2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup

2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup
2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England; France; Ireland; Scotland; South Africa; Wales
Tournament format(s)	Modified round-robin and knockout
Date	8 December 2023 – 25 May 2024
Tournament statistics
Matches played	57
Attendance	902,360 (15,831 per match)
Highest attendance	42,003 – Leinster v Stade Français ; 13 January 2023
Lowest attendance	6,024 – Connacht v Bordeaux ; 8 December 2023
Tries scored	422 (7.4 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Marcus Smith (Harlequins); 64 points
Top try scorer(s)	André Esterhuizen (Harlequins); Louis Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux Bègles); Thaakir Abrahams (Lyon); 5 tries
Final
Venue	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
	← 2022–23 (Previous) (Next) 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup is the tenth season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) for teams from the top five nations in European rugby and South Africa. It is the 29th season of pan-European professional club rugby competition.

This is the second time the tournament features the top teams from South Africa, following the second United Rugby Championship season.

The final will be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.^[1] La Rochelle were the defending champions, having won their second European Cup title in the previous edition. but were eliminated in the quarter final by their runners-up on both occasions, Leinster^[1]

Teams[edit]

Twenty-four clubs from the three major European domestic and regional leagues qualified to compete in the 2023–24 edition of the Champions Cup.

The distribution of teams is:

England: eight clubs
- The top eight clubs from Premiership Rugby^[a]
France: eight clubs
- The top eight clubs from the Top 14
Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, Wales: eight clubs
- The top side in each of the four regional shields from the United Rugby Championship (one Irish, one Welsh, one South African and one either Scottish or Italian), along with the remaining top four ranked clubs regardless of nation, within the league, that didn't win their respective shield. If the club that wins the championship has not qualified by the methods above then that club, the four shield winners and the remaining top three ranked clubs regardless of nation, within the league, that didn't win their respective shield will qualify.

Premiership	Top 14	United Rugby Championship
England	France	Ireland	South Africa	Scotland	Wales
Bath Bristol Bears^[a] Exeter Chiefs Harlequins Leicester Tigers Northampton Saints Sale Sharks Saracens	Bayonne Bordeaux-Bègles La Rochelle Lyon Racing 92 Stade Français Toulon Toulouse	Connacht Leinster Munster Ulster	Bulls Stormers	Glasgow Warriors	Cardiff

Team details[edit]

Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist, and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.

Team	Coach(es) / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Method of qualification
Bayonne	Grégory Patat	Denis Marchois	Stade Jean-Dauger	14,370	Top 14 top 8 (8th)
Bath	Johann van Graan	Ben Spencer	The Recreation Ground	14,509	Premiership top 8 (8th)
Bordeaux Bègles	Yannick Bru	Jefferson Poirot	Stade Chaban-Delmas	34,694	Top 14 top 8 (6th) (SF)
Bristol Bears	Pat Lam	Steve Luatua	Ashton Gate	27,000	Premiership top 8 (9th)^[a]
Bulls	Jake White	Marcell Coetzee	Loftus Versfeld Stadium	51,762	URC table rankings (6th) (QF)
Cardiff	Matt Sherratt	Josh Turnbull	Cardiff Arms Park	12,125	URC Welsh Shield winner (10th)
Connacht	Peter Wilkins	Jack Carty	Galway Sportsgrounds	8,129	URC table rankings (7th) (SF)
Exeter Chiefs	Rob Baxter	Jack Yeandle	Sandy Park	13,593	Premiership top 8 (7th)
Glasgow Warriors	Franco Smith	Kyle Steyn	Scotstoun Stadium	7,351	URC Scottish/Italian Shield winner (4th) (QF)
Harlequins	Billy Millard	Stephan Lewies	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	Premiership top 8 (6th)
La Rochelle	Ronan O'Gara	Grégory Alldritt Uini Atonio	Stade Marcel-Deflandre	16,700	Top 14 top 8 (2nd) (RU)
Leicester Tigers	Dan McKellar	Julián Montoya	Mattioli Woods Welford Road	25,849	Premiership top 8 (3rd) (SF)
Leinster	Leo Cullen	James Ryan Garry Ringrose	RDS Arena Aviva Stadium	18,500 51,700	URC Irish Shield winner (1st) (SF)
Lyon	Fabien Gengenbacher	Baptiste Couilloud Jordan Taufua	Matmut Stadium de Gerland	35,029	Top 14 top 8 (3rd) (QF)
Munster	Graham Rowntree	Peter O'Mahony	Thomond Park	25,600	URC table rankings (5th) (CH)
Northampton Saints	Phil Dowson	Lewis Ludlam	cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens	15,200	Premiership top 8 (4th) (SF)
Racing 92	Stuart Lancaster	Henry Chavancy	Paris La Défense Arena	32,000	Top 14 top 8 (5th) (SF)
Sale Sharks	Alex Sanderson	Ben Curry	AJ Bell Stadium	12,000	Premiership top 8 (2nd) (RU)
Saracens	Mark McCall	Owen Farrell	StoneX Stadium	10,500	Premiership top 8 (1st) (CH)
Stade Français	Laurent Labit	Paul Gabrillagues	Stade Jean-Bouin	20,000	Top 14 top 8 (4th) (QF)
Stormers	John Dobson	Salmaan Moerat	Cape Town Stadium	55,000	URC South African Shield winner (3rd) (RU)
Toulon	Pierre Mignoni	Charles Ollivon	Stade Mayol	17,500	Top 14 top 8 (7th)
Toulouse	Ugo Mola	Antoine Dupont Julien Marchand	Stade Ernest-Wallon	19,500	Top 14 top 8 (1st) (CH)
Ulster	Dan McFarland	Iain Henderson	Ravenhill Stadium	18,196	URC table rankings (2nd) (QF)

