The Heineken Cup fixtures for next season were announced earlier this week, with reigning champions Toulon opening their defence of the title with a home game against Glasgow Warriors on 13 October. Full fixtures video and media release below.
As the 2013 winners of the world’s most competitive club rugby tournament are setting out on the road to next season’s final in Cardiff, many eyes will turn to a truly heavyweight European clash between Saracens and Toulouse in Round 2.
Saracens will take on the four-time Heineken Cup winners Pool 3 at the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium on Friday, 18 October with a 7.45pm kick-off in a game which is certain to generate major interest in the English capital and beyond, while another of the early tournament highlights will feature the Round 3 meeting of Racing Metro 92 and Harlequins at Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes on Saturday, 7 December.
Tournament organisers, ERC, announced the fixtures, dates, kick-off times and live television coverage for the opening four rounds of the 2013/14 Heineken Cup today (Monday, 22 July 2013) with 45 of the 48 games broadcast live giving supporters across Europe, as well as new audiences worldwide via ERC’s international TV partners, the opportunity to view high-quality competition.
Current Aviva Premiership champions, Leicester Tigers, will begin their campaign with what promises to be a fiercely-contested Pool 5 tie at Ulster Rugby’s Ravenhill cauldron on Friday, 11 October, while last season’s Amlin Challenge Cup champions, Leinster Rugby, will face the Ospreys in Round 1 on Saturday, 12 October at the Liberty Stadium.
In addition, Leinster have moved their Round 4 game in Pool 1 against Northampton Saints to the Aviva Stadium with the repeat of the dramatic 2011 tournament final set to go ahead on Saturday, 14 December with a 6.00pm kick-off.
Cardiff Blues will stage a first European club game on an artificial pitch when they host Toulon at the Cardiff Arms Park – the venue for the 2014 Amlin Challenge Cup final – in Round 2 on Saturday, 19 October, and Saracens will follow suit on their synthetic surface with a Round 4 game against Zebre Rugby at Allianz Park on Saturday, 14 December.
Last season’s Top 14 champions, Castres Olympique, are at home against Northampton Saints in Round 1 on Saturday, 12 October, and the following day sees a crunch French derby between Racing and the 2013 defeated tournament finalists, ASM Clermont Auvergne at Stade Yves du Manoir.
View all the fixtures on the official ERC website
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