Champions Cup Fixtures Revealed As Leinster Kick Off With La Rochelle Rematch
Hooker Dan Sheehan charges towards the try-line during Leinster's Heineken Champions Cup final showdown with La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium in May ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
The new season’s Heineken Champions Cup is set for an explosive start when Leinster and back-to-back champions La Rochelle renew rivalries during December’s opening round.
The 2023/24 Champions Cup pool fixtures, match venues and TV coverage details have been confirmed, and there are a multitude of mouth-watering contests across the four rounds of games.
Click here for the 2023/24 Heineken Championship pool fixtures.
24 of the best clubs and provinces on the planet will go head-to-head across four pools of six, with the action getting underway on the weekend of December 8/9/10. The top four in each pool will qualify for April’s round of 16.
Connacht are back in EPCR’s elite competition following their seventh place finish in the BKT United Rugby Championship last season. They will host Bordeaux-Bègles on the tournament’s opening night – Friday, December 8.
Pete Wilkins leads a new Connacht coaching team that includes former captain John Muldoon. The westerners will visit English champions Saracens and Lyon, before entertaining Pat Lam’s Bristol Bears in their final pool game on Friday, January 19.
Beaten in the last 16 in 2022/23, Ulster will begin their next Champions Cup campaign with pre-Christmas clashes with Bath (home) and Racing 92 (away). They will have home advantage against Toulouse before visiting Harlequins on Saturday, January 20.
Reigning BKT URC champions Munster will take on Bayonne and Northampton Saints in their home pool fixtures, in rounds 1 and 4 respectively. Sandwiched in between are trips to Exeter Chiefs and Toulon, who won the EPCR Challenge Cup in Dublin in May.
With South African Jacques Nienaber joining the coaching ticket, Leinster bookend their Pool 4 run with visits to La Rochelle’s Stade Marcel Deflandre, for a repeat of last season’s final, and Leicester Tigers, whom they played in last April’s quarter-finals.
Leo Cullen’s men, the runners-up in the last two editions of the Champions Cup, will be at home to Sale Sharks at the RDS, and Stade Francais at the Aviva Stadium, either side of the turn of the year.
EPCR Chairman Dominic McKay commented: “We are delighted to announce the details of EPCR’s 2023/24 pool fixtures five months before the tournaments get under way again in December.
“This has been a collaborative process and we thank the teams, leagues and our broadcast partners for their assistance in finalising the schedule in such a short period of time.
“We know the fans will be hugely excited about the fixtures and they are now able to plan their weekends well in advance. There are some intriguing clashes in the pool stages with world-class rugby for all to see.”
The schedule for the pool ties was determined by using an algorithm which took into consideration the new, improved tournament format, the outcome of the pool draw, league calendar restrictions, individual team calendar restrictions and broadcast requirements.
2023/24 HEINEKEN CHAMPIONS CUP:
– 24 elite team, 11 previous tournament winners and 40 EPCR titles
– Four pools of six
– Four pool rounds and four knockout stage rounds
– Four highest-ranked teams from each pool qualify for the knockout stages
– Fifth-ranked team in each pool qualifies for the EPCR Challenge Cup
Click here for the Heineken Champions Cup pools.
IRISH PROVINCES’ POOL FIXTURES:
CONNACHT – POOL 1
Round 1: Friday, December 8 – Connacht v Bordeaux-Bègles, the Sportsground, 8pm (TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport /FloRugby)
Round 2: Saturday, December 16 – Saracens v Connacht, Stonex Stadium, 1pm (TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 3: Saturday, January 13 – Lyon v Connacht, Matmut Stadium de Gerland, 2pm local time/1pm Irish time (beIN Sports/TNT Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 4: Friday, January 19 – Connacht v Bristol Bears, the Sportsground, 8pm (TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
LEINSTER – POOL 4
Round 1: Sunday, December 10 – La Rochelle v Leinster, Stade Marcel Deflandre, 4.15pm local time/3.15pm Irish time (France TV/beIN Sports/TNT Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 2: Saturday, December 16 – Leinster v Sale Sharks, the RDS, 5.30pm (RTÉ/TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 3: Saturday, January 13 – Leinster v Stade Francais, Aviva Stadium, 5.30pm (RTÉ/TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 4: Saturday, January 20 – Leicester Tigers v Leinster, Mattioli Woods Welford Road, 3.15pm (TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
MUNSTER – POOL 3
Round 1: Saturday, December 9 – Munster v Bayonne, Thomond Park, 5.30pm (RTÉ/TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 2: Sunday, December 17 – Exeter Chiefs v Munster, Sandy Park, 1pm (ITV/TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 3: Saturday, January 13 – Toulon v Munster, Stade Felix-Mayol, 4.15pm local time/3.15pm Irish time (beIN Sports/France TV/TNT Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 4: Saturday, January 20 – Munster v Northampton Saints, Thomond Park, 5.30pm (RTÉ/TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
ULSTER – POOL 2
Round 1: Saturday, December 9 – Bath v Ulster, the Recreation Ground, 3.15pm (TNT Sports/beIN Sports/ SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 2: Saturday, December 16 – Ulster v Racing 92, Kingspan Stadium, 8pm (TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 3: Saturday, January 13 – Ulster v Toulouse, Kingspan Stadium, 8pm (TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
Round 4: Saturday, January 20 – Harlequins v Ulster, Twickenham Stoop, 1pm (TNT Sports/beIN Sports/SuperSport/FloRugby)
2023/24 Match Weekends –
Round 1 – December 8/9/10
Round 2 – December 15/16/17
Round 3 – January 12/13/14
Round 4 – January 19/20/21
Round of 16 – April 5/6/7
Quarter-Finals – April 12/13/14
Semi-Finals – May 3/4/5
Champions Cup Final – Saturday, May 25, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Weekend tickets for both EPCR finals are on sale now, with fans able to access the best seats at the best prices. For information and to purchase tickets, please click here.