EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP GUIDE

HOW IT WORKS

The European Challenge Cup has a new format for this season.

THE NEW LOOK

This season’s European Challenge Cup begins with 14 clubs in a single pool - six from the TOP 14, four from the Gallagher Premiership and four from the PRO14.

The revised programme for both the European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup has been agreed on an exceptional basis against the backdrop of Covid-19 and its ongoing impact on the professional club game.

The Heineken Champions Cup is contested by 24 clubs, drawn into two pools of 12 and playing four matches in the qualifying stages. The top four in each pool will progress to home-and-away quarter-finals, followed by the semi-finals and final in Marseille on May 22.

The clubs ranked fifth to eighth in each pool of the Champions Cup will enter the knockout stages of the Challenge Cup.

CHALLENGE CUP

Leicester Tigers and Brive are the only two previous European Cup winners in this season’s Challenge Cup, where Worcester Warriors, London Irish and Newcastle Falcons complete the English entry for the preliminary stage this year.

The Challenge Cup features two head coaches - Yannick Bru of Agen and Steve Borthwick - who won the trophy as a player. Borthwick was captain of Bath when they lifted the trophy in 2008, with Bru playing for the victorious Colomiers team a decade earlier.

PRELIMINARY STAGE

Clubs from the same nation are kept apart in the preliminary stages of the Challenge Cup and play twice at home and twice away in the pool stage, with Tigers drawn against French duo Brive and Bayonne.

Placings in the pool are determined by match points gained. In the event of teams sitting level on match points at any stage, ranking will be decided as follows:

(i) (ii) (iii)

(iv) points difference, then if equal, tries scored, then if equal, fewest number of players suspended for disciplinary incidents, then if equal, by drawing lots.

ROUND OF 16

The leading eight clubs after the preliminary stage progress to the new Round of 16 where they will be joined by eight representatives from the Heineken Champions Cup pool stages.

These games will be played on the opening weekend in April 2021.

The top four Challenge Cup clubs will be ranked 1-4, with the Heineken Champions Cup clubs ranked 5-12 based on the usual criteria of match points, aggregate points difference, tries scored etc. The four remaining Challenge Cup clubs will be ranked 13-16.

The four highest-ranked Challenge Cup qualifiers and the four highest-ranked Heineken Champions Cup qualifiers will have home advantage in the Round of 16 as follows:

CC 1 (ranked 1) CC 2 (ranked 2) CC 3 (ranked 3) CC 4 (ranked 4) HCC 4 (ranked 8) HCC 3 (ranked 7) HCC 2 (ranked 6) HCC 1 (ranked 5) v v v v v v v v HCC 8 (ranked 12) HCC 7 (ranked 11) HCC 6 (ranked 10) HCC 5 (ranked 9) CC 5 (ranked 13) CC 6 (ranked 14) CC 7 (ranked 15) CC 8 (ranked 16)

LAST EIGHT

The quarter-finals are scheduled for the weekend following the Round of 16 in April. Home venue advantage is awarded to the highest-ranked clubs, with the draw as follows:

QF 1: QF 2: QF 3: QF 4: winner CC 1/HCC 8 v winner HCC 4/CC 5 winner CC 3/HCC 6 v winner HCC 2/CC 7 winner CC 2/HCC 7 v winner HCC 3/CC 6 winner CC4/HCC 5 v winner HCC 1/CC 8

LATER STAGES

The semi-finals are scheduled for the weekend of April 30 with home venue advantage awarded to the highest-ranked clubs, as follows:

Semi-final 1: Semi-final 2: winner QF1 v winner QF2 winner QF3 v winner QF4

AND FINALLY…

The European Challenge Cup Final is scheduled in Marseille on Friday, May 21, 2021, with the Heineken Champions Cup to follow on a day later.

In the event of a tie at full-time in the Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals or final, extra-time of 10 minutes each way will be played. If the scores remain tied, the winner will be determined as follows:

(a)

(b) the club that scored the most tries in the match (including extra-time) or if equal, by a place kick competition.