EPCR announce significant rule changes to Champions Cup and Challenge Cup

European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) have announced a couple of major changes to the rules of the Investec Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, which will come into effect from next season.

Following a plethora of blowout scorelines in the 2025/26 season, EPCR bosses have decided to follow the example of the Top 14 and award try bonus points to the winning tean scoring three or more tries than their opponents, rather than the current system which rewards teams, whether they win or lose, if they cross the whitewash on four or more occasions.

In addition to the Top 14, the three-try differential rule has also been adopted in recent years by other leading competitions such as The Rugby Championship, the Rugby Europe Championship and Super Rugby.

Meanwhile, the losing bonus point criteria remains the same, with teams earning a bonus point if they finish within seven points or fewer of the opposition.

The second change is designed to add more jeopardy in the pool stages, with a top-four place no longer guaranteeing teams safe passage through to the Round of 16. Instead, the top three teams in each pool plus the next four teams with the highest number of points regardless of what pool they are in, will go through.

Qualification for the Challenge Cup Round of 16 will follow the same methodology, but adapted to suit the slightly different configuration of the competition. As such, the three highest-ranked clubs in each pool will automatically qualify for the Round of 16, with the remaining three places going to the three teams with the highest number of match points across all pools.

While there was some speculation that a Spanish representative side might be involved, Georgia’s Black Lion and South Africa’s Toyota Cheetahs have once again been confirmed as the two teams invited to take part in the Challenge Cup.

Black Lion has been invited to participate for a further two seasons, while the  Cheetahs return for the upcoming campaign, completing the 18-team competition line-up.

The pool draws for both competitions will take place in Dublin tomorrow (Wednesday, 1 July).