Both draws will be streamed live on www.epcrugby.com and on official tournament Facebook channels.
The event
For the purposes of creating the tiers, the clubs are ranked based on their finishing positions in the TOP 14, Premiership, Guinness PRO12, PRO D2 and Greene King IPA Championship leagues, or on their qualification from the Continental Shield.
The key principles and key steps integral to the Pool Draw are explained below.
European Rugby Challenge Cup Key principles
- The 20 clubs which have qualified on merit from the Premiership, the Greene King IPA Championship, the Guinness PRO12, the TOP 14, the PRO D2, and from the Continental Shield will compete in the 2017/18 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 Continental Shield. 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 Premiership, the Guinness PRO12 and the TOP 14.
- There will be no more than two clubs from the same league in a pool.
- No pool will contain two Guinness PRO12 clubs from the same country.
- Clubs from the same league will be kept apart until the Tier 4 allocation.
- A club from the Continental Shield cannot be drawn
into a pool which contains two TOP 14 clubs or two Premiership clubs.
EPCR key dates – 2017/18 season
Round 1: 12/13/14/15 October
Round 2: 19/20/21/22 October
Round 3: 7/8/9/10 December
Round 4: 14/15/16/17 December
Round 5: 11/12/13/14 January 2018
Round 6: 18/19/20/21 January 2018
Quarter-finals: 29/30/31 March – 1 April 2018
Semi-finals: 20/21/22 April 2018
Bilbao Finals 2018
Challenge Cup final: Friday 11 May, San Mamés Stadium
Champions Cup final: Saturday 12 May, San Mamés Stadium
