Saints handed Leinster clashes yet again in Champions Cup

Saints were drawn alongside Irish and French opposition

Chris Boyd's side lost twice to the Irish giants during the previous campaign, but still managed to make the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park.

Saints have a lengthy recent history against Leinster, who beat them in the Heineken Cup final in Cardiff back in 2011.

Since then, the two teams have met on six occasions, with Saints winning just once, at the Aviva Stadium in December 2013.

The black, green and gold will play Leinster home and away again this season but the Champions Cup format has been altered.

Boyd's men will also take on Bordeaux-Begles home and away as they bid to reach the knockout stages.

Bordeaux finished top of the Top 14 last season as it was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The French side were beaten by Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.

This season's Champions Cup draw is explained here...

The 24 clubs which qualified from the Premiership, the PRO14 and the TOP 14 were classified into four tiers based on their performances in the knockout phases of their respective leagues, and/or on their qualifying positions in their respective league tables.

Each tier contained six clubs with Tier 1 made up of the number one and number two ranked clubs from each league, and Tier 2, the number three and number four ranked clubs from each league, and so on.

Starting with Tier 1, the clubs were either drawn or allocated into either Pool A or Pool B so that each pool contained 12 clubs with no clubs in the same tier from the same league in the same pool.

The key principles regarding the pool stage fixtures are that clubs will only play against opponents in the same pool, and clubs from the same league cannot play against one another.

The Tier 1 and Tier 4 clubs which were drawn in the same pool, but which are not from the same league, will play one another home and away over four rounds. The same principle applies to the Tier 2 and Tier 3 clubs which were drawn in the same pool, but which are not from the same league.

The exact dates of the Heineken Champions Cup pool stage fixtures and the Challenge Cup preliminary stage fixtures, including venues, kick-off times and TV coverage, will be announced as soon as possible following consultation with clubs and EPCR’s partner broadcasters.

The four highest-ranked clubs from each Heineken Champions Cup pool will qualify for the quarter-finals which will be played over two legs, and the clubs ranked from number five to number eight in each pool will qualify for the Round of 16 of the Challenge Cup.

2020/21 HEINEKEN CHAMPIONS CUP

POOL A (with opponents in brackets)

Bordeaux-Bègles (Dragons, Northampton Saints)

Leinster Rugby (Montpellier, Northampton Saints)

Wasps (Dragons, Montpellier)

Bath Rugby (La Rochelle, Scarlets)

Edinburgh Rugby (La Rochelle, Sale Sharks)

RC Toulon (Sale Sharks, Scarlets)

La Rochelle (Bath Rugby, Edinburgh Rugby)

Sale Sharks (Edinburgh Rugby, RC Toulon)

Scarlets (Bath Rugby, RC Toulon)

Dragons (Bordeaux-Bègles, Wasps)

Montpellier (Leinster Rugby, Wasps)

Northampton Saints (Bordeaux-Bègles, Leinster Rugby)

POOL B (with opponents in brackets)

Exeter Chiefs (Glasgow Warriors, Toulouse)

Lyon (Glasgow Warriors, Gloucester Rugby)

Ulster Rugby (Gloucester Rugby, Toulouse)

Bristol Bears (ASM Clermont Auvergne, Connacht Rugby)

Munster Rugby (ASM Clermont Auvergne, Harlequins)

Racing 92 (Connacht Rugby, Harlequins)

ASM Clermont Auvergne (Bristol Bears, Munster Rugby)

Connacht Rugby (Bristol Bears, Racing 92)

Harlequins (Munster Rugby, Racing 92)

Glasgow Warriors (Exeter Chiefs, Lyon)

Gloucester Rugby (Lyon, Ulster)

Toulouse (Exeter Chiefs, Ulster Rugby)

2020/21 season weekends

Round 1 - December 11/12/13, 2020

Round 2 - December 18/19/20, 2020

Round 3 - January 15/16/17, 2021

Round 4 - January 22/23/24, 2021

Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals, 1st leg - April 2/3/4, 2021

Challenge Cup Round of 16 - April 2/3/4, 2021

Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals, 2nd leg - April 9/10/11, 2021

Challenge Cup quarter-finals - April 9/10/11, 2021

Semi-finals - April 30 – May 1/2, 2021

2021 finals – Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

Challenge Cup final - Friday, May 21

Heineken Champions Cup final - Saturday, May 22