European Champions Cup: Glasgow draw Racing 92, Leicester and Munster

Glasgow failed to get past the pool stage in last season's Champions Cup after home and away defeats to Northampton

Glasgow have been drawn to face French champions Racing 92, English giants Leicester and Irish province Munster in the European Champions Cup pool stage.

Warriors faced Racing at the same stage last season, failing to make it out of the group as Dan Carter and company went on to lose the final to Saracens.

Leicester and Munster have both twice been crowned European champions.

Edinburgh' European Challenge Cup pool features Harlequins, Stade Francais and Romanian outfit Timosoara Saracens.

Alan Solomons' side reached the Challenge Cup final in 2015, losing to Gloucester, but failed to make it to the knock-out stages last season.

Racing boast an array of stars including All Blacks legend Carter at fly-half and Fijian lock Leone Nakarawa, who left Warriors for France in the summer after a hugely successful spell at Scotstoun.

Glasgow will face a swift reunion with Fijian lock Leone Nakawara, a star for the Warriors for the last three years

They comfortably beat the Scots 34-10 in their first group encounter in Paris last season, and although Warriors gained revenge with victory at Rugby Park in the final pool match, they failed to make it to the knockout stages.

Racing and Leicester will renew their rivalry after the Paris club edged out the Tigers 19-16 in last season's semi-final.

The English Premiership side have a sterling European Cup pedigree, having been crowned champions twice - in 2001 and 2002 - and finished runners-up three times.

They faced Glasgow Caledonians - one of Warriors' former incarnations - in the group stages in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, the Scots winning just one of their four meetings, and also beat Glasgow 90-19 in a quarter-final play-off in 1997-98.

'It'll be a great adventure' - Townsend

Pro12 rivals Munster complete a testing pool for Glasgow, who have never made it to the quarter-finals. The Irish province may not be the force of old - they won the Heineken Cup in 2006 and 2008 after losing finals in 2000 and 2002 - but will be keen to make their mark in Europe again having fallen at the pool stage last season.

"It's three excellent teams we're playing against; three big names of European rugby and a fantastic challenge for us this season," Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend told BBC Scotland.

"We'll absolutely relish it. If you qualify for the European Champions Cup you know you're going to be playing against some of the best teams in Europe. If you get lucky you might get a team that's sneaked in but most of the pools are very tough.

"We've got teams that have won the competition before. Racing 92 are arguably one of the best teams in Europe, who have recently won the Top 14 and are full of top quality players. It'll be a great adventure for us."

Harlequins will provide a stern test in the Challenge Cup for Edinburgh, having made it to last season's final where they went down 26-19 to Montpellier.

They can now call upon the Scotland international Ruaridh Jackson, who moved from London Wasps in the summer.

Stade Francais also have recent experience of reaching the Challenge Cup final, finishing runners-up in 2011 and 2013.