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Holders Exeter will begin their Champions Cup defence with challenging group-stage matches against Toulouse and Glasgow when next season's new-look competition begins in December.

Chiefs won the tournament for the first time earlier in October and will play those two sides home and away.

The new format - enforced by the pandemic and only for the 2020-21 season - features two pools of 12.

The four highest-ranked clubs in each pool will reach the quarter-finals.

The quarter-finals will be played over two legs and the clubs ranked fifth to eighth in each pool will drop into the knockout stage of the European Challenge Cup.

The opening round of games will take place 11-13 December.

 

Alongside Premiership winners Exeter in Pool B, Pro14 finalists Ulster face Gloucester and four-time winners Toulouse in their group games.

In Pool A, Pro14 champions Leinster will play Montpellier and Northampton, while Harlequins and Connacht have been drawn against last season's runners-up Racing 92.

Premiership runners-up Wasps play Dragons and Montpellier, while Munster face Quins and Clermont.

Clubs only play opponents in the same pool but cannot play other teams from the same domestic league.

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Fixture dates

  • Round One - 11-13 December 2020
  • Round Two - 18-20 December 2020
  • Round Three - 15-17 January 2021
  • Round Four - 22-24 January 2021
  • Quarter-finals first leg - 2-4 April 2021
  • Quarter-finals second leg - 9-11 April 2021
  • Semi-finals - 30 April - 1/2 May 2021
  • Final - 22 May, Stade Velodrome, Marseille
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Truly bizarre. Even more baffling than when they vandalised the Heineken Cup a few years ago.

Tough draw for Bristol but it was always going to be. The Connacht matches in particular will be something.

Happy enough with our draw. Nothing to fear from Quins and we are due revenge on ASM. It's probably too early in our cycle to think about winning it but it would be good to reach the knockouts. Would have liked to draw Bristol but maybe next year.

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Thirteen Barbarians players have been charged by the Rugby Football Union after last Sunday's game against England was cancelled because of coronavirus protocol breaches.

Players face a range of charges including "individual breaches of the protocols" and "providing false statements during an investigation", the RFU said.

BBC Sport understands former England captain Chris Robshaw, who was among the players who apologised for the breach, is one of the players charged.

Richard Wigglesworth, Sean Maitland, Jackson Wray, Manu Vunipola, Tim Swinson, Calum Clark, Tom de Glanville, Joel Kpoku, Simon Kerrod, Fergus McFadden, Juan Pablo Socino and Alex Lewington are the other players charged.

It is not clear which charges relate to which players.

Rugby is a laughing stock - Jones

England head coach Eddie Jones, whose side can win the Six Nations this weekend, said: "We understand that rugby at the moment is a bit of a laughing stock and we all love the game.

"No-one likes to see a game called off because of a breakdown in the protocols in society at the moment. That's what happened.

"It's not good for rugby, but we have got an opportunity to turn that around. It's a weight we carry and it's a weight that we will enjoy carrying.

"We are lucky enough to play the game at the highest level and we want to make sure we put the game back where it needs to be.

"We have a great game in rugby and we don't like to see it portrayed as something that isn't a serious sport, as it has been."

The cancellation of the England v Barbarians game cost the RFU around £1million in lost broadcast and sponsorship revenue, as well as a chance for England to warm-up for Saturday's clash with Italy in Rome.

The RFU - English rugby's governing body - said it would only publish players' names after the hearings because of the public scrutiny. It said that breaches of protocols included leaving the hotel without permission or without informing organisers of their whereabouts.

The players left their hotel bubble - contrary to team protocols - to have dinner, and a number of players also went to a central London pub.

Players may face fines, match bans "or any other suitable sanction", but there will be no police investigation into their actions.

The game's cancellation means England go into their final Six Nations fixture against Italy on Saturday having not played a competitive match since March.

TAKEN FROM: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/54732478

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23 hours ago, JBFC II said:

Callum Sheedy has just come on for his Wales debut, fantastic for him and fully deserved. Here's hoping Ioan Lloyd joins him in the next few weeks

You will probably have more knowledge of this than me, but doesn’t that now mean that Wales will insist they sign for a Welsh club if they want to play for their country in the future? I have also been told that Pat Lam had the good sense to sign them on long, ( 4 or 5 year deals) as Wales can only insist on that rule after the players contract runs out. Is this right, if so well done Pat Lam.

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19 minutes ago, RedM said:

You will probably have more knowledge of this than me, but doesn’t that now mean that Wales will insist they sign for a Welsh club if they want to play for their country in the future? I have also been told that Pat Lam had the good sense to sign them on long, ( 4 or 5 year deals) as Wales can only insist on that rule after the players contract runs out. Is this right, if so well done Pat Lam.

