GLASGOW and Edinburgh will today find out their opponents in next season’s European competitions, with the Warriors in particular poised for a potentially perilous draw.
After being in the top two tiers of seeds for the Champions Cup in the past two seasons, Glasgow are in the fourth and last group for the 2017-18 competition. The full seeding will be determined by a preliminary draw, but the Scottish side already know that they will be in the same pool as either the PRO12, English or French champions or former winners of the competition.
Two years ago, as PRO12 champions, Glasgow were in the top tier and were drawn in the same pool as Racing 92, Northampton and Scarlets. They won three of their six pool matches, but that was only enough for them to finish third and fail to qualify for the knockout stages.
Last season, after getting to the PRO12 semi-finals, Gregor Townsend’s team were in the second tier of seeds and drew Munster, Leicester and Racing again. They lost home and away to Munster but won their other four games to get through to the last eight, where they lost to holders Saracens.
Edinburgh are in Tier Two of the Challenge Cup, and will hope to draw Zebre from Tier Three and one of the two Russian qualifiers from the bottom tier. Last season they reached the quarter-finals only to lose at home to French club La Rochelle.
The draw ceremony takes place in Neuchatel, Switzerland, with the Challenge Cup draw beginning at 1pm British time and the Champions Cup following around 20 minutes later. European Professional Club Rugby will stream it on their website, www.epcrugby.com.
Champions Cup qualifiers:
Tier One: Exeter, Scarlets, Clermont Auvergne plus two from Wasps, Munster and Toulon.
Tier Two: Saracens, Leinster, La Rochelle plus the club not drawn in tier one and the fourth-ranked club from the same country (Racing 92, Leicester or Ospreys) .
Tier Three: Bath, Ulster, Montpellier plus the two fourth-ranked clubs not drawn in tier two.
Tier Four: Harlequins, Glasgow Warriors, Castres, Treviso, Northampton.
Challenge Cup qualifiers:
Tier One: Newcastle, Cardiff Blues, Stade Francais plus two from Gloucester, Brive and Connacht.
Tier Two: Sale, Edinburgh, Pau plus the club not drawn in tier one and the fourth-ranked club from the same country (Lyon, Worcester or Dragons).
Tier Three: London Irish, Zebre, Bordeaux plus the two fourth-ranked clubs not drawn in tier two.
Tier Four: Toulouse, Oyonnax, Agen, Enisei, Krasny Yar.
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