The United Rugby Championship-winning Stormers have been drawn in Pool B for the 2022-23 European Rugby Champions Cup.
The draws for next season’s Champions and Challenge Cups took place at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin yesterday.
The South Africa Shield winners, the Stormers, Bulls and Sharks will feature in the Champions Cup for the first time after making the URC playoffs.
The 24 qualified clubs were grouped in four tiers based on their rankings in the Top 14, Premiership, and URC. They were then drawn into two pools of 12 - Pool A and Pool B. Clubs from the same league in the same tier were not drawn in the same pools.
The 2022-23 season will be played over eight weekends, with four rounds of matches in the pool stages, starting in December.
We will have @ASMOfficiel and @londonirish visiting DHL Stadium in our first season of @ChampionsCup. We can't wait! #iamastormer #dhldelivers #championscup pic.twitter.com/AEO27qx13T
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 28, 2022
The Capetonians (tier 1) will play home and away games against French outfit Clermont Auvergne and English side London Irish (tier 4) before the knock-out stages.
URC runners-up the Bulls (tier 1) were drawn in Pool A and will play French club Lyon and English side Exeter Chiefs (tier 4).
The Sharks (tier 3) have also been drawn in Pool A and will face home and away ties against French club Bordeaux-Begles and English side Harlequins (tier 2).
The exact dates of the pool stage fixtures, as well as venues and kickoff times will be announced in due course.
2022-23 Champions Cup draw
Pool A: Castres Olympique, Saracens, Bulls, Union Bordeaux-Begles, Harlequins, Leinster, Racing 92, Gloucester, Sharks, Lyon, Exeter Chiefs, Edinburgh Rugby
Pool B: Montpellier, Leicester Tigers, Stormers, Stade Toulousain, Northampton Saints, Ulster, Stade Rochelais, Sale Sharks, Munster, ASM Clermont Auvergne, London Irish, Ospreys