The Road to Cardiff 2025 gets underway tomorrow, Tuesday, 2 July, with the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup Pool Draws.
The draws will be presented by Sarra Elgan and Vincent Pochulu, and broadcast live on EPCRugby.com and EPCR TV
The 2024/25 season marks the 30th year of the flagship competition.
The Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup Pool Draws will take place in Cardiff tomorrow, Tuesday 2 July.
Rugby broadcasters Sarra Elgan and Vincent Pochulu will once again present the Pool Draws across both competitions, while Elma Smit will be drawing the balls.
The event will be streamed live on EPCR’s digital platforms, EPCRugby.com and EPCR TV, starting at 11.00 (UK-Irish time) / 12.00 (French-South African-Italian time) / 14.00 (Georgian time) with the EPCR Challenge Cup draw, followed by the Investec Champions Cup draw. at approximately 11.20 / 12.20 / 14.20.
CONFIRMED TIER 1 CLUBS
Following the conclusion of the French domestic league, with the TOP 14 Final taking place at Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome last Friday, the four Tier 1 clubs for tomorrow’s Investec Champions Cup pool draw have been confirmed.
Stade Toulousain completed a historic third Champions Cup and domestic league double, meaning the Investec Champions Cup runners-up Leinster Rugby will take the fourth Tier 1 spot.
Stade Toulousain will be looking to defend their title in the Investec Champions Cup and earn an unprecedented seventh star, while Leinster Rugby, losing finalists in the last three seasons, will be looking to take the crown and finally win a fifth star.
United Rugby Championship (URC) winners Glasgow Warriors will aim to take the next step up and push for Investec Champions Cup glory. Following their URC victory, Head Coach Franco Smit said of his squad: "They can be very proud. This team shouldn’t be done after tonight. We’ve got the building blocks to go further still." No doubt that ambition will be taken into next season’s Investec Champions Cup.
Meanwhile, Gallagher Premiership champions Northampton Saints – who ran Leinster close in front of a record 82,300 crowd at the Investec Champions Cup semi-final in Croke Park – will also be amongst the challengers targeting the title and breaking the streak of French club winners.
Elsewhere, Hollywoodbets Sharks – returning to the Investec Champions Cup having been crowned EPCR Challenge Cup champions at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last May – will want to make an impact and emulate their success in club rugby’s elite competition.
In the EPCR Challenge Cup, invitee clubs Toyota Cheetahs and Black Lion will once again be planning a strong run in their respective pools.
REMINDER OF KEY PRINCIPLES AND HOW THE DRAWS WORK
Investec Champions Cup
There will be four pools of six.
Each pool of six will contain two clubs from each of the leagues.
Clubs from the same URC Shiel cannot be in the same pool.
Irish qualifiers – Munster Rugby, Leinster Rugby and Ulster Rugby – will each be drawn or allocated into separate pools.
South African qualifiers Vodacom Bulls, DHL Stormers and Hollywoodbets Sharks cannot be in the same pool.
There will be no matches between clubs from the same league.
Each club will play four matches against four different clubs, who are note from the same league, either home or away.
Clubs will be divided into two tiers: Tier 1 and Tier 2.
The four Tier 1 clubs will be drawn first, with the first club going into Pool 1, the second club going into Pool 2 etc.
The remaining 20 clubs in Tier 2 will then be drawn or allocated into the pools.
If a club cannot be drawn into a pool in accordance with the key principles, then the club will be allocated to the next available pool
The process will then re-start at the pool into which the initial club could not be drawn.
EPCR Challenge Cup
There will be three pools of six.
Each pool of six will contain two TOP 14 clubs.
As the draw will include four Welsh clubs – Ospreys, Cardiff Rugby, Scarlets and Dragons RFC – one pool will have two Welsh representatives.
Since Edinburgh Rugby and Zebre Parma are from the same URC Shield, they cannot be in the same pool.
For the purposes of the draw, they will be grouped with the Welsh clubs.
A maximum of three URC clubs can be included in the same pool.
For the purposes of the draw, the two Gallagher Premiership qualifiers, Gloucester Rugby and Newcastle Falcons, as well as Connacht Rugby from Ireland, cannot be in the same pool.
The Emirates Lions, as well as the two invited clubs, Black Lion and the Toyota Cheetahs, cannot be in the same pool.
Only two of the following clubs can be included in the same pool: Ospreys, Emirates Lions, Edinburgh Rugby and Scarlets.
Clubs will play four different opponents either at home or away during the pool stage.
A limited number of same-league fixtures will be unavoidable.
All 18 club balls will be placed in the drum. The first club out will go into Pool 1, the second going into Pool 2 and the third club out of the drum going into Pool 3.
The draw will then continue on an ‘open’ basis with the next club out of the drum going into Pool 1, the following club out of the drum going into Pool 2, and so on in ascending numerical order until all club balls are drawn or allocated provided that the key principles are adhered to.
If a club cannot be drawn into a pool in accordance with the key principles, then the club will be allocated to the next available pool.
The process will then re-start at the pool into which the initial club could not be drawn.
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Connacht
Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby
USAP
Cardiff Rugby
Toyota Cheetahs
Zebre Parma
