Dragons RFC have today discovered the club’s shortlisted opponents in the EPCR Challenge Cup.
The Men of Gwent were today drawn - during the ceremony at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - in Pool 1 of the European tournament alongside Top 14 sides Section Paloise - for the second succesive season - and Oyonnax Rugby, BKT URC rivals Zebre Parma and Cell C Sharks and Invitee 1 (tbc).
The EPCR Challenge Cup has two TOP 14 clubs in each pool, and the clubs from the URC’s South African, Welsh and Scottish-Italian shields were kept apart during the draw, as were the two Premiership clubs and the two invitees.
Clubs will play four matches against four different opponents during the pool stage with same-league matches kept to a minimum, and only impacting clubs from the URC.
The draws, which were streamed live on EPCRugby.TV, were presented by Sarra Elgan (BT Sport) and Vincent Pochulu (beIN SPORTS) with Elma Smit as the ball drawer and Jacob Webster of Bird & Bird Solicitors as the official scrutineer.
The fixture schedules for both tournaments with dates, venues, kick-off times and TV coverage will be announced as soon as possible. Fixtures will be determined using an algorithm which will take into consideration the outcome of today’s draws, league calendar restrictions, individual club calendar restrictions and broadcast requirements.
2023/24 weekends
- Round 1 – 8/9/10 December 2023
- Round 2 – 15/16/17 December 2023
- Round 3 – 12/13/14 January 2024
- Round 4 – 19/20/21 January 2024
- Round of 16 – 5/6/7 April 2024
- Quarter-finals – 12/13/14 April 2024
- Semi-finals – 3/4/5 May 2024
- EPCR Challenge Cup final – Friday 24 May 2024, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
