Double winners Saracens will meet RC Toulon, Scarlets and Sale Sharks in Pool 3 of the European Rugby Champions Cup following the pool draws for EPCR’s tournaments which took place today (Wednesday, 29 June) in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Saracens became only the fourth team to complete a domestic league and European Cup double last season when they beat Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final in Lyon and then overpowered Exeter Chiefs in the Aviva Premiership final at Twickenham. Mark McCall’s side will lock horns with Toulon, who they dethroned in Lyon last season.
Drawn in Tier 1 with the Top 14 champions, Racing 92, the Guinness PRO12 winners, Connacht Rugby, and Leinster Rugby and Exeter Chiefs, Saracens, who became the first English club to win the top European title since Wasps in 2007, made history last season by becoming the first side to win all nine matches in a season.
The next landmark for them to chase is the 13 match winning streak enjoyed by Munster Rugby between 2005/06 and 2006/07. To break that record they will have to win their first five Pool matches next season.
The draw means the champions of the last four seasons – RC Toulon in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and Saracens in 2016 – will meet in the same pool, while the Scarlets will be flying the flag for the Welsh regions alongside them.
Racing 92, who were beaten by Saracens in the Champions Cup final last season but then beat RC Toulon to the French title in Barcelona, will meet Glasgow Warriors, Leicester Tigers and Munster Rugby in Pool 1. They met the Warriors in the Pool stages last season, while Tigers and Munster are old rivals, having met in the 2002 European Cup final in Cardiff.
Guinness PRO12 winners Connacht Rugby, who qualified for the top tournament by right for the first time last season, will tackle Wasps, Toulouse and Zebre in Pool 2. They have already beaten Toulouse in France in the 2013/14 campaign and will be hoping to go better than the quarter-final place they managed in last season’s Challenge Cup.
English Premiership runners-up Exeter Chiefs will get another chance to take on French sides ASM Clermont Auvergne and Bordeaux-Begles in Pool 5. The three teams clashed last season in the pool stages and are joined by Ulster Rugby in Pool 5.
Three-time European Cup winners Leinster Rugby, who were beaten by Connacht in the PRO12 final, will re-new rivalry with their 2011 European Cup final opponents Northampton Saints in Pool 4. They also meet Montpellier and Castres Olympique.
2016/17 Champions Cup pools:
Pool 1: Racing 92, Glasgow Warriors, Leicester Tigers, Munster Rugby
Pool 2: Connacht Rugby, Wasps, Toulouse, Zebre
Pool 3: Saracens, RC Toulon, Scarlets, Sale Sharks
Pool 4: Leinster Rugby, Montpellier, Northampton Saints, Castres Olympique
Pool 5: Exeter Chiefs, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Ulster Rugby, Bordeaux-Begles
EPCR weekends – 2016/17 season:
Round 1: 13/14/15/16 October
Round 2: 20/21/22/23 October
Round 3: 8/9/10/11 December
Round 4: 15/16/17/18 December
Round 5: 12/13/14/15 January 2017
Round 6: 19/20/21/22 January 2017
Quarter-finals: 30/31 March – 1/2 April 2017
Semi-finals: 21/22/23 April 2017
Finals Edinburgh 2017:
European Rugby Challenge Cup final: Friday, 12 May, BT Murrayfield Stadium
European Rugby Champions Cup final: Saturday, 13 May, BT Murrayfield Stadium
Challenge Cup Draw:
Last season’s European Rugby Challenge Cup runners-up Harlequins will face the team they beat in the 2011 final to take the title for a third time in Pool 5 of next season’s tournament.
Following the draw for the 2016/17 tournament in Neuchatel, Switzerland today (Wednesday) 29 June) Harlequins and Stade Francais Paris will meet 2015 runners-up Edinburgh Rugby and Romanian qualifiers Timisoara Saracens.
“We want to go one better than last season. We were very proud to reach the final, but ultimately hugely disappointed because we are not used to losing finals,” said Harlequins new director of rugby John Kingston.
“We have a strong history with Stade Francais and huge respect for Edinburgh, who reached the final two years ago. But it will be a step into the unknown for us to Romania.
“It’s great to see teams from other countries getting an opportunity, but we certainly won’t be underestimating them.”
While Harlequins are the tournament’s most successful side with three wins and a fourth final, Stade Francais have been beaten twice in the finals of both European competitions in the past. Quins wing Tim Visser will be up against his former club, Edinburgh, and will fancy the chance of taking his new side to BT Murrayfield for the final.
The 2015 champions, Gloucester Rugby, will have some familiar foes in Pool 1 with La Rochelle returning to Kingsholm. The two teams were in the same pool last season, and the west country side will also have Italian opposition once more, with Benetton Treviso taking the place of Zebre.
The pool is made up by Bayonne, who return to European competition after emerging from PROD2 last season. There are also two French cubs in Pool 2, where last season’s semi-finalists Grenoble and joined by the PROD2 champions Lyon.
The Ospreys will make their first appearance in the tournament in the same Pool and Newcastle Falcons will complete the line-up. In Pool 3, Brive and Russian qualifiers Enisei-STM will re-new their rivalry from last season.
The Newport Gwent Dragons head coach, Kingsley Jones, should know a little bit about the Enisei team having been the Russian national coach in the past. That pool is completed by Worcester Warriors.
In Pool 4, Bristol Rugby, the winners of the English Championship title, will return to European action for the first time since 2009. Their director of rugby, Andy Robinson, will get the chance to return to the club he captained and then coached to the 1998 European Cup title, Bath Rugby.
Joining them will be Pau and 2010 Challenge Cup winners, Cardiff Blues. That means a possible return to the BT Sport Arms Park for Bristol’s Gavin Henson.
“It’s a massively exciting draw with two English teams and Pau, who have so many star players. It’s undoubtedly a very tough group and you only had to see the calibre of teams in just tier one to see the quality of this tournament,” said Blues head coach Danny Wilson, who used to coach at Bristol.
“Bath will be really strong. They had a difficult year last season but they have too much quality for that to happen again and they will be targeting this competition as a route to get back into the Champions Cup.”
“They have achieved their long-standing target of returning to the English top flight and it’s great to be drawn with them. To have these big derbies against big budget teams in big stadiums is a brilliant challenge and one we are looking forward to.”
2016/17 Challenge Cup Pools:
Pool 1: La Rochelle, Gloucester Rugby, Benetton Treviso, Bayonne
Pool 2: Ospreys, Grenoble, Newcastle Falcons, Lyon
Pool 3: Brive, Worcester Warriors, NG Dragons, Enisei STM
Pool 4: Cardiff Blues, Bath Rugby, Pau, Bristol Rugby
Pool 5: Harlequins, Edinburgh Rugby, Stade Francais Paris, Timisoara Saracens
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