By Brenden Nel.
The Vodacom Bulls and Cell C Sharks will kick off their European Champions’ Cup campaigns at home, while the DHL Stormers – the reigning Vodacom United Rugby Championship champs – will travel to France.
The Heineken Champions’ Cup fixtures were released following the draw last month and the two South African teams open with home fixtures.
The Bulls will host French side Lyon at Loftus Versfeld on the opening weekend of 9/10/11 December this year. Lyon will be looking for a bigger scalp after defeating Toulon in the final of the Challenge Cup last season.
The Sharks, on the same weekend face English club Harlequins – who boast the likes of Andre Esterhuizen, England flyhalf Marcus Smith and former Lions winger Tyrone Green at their Kings’ Park base in the opening round.
The Stormers travel to Clermont for their opening game on a weekend that is sure to be jam-packed with action.
The following weekend – 16/17/18 December – the Stormers will return to Cape Town stadium to host London Irish while the Sharks travel to France to face Bordeaux and the Bulls have their first away game against the Exeter Chiefs on the same weekend.
Those fixtures get swopped around for round three as Exeter and Bordeaux head for Pretoria and Durban respectively on the weekend of 13-15 January 2023, and the Stormers head to London to face London Irish.
In round one of the Challenge Cup the Toyota Cheetahs and Emirates Lions head to Pau in France and Worcester respectively to face those two challengers before returning home.
The Lions host French powerhouses Stade Francais on the weekend of 16-18 December at home while the Cheetahs will play host to Welsh side Scarlets on that weekend.
Stade Rochelais, who won a first Heineken Champions Cup in such dramatic fashion in May, will launch the defence of their title at Stade Marcel Deflandre against another former tournament winner, Northampton Saints, when the 2022/23 EPCR season kicks off on the weekend of 9/10/11 December.
Reigning Gallagher Premiership champions, Leicester Tigers, will open their campaign against the Ospreys at the Swansea.com Stadium, and last season’s TOP 14 winners, Montpellier Hérault Rugby, will also be on the road when they face London Irish, who are making a return to the top flight for the first time since 2012, at Brentford Community Stadium.
Two of the tournament’s heavyweights, Munster Rugby and Stade Toulousain, who met in a memorable quarterfinal last season, will renew rivalries in Round 1 in early December at what is certain to be a packed-out Thomond Park.
At this stage, EPCR are only announcing the fixtures by round for the pool stages, with exact dates, kick-off times and TV coverage in both the Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup to be announced as soon as possible following the conclusion of negotiations with broadcasters for the new cycle across each market.
The 2020 winners, Bristol Bears, will be hoping for a repeat performance when they start their EPCR Challenge Cup Pool A campaign against USAP at Stade Aimé Giral on the weekend of 9/10/11 December, while last season’s defeated finalists, RC Toulon, travel to Zebre Parma in Round 1.