Tigers open European campaign with a trip to Bordeaux

LEICESTER Tigers will open the club’s Heineken Champions Cup campaign with a trip to BordeauxBègles in December, before hosting Connacht Rugby on the weekend before Christmas, writes Bobby Bridge.

Tournament organisers EPCR have announced the dates and times of fixtures in the pool stages of both the Heineken Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup, together with broadcast details.

Tigers return to the Champions Cup after reaching the Challenge Cup final last season and will kick off with a first-ever trip to the Stade Chaban Delmas to face Union Bordeaux-Bègles on Saturday, December 11 (4.15pm local time/3.15pm UK time).

Connacht travel to Mattioli Woods

Welford Road for a second successive season in the second round of fixtures on Sunday, December 19 (1pm).

The return fixture with the Irish province follows on Saturday, January 15, with Bordeaux-Bègles due at Mattioli Woods Welford Road a week later in the last round of pool fixtures.

The Heineken Champions Cup will feature 24 clubs, with Tigers among the nine previous winners with 38 European titles between them.

Teams will play in two pools of 12 over four pool stage rounds and the eight highest-ranked clubs from each pool will qualify for the knockout stage which will consist of a Round of 16 on a home-and-away basis, quarter-finals and semi-finals, with the final in Marseille on May 28.

The clubs ranked 9-11 in each of the pools will qualify for the Round of 16 of the EPCR Challenge Cup.

A modified Challenge Cup format will see 15 clubs competing in three pools over five pool stage rounds. The three highest-ranked clubs from each pool, and the highest-ranked fourth-placed club, as well as six Heineken Champions Cup clubs, qualify for the Round of 16.