Champions Cup rugby draw: Pool stage confirmed as Saracens face Munster, Exeter drawn with Glasgow
The draws for next season's European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup were made on Wednesday afternoon to throw up a daunting campaign for reigning champion Saracens, as they were placed alongside two-time winners Munster and recent finalists Racing 92, as well as Welsh side Ospreys.
Having won the 2018/19 Champions Cup final last month against Leinster, Saracens' reward was arguably the toughest pool drawn out of the five that will make up next season's European group stage, which gets underway in mid-November following the Rugby World Cup. Elsewhere, Exeter Chiefs will take on Glasgow Warriors in pool two, resulting in Stuart Hogg heading back to his former club at the earliest opportunity, with two pair pooled alongside La Rochelle and Sale Sharks.
Pool one sees beaten finalists Leinster take on Lyon, Northampton Saints and Bentton Rugby, wile in pool three recently-crowned Challenge Cup winners Clermont Auvergne will face Ulster, Harlequins and Bath. In pool five, Toulouse take on Gloucester, Connacht and Montpellier. Re-live how the draw was made.
Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of today's European rugby draws as the pool stages for next season's Champions Cup and Challenge Cup are unveiled.
The draw begins at 1pm BST (2pm CET) with the Challenge Cup, before being followed by the draw for the main event in the Champions Cup.
The 2019/20 season is set to be the longest in living memory as Rugby World Cup preparations kick off this month, 11 months before the season-ending finals next month.
But the European season is set to do the opposite as the pool stages get underway a month later in November, meaning three consecutive double-headers in November, December and January before normal service resumes after the Six Nations.
With that in mind, here's how the European season shapes up in 2019/20:
EPCR weekends – 2019/20 season Round 1: 15/16/17 November 2019 Round 2: 22/23/24 November 2019 Round 3: 6/7/8 December 2019 Round 4: 13/14/15 December 2019 Round 5: 10/11/12 January 2020 Round 6: 17/18/19 January 2020 Quarter-finals: 3/4/5 April 2020 Semi-finals: 1/2/3 May 2020
2020 finals – Stade de Marseille Challenge Cup final – Friday 22 May Heineken Champions Cup final – Saturday 23 May
With the Champions Cup draw up the main event, let's take a closer look at who's in the mix.
Four-time champions Toulouse and Leinster both feature, with the Irish province missing out on the chance to become the first club to make it to five in last month's final defeat against Saracens, who by winning the showpiece event in Newcastle became only the fourth club to claim the European crown three times along with Toulon.
In total, there are 16 past titles in this year's competition, with other former champions coming in the form of Munster (twice), Northampton Saints, Ulster and Bath.
In terms of those sides to look out for who have not yet taken top honours, no side has come closer than Clermont Auvergne, having finished runners-up on three occasions. But after winning the Challenge Cup and reaching the Top 14 final last weekend only to come unstuck to Toulouse, Clermont look to be back on the way up.
La Rochelle are also a side who will not be a welcome team to draw, while Glasgow are possibly the most dangerous attacking side in the tournament who would cause major problems for the established sides.
Exeter Chiefs however will be one to watch, mainly as last year's European disappointment combined with the heartbreak of losing the Premiership final could either bring out the best or worst of them in Europe next season.
With Europe's heavyweight clubs all in the mix for today's draw, it's only fair that we have some heavyweight names to carry it out.
Rugby World Cup winner Bryan Habana joins former France scrum-half and Heineken Cup winner Dimitri Yachvili as the men responsible for the draw, with BT Sport's Sarra Elgan Easterby and Matthieu Lartot of Stade2 hosting the draw.
We're beginning with the Challenge Cup, which last season saw an all-French final between Clermont Auvergne and La Rochelle play out at St James' Park. However, two English sides did make it through to the last four in the form of Sale Sharks and Gloucester, so will it be an Anglo-French affair once again or can one of the three Welsh teams get themselves in the mix, or perhaps the entries from Scotland, Italy and even Russia.
So before we can get underway, we need to draw the tiers that will decide how the clubs are drawn.
Both Stade Francais and Cardiff Blues are drawn into the top tier, with Bristol and Leicester placed into tier two and Bordeaux-Begles put into tier three.
Tier One: Castres, Wasps, Scarlets, Stade Francais, Cardiff Blues
A bit of housekeeping: There can be no more than two clubs from the same league, apart from Rugby Calvisano who cannot go into the same pool as fellow Italians Zebre.
