2025 Champions Cup Draw: Leinster vs. La Rochelle Again; Munster in Pool with Bath

Next season's Champions Cup opponents:

We will face Bath, Toulon, Castres & Gloucester in the pool stages with fellow URC side Edinburgh also taking their place in Pool 2.

It wouldn’t be the Champions Cup without Leinster against La Rochelle, would it? They are in the same pool once more. Quite even groups, eyecatching to see the defeated finalists Bordeaux and Northampton in the same pool. Both Irish teams avoid them, however.

Champions Cup draw:

Pool 1: Toulouse, Clermont Auvergne, Sharks, Saracens, Glasgow Warriors, Sale

Pool 2: Bath Rugby, RC Toulon, Munster Rugby, Castres Olympique, Edinburgh Rugby, Gloucester Rugby

Pool 3: Leinster Rugby, Leicester Tigers, Harlequins, La Rochelle, Aviron Bayonnais, DHL Stormers

Pool 4: Bordeaux Bègles, Scarlets, Bristol Bears, Section Paloise, Northampton Saints, Bulls

Now they are going through all the 24 clubs in the Champions Cup and the pool regulations. A reminder that Munster and Leinster can’t be in the same pool, and Leinster are in Tier 1, so they can’t play Bordeaux, Bath or Toulouse. Ian Madigan going to show us each ball before it goes into the pot again.

Challenge Cup

Pool 1: Ospreys, Zebre Parma, Montpellier, Benetton Rugby, Racing 92, Connacht Rugby

Pool 2: Lyon, Newcastle Falcons, Dragons RFC, US Montauban, Lions, USAP

Pool 3: Toyota Cheetahs, Cardiff Rugby, Exeter Chiefs, Black Lion, Stade Francais, Ulster Rugby

That’s the Challenge Cup pools sorted. Two top 14 teams for Connacht, clubs from five different countries for Ulster in their pool.

Champions Cup draw to follow after a short break.

Challenge Cup is going to be up first, Ian Madigan showing us all the balls first in a painstaking fashion before putting them all in the pot.

No sign of the draw just yet, but should be coming shortly.

EDIT: Here we go... some recap fluff first.

Here are the teams in the both competitions:

2025/26 Champions Cup qualifiers

Top 14: Stade Toulousain, Union Bordeaux Bègles, RC Toulon, Aviron Bayonnais, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Castres Olympique, Stade Rochelais , Section Paloise

Gallagher Premiership: Bath Rugby, Leicester Tigers, Sale Sharks, Bristol Bears, Gloucester Rugby, Saracens, Harlequins, Northampton Saints

United Rugby Championship: Leinster Rugby, Vodacom Bulls, Hollywoodbets Sharks, Glasgow Warriors, DHL Stormers, Munster Rugby, Edinburgh Rugby, Scarlets

2025/26 Challenge Cup qualifiers

United Rugby Championship: Cardiff Rugby, Benetton Rugby, Lions, Ospreys, Connacht Rugby, Ulster Rugby, Zebre Parma, Dragons RFC

Top 14: Montpellier Hérault Rugby, Racing 92, Lyon Olympique Universitaire, Stade Français Paris, USAP, US Montauban

Gallagher Premiership: Exeter Chiefs, Newcastle Falcons

Invited: Black Lion, Toyota Cheetahs

Here are the competition dates for next season:

Round 1 – December 5-7, 2025

Round 2 – December 12-14, 2025

Round 3 – January 9-11, 2026

Round 4 – January 16-18, 2026

Round of 16 - April 3-5, 2026

Quarter-finals – April 10-12, 2026

Semi-finals – May 1-3, 2026

EPCR Challenge Cup Final – Friday, May 22

Investec Champions Cup Final – Saturday, May 23

Both finals will take place at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the EPCR pool draws for the 2025 Investec Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup, which will take place at the Premier Sports studios in Dublin at 1.30pm.

Leinster and Munster are among the 24 teams that have qualified for the Champions Cup, while Ulster and Connacht have qualified for the Challenge Cup.

For the Champions Cup, each pool of six will contain two clubs from each of the leagues, where Leinster and Munster will be kept apart. There will be no matches between clubs from the same league.

Leinster are in Tier 1 for the draw thanks to winning the United Rugby Championship, which means they also cannot play Union Bordeaux Bègles (2025 Investec Champions Cup winners), Bath Rugby (2025 Gallagher Premiership winners) and Toulouse (Top 14 winners). Munster will be in Tier 2 with the rest of the teams.

The Challenge Cup draw will have 18 clubs, with pools of six also, with Connacht and Ulster kept apart. There is no tier system involved for that draw, it is an open draw other than stipulations about teams from the same country and league meeting.