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c London Irish originally qualified as one of the top 8 Premiership teams, after finishing 5th in the 2022–23 season. However, the club was officially suspended from all professional competitions on 6 June 2023, due to financial insolvency.^[2] As a consequence, their spot in the Champions Cup was awarded to Bristol Bears, the highest ranked team outside the top 8.^[3]

Pool stage[edit]

[[File:

London
(see map below)

Locations

|1300px|alt=Locations of European teams of the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.

Red: Pool A;

Blue: Pool B;

Green: Pool C;

Purple: Pool D.]]

[[:File:

London
(see map below)

Locations

| ]]

Locations of European teams of the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.

Red: Pool A;

Blue: Pool B;

Green: Pool C;

Purple: Pool D.

Harlequins

Saracens

class=notpageimage|

Locations of London teams of the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.

Red: Pool A;

Blue: Pool B.

Bulls

Stormers

class=notpageimage|

Locations of South African teams of the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.

Red: Pool A;

Purple: Pool D.

Teams are awarded four points for a win, two for a draw, one bonus point for scoring four tries in a game, and one bonus point for losing by less than eight points.

The draw for the pool stage took place on 21 June 2023.^[4] Unlike the previous season, the format consisted of four pools with six teams in each. The rules of the draw stipulated that the 2022–23 champions of the three European domestic leagues (Saracens, Toulouse and Munster) and the 2022–23 Champions Cup winners (La Rochelle) would each be drawn into separate pools. The remaining 20 teams were then drawn at random, with the only condition being that no more than two teams from the same domestic league could be placed into each pool.

Pool A[edit]

2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup Pool A
Team v t e	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Bordeaux (4)	4	3	0	1	172	83	+89	26	11	4	1	17
Bulls (6)	4	3	0	1	132	102	+30	16	16	2	1	15
Lyon (11)	4	2	0	2	121	123	–2	18	16	3	1	12
Saracens (13)	4	2	0	2	125	142	–17	17	20	2	0	10
Connacht (11CC)	4	1	0	3	88	140	–52	13	19	2	0	6
Bristol Bears	4	1	0	3	80	128	–48	11	19	1	0	5

Green background (rows 1 to 2) indicates qualification places for a home Champions Cup round of 16. Blue background (rows 3 to 4) indicates other teams qualified for the Champions Cup round of 16. Yellow background (row 5) indicates qualification place for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Plain background (row 6) indicates elimination from 2023–24 European competition. Starting table — source: European Professional Club Rugby

Pool B[edit]

2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup Pool B
Team v t e	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Toulouse (1)	4	4	0	0	178	69	+109	26	10	4	0	20
Harlequins (5)	4	3	0	1	151	109	+42	22	16	3	0	15
Bath (9)	4	3	0	1	124	102	+22	18	14	3	0	15
Racing 92 (16)	4	1	0	3	116	117	–1	17	16	2	2	8
Ulster (12CC)	4	1	0	3	88	147	–59	12	22	1	0	5
Cardiff	4	0	0	4	80	193	–113	11	28	2	1	3

Green background (rows 1 to 2) indicates qualification places for a home Champions Cup round of 16. Blue background (rows 3 to 4) indicates other teams qualified for the Champions Cup round of 16. Yellow background (row 5) indicates qualification place for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Plain background (row 6) indicates elimination from 2023–24 European competition. Starting table — source: European Professional Club Rugby

Pool C[edit]

2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup Pool C
Team v t e	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Northampton Saints (3)	4	4	0	0	137	75	+62	18	10	2	0	18
Exeter Chiefs (8)	4	3	0	1	87	99	–12	13	14	1	0	13
Glasgow Warriors (12)	4	2	0	2	77	63	+14	12	8	1	1	10
Munster (14)	4	1	1	2	93	93	0	13	10	2	1	9
Bayonne (9CC)	4	1	1	2	82	107	–25	11	16	1	1	8
Toulon	4	0	0	4	60	99	–39	7	16	0	2	2

Green background (rows 1 to 2) indicates qualification places for a home Champions Cup round of 16. Blue background (rows 3 to 4) indicates other teams qualified for the Champions Cup round of 16. Yellow background (row 5) indicates qualification place for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Plain background (row 6) indicates elimination from 2023–24 European competition. Starting table — source: European Professional Club Rugby

Pool D[edit]

2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup Pool D
Team v t e	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Leinster (2)	4	4	0	0	123	53	+70	17	5	3	0	19
Stormers (7)	4	3	0	1	102	99	+3	12	12	2	0	14
La Rochelle (10)	4	2	0	2	111	73	+38	13	9	2	2	12
Leicester Tigers (15)	4	2	0	2	84	122	–38	10	16	1	0	9
Sale Sharks (10CC)	4	1	0	3	103	110	–7	13	14	1	1	6
Stade Français	4	0	0	4	56	122	–66	8	17	0	2	2

Green background (rows 1 to 2) indicates qualification places for a home Champions Cup round of 16. Blue background (rows 3 to 4) indicates other teams qualified for the Champions Cup round of 16. Yellow background (row 5) indicates qualification place for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Plain background (row 6) indicates elimination from 2023–24 European competition. Starting table — source: European Professional Club Rugby

Knockout stage[edit]

The knockout stage will begin with the round of 16, starting on 5 April 2024, and concludes with the final on 25 May 2024.

Like in 2022/23 the round of 16 will consist of a single leg match, consisting of the top four ranked teams from each Pool respectively. All clubs will thereafter be ranked in descending order based firstly on their ranking in their pool and subsequently on the number of match points they have accumulated, to create an overall ranking from 1 to 16. The pool winners will be ranked 1 to 4, the second-placed clubs will be ranked 5 to 8, the third-placed clubs will be ranked 9 to 12, and the fourth-placed clubs will be ranked 13 to 16.

Whilst the round of 16 follows a pre-determined format, the quarter-finals will see home advantage given to the higher ranked team based on a pre-determined match-up. The semi-finals are to be played at a neutral venue, with the higher ranked team having home country advantage.

Seeding[edit]

Rank	Team	Pts	Diff	TF
Pool leaders
1	Toulouse	20	+109	26
2	Leinster	19	+70	17
3	Northampton Saints	18	+62	18
4	Bordeaux Bègles	17	+89	26
Pool runners-up
5	Harlequins	15	+42	22
6	Bulls	15	+30	16
7	Stormers	14	+3	12
8	Exeter Chiefs	13	–12	13
Pool third place
9	Bath	15	+22	18
10	La Rochelle	12	+38	13
11	Lyon	12	–2	18
12	Glasgow Warriors	10	+14	12
Pool fourth place
13	Saracens	10	–17	17
14	Munster	9	0	13
15	Leicester Tigers	9	–38	10
16	Racing 92	8	–1	17

Bracket[edit]

Round of 16			Quarter-finals			Semi-finals		Final

1	Toulouse	31

16	Racing 92	7
			1	Toulouse	64

			8	Exeter Chiefs	26
8	Exeter Chiefs	21

9	Bath	15
						1	Toulouse

						5	Harlequins
4	Bordeaux Bègles	45

13	Saracens	12
			4	Bordeaux Bègles	41

			5	Harlequins	42
5	Harlequins	28

12	Glasgow Warriors	24



2	Leinster	36

15	Leicester Tigers	22
			2	Leinster	40

			10	La Rochelle	13
7	Stormers	21

10	La Rochelle	22
						2	Leinster

						3	Northampton Saints
3	Northampton Saints	24

14	Munster	14
			3	Northampton Saints	59

			6	Bulls	22
6	Bulls	59

11	Lyon	19

Round of 16[edit]

5 April 2024
20:00

Harlequins (5)	28–24	(12) Glasgow Warriors
Try: Esterhuizen 22' c M. Smith 33' c Murley 40+1' c Riley 75' c Con: M. Smith (4/4) 24', 34', 40+2', 77'	Report	Try: Cummings 2' c Matthews 49' c Horne 52' c Con: Horne (3/3) 3', 50', 53' Pen: Horne (1/1) 59'

Twickenham Stoop, London
Attendance: 12,852
Referee: Tual Trainini (France)

6 April 2024
13:30

Bulls (6)	59–19	(11) Lyon
Try: De Klerk (2) 12' c, 77' m Papier (2) 20' c, 53' c Coetzee 27' c Vermaak 33' c Le Roux 48' m Kriel 67' c C. Smith 71' c Con: Goosen (5/6) 13', 21', 28', 34', 54' C. Smith (2/3) 69', 72'	Report	Try: Page-Relo 30' c Penalty try 46' Abrahams 55' m Con: Jackson (1/2) 31'

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria
Attendance: 7,516
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

6 April 2024
16:00

Stormers (7)	21–22	(10) La Rochelle
Try: Jantjies 27' c Hartzenberg 79' m Con: Libbok (1/2) 29' Pen: Libbok (3/3) 3', 22', 45'	Report	Try: Penverne 49' c Alldritt 61' c Sclavi 68' m Con: Hastoy (2/3) 49', 62' Pen: Hastoy (1/1) 54'

Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Attendance: 27,660
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)

6 April 2024
15:00

Exeter Chiefs (8)	21–15	(9) Bath
Try: Vintcent 23' c Fisilau 55' c Roots 65' c Con: Slade (3/3) 23', 56', 66'	Report	Try: du Toit 20' m Hill 27' c Con: Spencer (1/2) 28' Pen: Spencer (1/1) 48'

Sandy Park, Exeter
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Luc Ramos (France)

6 April 2024
18:30

Bordeaux Bègles (4)	45–12	(13) Saracens
Try: Garcia (2) 36' c, 48' c Depoortère (2) 60' c, 66' c Bielle-Biarrey (2) 63' c, 75' c Con: Lucu (4/4) 37', 48', 62', 64' Garcia (2/2) 67', 76' Pen: Lucu (1/1) 29'	Report	Try: Lewington 71' m Willis 78' c Con: Goode (1/2) 80'

Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
Attendance: 28,097
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)

6 April 2024
20:00

Leinster (2)	36–22	(15) Leicester Tigers
Try: Gibson-Park (3) 12' c, 23' m, 29' c Henshaw 49' c Conan 71' c Con: R. Byrne (3/4) 13', 30', 50' H. Byrne (1/1) 72' Pen: R. Byrne (1/1) 9'	Report	Try: Pollard 4' c Cronin 45' m Clare 75' c Con: Pollard (2/3) 5', 76' Pen: Pollard (1/1) 28'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 40,775
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)

7 April 2024
12:30

Northampton Saints (3)	24–14	(14) Munster
Try: Ramm 9' c Freeman 35' c Hendy (2) 60' m, 72' Con: Smith (2/4) 10', 36'	Report	Try: O'Brien 14' c Haley 27' c Con: Crowley (2/2) 15', 28'

Franklin's Gardens, Northampton
Attendance: 15,153
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)

7 April 2024
16:00

Toulouse (1)	31–7	(16) Racing 92
Try: Mauvaka 5' m Lebel 33' m Costes 55' c Ahki 68' c Roumat 80' c Con: Kinghorn (3/5) 56', 69', 80+2'	Report	Try: Ben Arous 74' c Con: Tedder (1/1) 75'

Stade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse
Attendance: 18,504
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)

Quarter-finals[edit]

13 April 2024
16:00

Bordeaux Bègles (4)	41–42	(5) Harlequins
Try: Lucu 19' m Buros 24' c Depoortère 42' c Bielle-Biarrey 59' c Tambwe (2) 64' c, 75' m Con: Lucu (4/6) 25', 43', 60', 65' Pen: Lucu (1/1) 52'	Report	Try: Porter (2) 2' c, 29' c Penalty try 8' W. Evans 40' c Dombrandt 56' c Green 71' c Con: Smith (5/5) 3', 30', 42', 58', 73'

Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
Attendance: 28,056
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)

13 April 2024
17:30

Leinster (2)	40–13	(10) La Rochelle
Try: Lowe (2) 16', 60' Gibson-Park 37' Baird 42' Sheehan 56' Con: Byrne (3/4) 18', 38', 43' Pen: Byrne (3/3) 7', 27', 31'	Report	Try: Penverne 40' Con: Hastoy 40' Pen: Hastoy (2/2) 19', 28'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 50,055
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)

13 April 2024
20:00

Northampton Saints (3)	59–22	(6) Bulls
Try: Ramm 10’ Lawes 15’ Sleightholme 20’ Mitchell (2) 24’, 67' Coles 40’ Ramm 47' Dingwall 50' Augustus 72' Con: Smith (7/9) 11', 16', 21', 25', 41', 51', 68'	Report	Try: Hanekom 13' Van der Merwe 31' De Klerk 35' Con: Smith (2/3) 14', 36' Pen: Smith (2/3) 17'

Franklin's Gardens, Northampton
Attendance: 12,972
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)

14 April 2024
16:00

Toulouse (1)	64–26	(8) Exeter Chiefs
Try: Ntamack 7' Willis 31' Kinghorn (2) 47', 55' Ahki (2) 50', 74' Dupont 57' Cruz Mallía (2) 66', 78' Con: Kinghorn (5/5) 8', 32', 48', 52', 56' Ramos (3/4) 58', 68', 75' Pen: Kinghorn 20'	Report	Try: Roots 16' Wimbush 61' Con: Slade (2/2) 17', 62' Pen: Slade (4/4) 5', 12', 28', 43'

Stade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse
Attendance: 18,678
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)

Semi-finals[edit]

4 May 2024
17:30

Leinster (2)	SF 2	(3) Northampton Saints

Croke Park, Dublin
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)

5 May 2024
16:00

Toulouse (1)	SF 1	(5) Harlequins

Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Final[edit]

25 May 2024
14:45

Winner SF 1	v	Winner SF 2

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "EPCR pool draws for 2023/24 season". EPCR. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
^ "London Irish file for administration after being suspended from Gallagher Premiership and all leagues by RFU". Sky Sports. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
^ "Bristol Bears to replace London Irish in Champions Cup, EPCR confirm". BBC Sport. 9 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
^ "Heavyweight clashes to savour for 2023/24 season as EPCR pool draws completed". EPCR. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[Bristol_Bears-4] London Irish originally qualified as one of the top 8 Premiership teams, after finishing 5th in the 2022–23 season. However, the club was officially suspended from all professional competitions on 6 June 2023, due to financial insolvency.^[2] As a consequence, their spot in the Champions Cup was awarded to Bristol Bears, the highest ranked team outside the top 8.^[3]

[EPCR1-1] "EPCR pool draws for 2023/24 season". EPCR. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[London_Irish-2] "London Irish file for administration after being suspended from Gallagher Premiership and all leagues by RFU". Sky Sports. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

[Bristol_Bears-3] "Bristol Bears to replace London Irish in Champions Cup, EPCR confirm". BBC Sport. 9 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

[5] "Heavyweight clashes to savour for 2023/24 season as EPCR pool draws completed". EPCR. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[1]

[a]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e 2023–24 European club competitions
Football	Men Champions League Europa League Europa Conference League Super Cup Youth League Women Champions League
Football variants	Futsal Champions League Women's European Champions Beach soccer Euro Winners Cup Women's Euro Winners Cup
Basketball	Men EuroLeague EuroCup Champions League FIBA Europe Cup Women EuroLeague EuroCup SuperCup
Volleyball	Men Champions League CEV Cup Challenge Cup Women Champions League CEV Cup Challenge Cup
Handball	Men Champions League European League European Cup Women Champions League European League European Cup
Water polo	Men Champions League Euro Cup Challenger Cup Super Cup Women Champions League Euro Cup Challenger Cup Super Cup
Rugby union	Men Champions Cup Challenge Cup Super Cup
Ice hockey	Men Champions Hockey League Continental Cup
Indoor hockey	Men EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup Women EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup
Field hockey	Men Euro Hockey League Trophy I Trophy II Women Euro Hockey League Trophy I Trophy II
Roller hockey	Men Champions League World Skate Europe Cup Continental Cup Women European League
Lacrosse	Men Ken Galluccio Cup
Korfball	Mixed Champions League

Teams[edit]

Team details[edit]

Pool stage[edit]

Pool A[edit]

Pool B[edit]

Pool C[edit]

Pool D[edit]

Knockout stage[edit]

Seeding[edit]

Bracket[edit]

Round of 16[edit]

Quarter-finals[edit]

Semi-finals[edit]

Final[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]