Warriors will find out their opponents for the 2015/16 European Rugby Challenge Cup when the Pool Draw takes place this Wednesday 17 June in Neuchatel, Switzerland (1.15pm).
The Challenge Cup draw, followed by the Champions Cup draw, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports News.
The key principles and key steps integral to the Pool Draw are explained below.
Key principles
• The 20 clubs which have qualified on merit from the Aviva Premiership, Greene King IPA Championship, Guinness PRO12, Top 14, PRO D2, and the Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition, will compete in the 2015/16 European Rugby Challenge Cup in five pools of four.
• The clubs are divided into four tiers based on the qualification positions from their respective leagues and on the Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition. A draw will be carried out in advance of the Pool Draw proper to complete the tiers.
• Each of the five pools will include one club from each of the four tiers.
• Each pool will have at least one club from the Aviva Premiership, Top 14 and PRO12.
• There will be no more than two clubs from the same league in a pool.
• No pool will contain two PRO12 clubs from the same country.
• Clubs from the same league will be kept apart until the Tier 4 allocation.
• A club from the Qualifying Competition cannot be drawn into a pool which contains two French clubs or two English clubs. As one club from the Qualifying Competition is from Italy, it cannot be drawn in the same pool as Zebre during the Tier 4 allocation.
European Rugby Challenge Cup qualification
For the purposes of creating the tiers, the clubs are ranked based on their finishing positions in the Top 14, Aviva Premiership, PRO12, PRO D2 and Greene King IPA Championship leagues, or on their qualification from the Qualifying Competition.
Rank
Rank 1 – Montpellier, Sale Sharks, Connacht Rugby
Rank 2 – La Rochelle, Harlequins, Edinburgh Rugby
Rank 3 – Brive, Gloucester Rugby, Newport Gwent Dragons
Rank 4 – Grenoble, London Irish, Cardiff Blues
Rank 5 – Castres Olympique, Newcastle Falcons, Zebre Rugby
Rank 6 – Pau, Worcester Warriors
Rank 7 – Agen
Qualifying Competition – Cammi Rugby Calvisano (Italy, Enisei-STM (Russia)
Tier 1
Tier 1 will include the three first-ranked clubs from the Top 14, Aviva Premiership and PRO12.
Tier 1 will also include two of the three second-ranked clubs from the Top 14, Aviva Premiership and PRO12. The two clubs will be decided by a draw in advance of the Pool Draw.
Tier 2
Tier 2 will include the three clubs which are ranked third from the Top 14, Aviva Premiership and PRO12.
Tier 2 will also include the second-ranked club which was not drawn into Tier 1, and the club which is ranked fourth from the same league as the club which was not drawn into Tier 1.
Tier 3
Tier 3 will include the two clubs ranked fourth which are not in Tier 2. Tier 3 will also include the three clubs which are ranked fifth from each league.
Tier 4
Tier 4 will include the remaining clubs from the Top 14 and/or Aviva Premiership and the two clubs from the Qualifying Competition.
How the draw works
Upon direction from the MCs, one person will draw the club balls and another person will draw the pool balls.
Step 1
For the purposes of the Pool Draw, all four Tiers must be must established at this point. A draw has to be made to establish the five Tier 1 clubs, and once Tier 1 is confirmed, Tiers 2, 3 and 4 fall into place as per the key principles above.
The draw now takes place to establish which two clubs from the three second-ranked clubs – ie. La Rochelle, Harlequins and Edinburgh Rugby – will join Montpellier, Sale Sharks and Connacht Rugby in Tier 1.
The La Rochelle, Harlequins and Edinburgh Rugby balls are placed in the bowl, and two clubs are then drawn into Tier 1.
Tier 1 clubs: Montpellier, Sale Sharks, Connacht Rugby (plus two more teams)
Step 2
Once the Tier 1 clubs are established, the five Tier 2 clubs can be confirmed as follows: the three third-ranked clubs – Brive, Gloucester Rugby and Newport Gwent Dragons – will be joined by a team who were not drawn into Tier 1, and by another team, who are the fourth-ranked club from another league.
Tier 2 clubs: Brive, Gloucester Rugby, Newport Gwent Dragons (plus two more teams)
Step 3
Once the Tier 2 clubs are established, the five Tier 3 clubs can be confirmed as follows: the two remaining fourth-ranked clubs – and the three fifth-ranked clubs: Castres Olympique, Newcastle Falcons and Zebre.
Tier 3 clubs: Castres Olympique, Newcastle Falcons, Zebre (plus two more teams)
The clubs in Tier 4 are therefore:
Tier 4 clubs: Pau, Agen, Worcester Warriors, Cammi Rugby Calvisano (Italy), Enisei-STM (Russia)
Step 4
Each of the five Tier 1 clubs are drawn, followed by a pool number for that club.
Step 5
Draw for the five Tier 2 clubs. As each club ball is selected, a draw is then made to allocate the club a pool from the available pools based on the key principles above. Some clubs may have to be placed directly into a pool in order to ensure the key principles apply.
Step 6
Draw for the five Tier 3 clubs.
Again, as each club ball is selected, a draw will then be made to allocate the club a pool from the available pools based on the key principles above. Some clubs may have to be placed directly into a pool in order to ensure the key principles apply.
Step 7
Draw for the five Tier 4 clubs.
Cammi Rugby Calvisano from the Qualifying Competition will be drawn first as they cannot be drawn into the same pool as Zebre.
The remaining clubs Pau, Agen, Worcester Warriors and Enisei-STM will then be drawn into pools without restriction.
Some clubs may have to be placed directly into a pool in order to ensure the key principles apply.
2015/16 Tournament weekends
Round 1: 12/13/14/15 November 2015
Round 2: 19/20/21/22 November 2015
Round 3: 10/11/12/13 December 2015
Round 4: 17/18/19/20 December 2015
Round 5: 14/15/16/17 January 2016
Round 6: 21/22/23/24 January 2016
Quarter-finals: 7/8/9/10 April 2016
Semi-finals: 22/23/24 April 2016
Finals: 13/14 May 2016