Heineken Champions Cup: Exeter Chiefs drawn against Toulouse and Glasgow Warriors

Exeter's Jack Nowell is tackledImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Exeter beat French side Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final earlier in October

Holders Exeter will begin their Champions Cup defence with challenging group-stage matches against Toulouse and Glasgow when next season's new-look competition begins in December.

Chiefs won the tournament for the first time earlier in October and will play those two sides home and away.

The new format - enforced by the pandemic and only for the 2020-21 season - features two pools of 12.

The four highest-ranked clubs in each pool will reach the quarter-finals.

The quarter-finals will be played over two legs and the clubs ranked fifth to eighth in each pool will drop into the knockout stage of the European Challenge Cup.

The opening round of games will take place 11-13 December.

Alongside Premiership winners Exeter in Pool B, Pro14 finalists Ulster face Gloucester and four-time winners Toulouse in their group games.

In Pool A, Pro14 champions Leinster will play Montpellier and Northampton, while Harlequins and Connacht have been drawn against last season's runners-up Racing 92.

Premiership runners-up Wasps play Dragons and Montpellier, while Munster face Quins and Clermont.

Clubs only play opponents in the same pool but cannot play other teams from the same domestic league.

Pool A

Pool B

Bordeaux-Begles (Dragons, Northampton Saints)

Exeter Chiefs (Glasgow Warriors, Toulouse)

Leinster Rugby (Montpellier, Northampton Saints)

Lyon (Glasgow Warriors, Gloucester Rugby)

Wasps (Dragons, Montpellier)

Ulster Rugby (Gloucester Rugby, Toulouse)

Bath Rugby (La Rochelle, Scarlets)

Bristol Bears (ASM Clermont Auvergne, Connacht Rugby)

Edinburgh Rugby (La Rochelle, Sale Sharks)

Munster Rugby (ASM Clermont Auvergne, Harlequins)

RC Toulon (Sale Sharks, Scarlets)

Racing 92 (Connacht Rugby, Harlequins)

La Rochelle (Bath Rugby, Edinburgh Rugby)

ASM Clermont Auvergne (Bristol Bears, Munster Rugby)

Sale Sharks (Edinburgh Rugby, RC Toulon)

Connacht Rugby (Bristol Bears, Racing 92)

Scarlets (Bath Rugby, RC Toulon)

Harlequins (Munster Rugby, Racing 92)

Dragons (Bordeaux-Begles, Wasps)

Glasgow Warriors (Exeter Chiefs, Lyon)

Montpellier (Leinster Rugby, Wasps)

Gloucester Rugby (Lyon, Ulster)

Northampton Saints (Bordeaux-Begles, Leinster Rugby)

Toulouse (Exeter Chiefs, Ulster Rugby)

Fixture dates

  • Round One - 11-13 December 2020

  • Round Two - 18-20 December 2020

  • Round Three - 15-17 January 2021

  • Round Four - 22-24 January 2021

  • Quarter-finals first leg - 2-4 April 2021

  • Quarter-finals second leg - 9-11 April 2021

  • Semi-finals - 30 April - 1/2 May 2021

  • Final - 22 May, Stade Velodrome, Marseille