The Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup, the 2 annual European competitions, will kick off mid-November 2015 – due to the Rugby World Cup.
The 1st 2 Rounds of both continental competitions will be played from 12 to 15 November, at a time usually devoted to the year-end Tests.
The End-Of-Year internationals between the Northern and Southern hemispheres will not take place because of the Rugby World Cup, hosted in England from 18 September to 31 October 2015.
The tournaments will then revert to their customary dates in December and January, with the quarter-finals and semi-finals set for April and the finals on the weekend of 13 – 14 May 2016.
In order to avoid fixture congestion during May, the play-offs will have a shortened format and will feature only 1 club from each of the English Premiership, the French Top 14 and the Celtic Pro 12.
On top of that, there will be no play-offs for the 2016 – 2017 Champions Cup with the 20th place in the tournament going to the winner of the 2016 Challenge Cup if not already qualified.
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