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Saracens handed belter of an opening Champions Cup tie as 2019/20 fixtures confirmed
Having last season become the first Premiership club to win Europe’s blue-riband club tournament for the third time, reigning champions Saracens will begin the defence of their title with a mouthwatering Heineken Champions Cup clash against Racing 92 at Paris La Defense Arena on Sunday, 17 November.
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The Pool 4 confrontation is only one of a host of top-quality matches in the fixture schedules for all six rounds of the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup which have been announced by tournament organisers EPCR.
The opening round will also see Bath pitted against Ulster in Pool 3 at the Recreation Ground on November 16, while the first shots of the landmark 25th season of European professional club rugby will be fired when Toulouse, the winners of the inaugural tournament in 1996 and the current TOP 14 champions, travel to Gloucester on November 15.
Last May’s beaten finalists Leinster, the reigning Guinness PRO14 champions, take on Benetton, who last season became the first Italian club to qualify by right for Europe’s top tier, at the RDS in Pool 1 on November 16 and the Irish province will then come up against a resurgent Northampton Saints in the key December back-to-back matches.
Clermont, who won the 2019 Challenge Cup in such impressive style, will once again pack out the Stade Marcel-Michelin for their opening Pool 3 game against Harlequins also on November 16.
? 2019/20 FIXTURES ARE HERE ?
Reigning champions @Saracens kick off against French giants @racing92 in a tasty Round 1 clash ??
Which #Heineken #ChampionsCup match-up are you most excited for?? ?
*All kick offs local time
All fixtures ?https://t.co/4seumyxMhz pic.twitter.com/TkVXVSfMNT
— Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) August 23, 2019
Other highlights of the crucial back-to-back fixtures in Rounds 3 and 4 include the meetings of Munster and Saracens, as well as the head-to-heads between Bath and Clermont, Glasgow Warriors and La Rochelle, and Harlequins and Ulster.
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Ahead of the 2020 finals in Marseille next May, all 60 matches in Rounds 1 to 6 of the Heineken Champions Cup will be broadcast live in the UK, Ireland and Italy on either BT Sport, Channel 4, Virgin Media or DAZN, and in France on beIN SPORTS and France Télévisions.
This season, the Challenge Cup has seven former European title winners – Brive, Cardiff Blues, Leicester Tigers, Pau, Toulon, Stade Francais and Wasps – in its ranks and the tournament kicks off on November 15 with the Pool 1 meeting of Enisei-STM and Worcester in Krasnodar, the clash of Agen and Edinburgh at Stade Armandie, as well as the all-French match-ups between Bayonne and Toulon, and Stade Francais and Brive.
The following day, Leicester take on Pau at Welford Road, the Scarlets and the Dragons are at home against London Irish and Castres Olympique respectively, Wasps are at Bordeaux-Begles, Bristol host Zebre and the Cardiff make the journey to Calvisano.
In addition to confirming the fixtures schedule, EPCR can rubber-stamped that for at least the 2019/20 season a player who is a UK citizen will be regarded as a European player for the purposes of its tournaments.
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WATCH: Saracens’ talisman Maro Itoje talks to the media ahead of England’s World Cup warm-up match versus Ireland
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments