Best of the best in Heineken Champions Cup
The DHL Stormers will test themselves in Europe’s premier club rugby competition, the Heineken Champions Cup, for the first time this season.
The Heineken Champions Cup features 24 teams drawn from the top eight of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, French Top 14 and English Premiership.
The 24 teams are seeded and then divided into two pools of 12. Each team plays two of the teams in their pool home and away, with the top eight in each Pool then moving on to the knock-out phase of the tournament in the round of 16.
Teams are ranked according to their performances in their respective leagues the previous season.
The clubs are then drawn and/or allocated from the four tiers into two pools of 12 – Pool A and Pool B. Clubs from the same league in the same tier cannot be in the same pool.
For the purposes of creating the fixtures, clubs from the same league cannot play against one another, and clubs only play against other clubs in the same pool.
The DHL Stormers were ranked in the first tier and as a result were drawn to face English team London Irish and French team Clermont Auvergne in the pool phase.
They will begin their campaign in France at the Stade Marcel Michelin, where they will face Clermont Auvergne on Saturday, December 10. They will then host London Irish at DHL Stadium on December 17, with the reverse fixtures to be played in January.
The top eight teams from each pool will then go through to the knock-out phase of the tournament and be drawn opponents according to their ranking in their respective pools.
As winners of the inaugural Vodacom United Rugby Championship, the DHL Stormers will have big expectations as they make their debut in the Heineken Champions Cup.
DHL Stormers Heineken Champions Cup pool fixtures
Saturday, 10 December
v ASM Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel Michelin
Kick-off: 17h15 (SA time)
Saturday, 17 December
v London Irish at DHL Stadium
Kick-off: 19h30 (SA time)
Sunday, 15 January
v London Irish at Gtech Community Stadium
Kick-off: 15h00 (SA time)
Saturday, 21 January
v ASM Clermont Auvergne at DHL Stadium
Kick-off: 19h30 (SA time)
