 92**
*The Premiership finalists, Exeter Chiefs and Wasps, will be in Tier 1 for the purposes of the pool draw.
**If Racing 92 win this season’s Heineken Champions Cup they will become the No 1-ranked club from their league.
TIER 2: Edinburgh, Munster, Bristol, Bath, Racing 92/Lyon, Toulon
TIER 3: Scarlets, Connacht, Harlequins, Sale Sharks, La Rochelle, Clermont Auvergne
TIER 4: Glasgow Warriors, Dragons, Toulouse, Montpellier, Gloucester, Northampton Saints
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Latest Comments
Australia definitely the game of the weekend. Wallabies by 3.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
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