You're pretty much spot on. Wales (like Ireland and NZ) have a 60 cap rule which means anybody with under 60 caps can't sign a contract for a non-Welsh side and still represent the country. 

What you can do however, is what Exeter have done with Thomas Francis and include 1 year 'extensions' in the players deal which exempts him from that as he isn't officially signing a new deal. The new contracts for both Lloyd and Sheedy is right, and I think the lengths were about 4-5 years yep. I guess we'll have to see if we've included the same clause as Exeter did! 

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11 hours ago, JBFC II said:

You're pretty much spot on. Wales (like Ireland and NZ) have a 60 cap rule which means anybody with under 60 caps can't sign a contract for a non-Welsh side and still represent the country. 

What you can do however, is what Exeter have done with Thomas Francis and include 1 year 'extensions' in the players deal which exempts him from that as he isn't officially signing a new deal. The new contracts for both Lloyd and Sheedy is right, and I think the lengths were about 4-5 years yep. I guess we'll have to see if we've included the same clause as Exeter did! 

Ireland don't pick anyone who plays outside of Ireland irrespective of caps and I don't think that NZ do either. Can't think of many English guys who moved abroad and stayed in the side either.

The only Irish exceptions that I can think of are Geordan Murphy who benched for us fairly regularly during his long career at Leicester and Sexton during his brief spell at Racing. 

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1 hour ago, MichaelRobartes said:

Ireland don't pick anyone who plays outside of Ireland irrespective of caps and I don't think that NZ do either. Can't think of many English guys who moved abroad and stayed in the side either.

The only Irish exceptions that I can think of are Geordan Murphy who benched for us fairly regularly during his long career at Leicester and Sexton during his brief spell at Racing. 

I’m pretty certain I remember Nonu still playing for the All Blacks whilst at Toulon, may be wrong on that front though. Didn’t know about Ireland, I guess with the strength of the provinces they don’t need to bother about players moving to France/England for big pay cheques 

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1 hour ago, JBFC II said:

I’m pretty certain I remember Nonu still playing for the All Blacks whilst at Toulon, may be wrong on that front though. Didn’t know about Ireland, I guess with the strength of the provinces they don’t need to bother about players moving to France/England for big pay cheques 

It doesn't happen often. Keith Wood would be another exception but there's been nobody that I can think of since Sexton. We've really missed Donnacha Ryan and Simon Zebo but the threat of international exile has definitely kept the vast majority of our top players in the provinces. 

I'm pretty sure that Phantom is right. I don't think Nonu played for NZ again after the 2015 World Cup final. I think that he went to Toulon immediately after the tournament.

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18 minutes ago, phantom said:

He joined Toulon in 2015, I remember him playing in the 2015 world Cup, but pretty sure he never played for NZ after the tournament 

Yep, you’re right, got my dates mixed up! It’s an interesting method, and although I can see the benefits of it, especially in NZ and Ireland where the clubs/provinces are so strong. Then you look at South Africa, who got rid of the rule a couple of years back, and the difference getting rid of it has made there is obvious. 
 

Wales don’t have club sides as strong as Ireland or NZ, so I feel that it will only hamper them. It’s no wonder players often look to move to England/France as soon as they hit 60 caps

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17 hours ago, BS15_RED said:

Wasn’t Jonathan Sexton still picked for Ireland when he was at Racing 92?

Yes, as I said above:

On 15/11/2020 at 09:33, MichaelRobartes said:

Ireland don't pick anyone who plays outside of Ireland irrespective of caps and I don't think that NZ do either. Can't think of many English guys who moved abroad and stayed in the side either.

The only Irish exceptions that I can think of are Geordan Murphy who benched for us fairly regularly during his long career at Leicester and Sexton during his brief spell at Racing. 

 

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Made even tougher with this unavailable list:

Thacker, Sinkler, Lahiff, Attwood, Luatua, Earl, Eadie, Hughes, Uren, Sheedy, Lloyd, Radradra, Morahan and C Piutau

Could nearly make a very decent prem team out of that! 

Big chance for some of the fringe/academy players to make an impression though 

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13 hours ago, JBFC II said:

Made even tougher with this unavailable list:

Thacker, Sinkler, Lahiff, Attwood, Luatua, Earl, Eadie, Hughes, Uren, Sheedy, Lloyd, Radradra, Morahan and C Piutau

Could nearly make a very decent prem team out of that! 

Big chance for some of the fringe/academy players to make an impression though 

Excuse my ignorance, are these all missing because they are playing international matches?

I notice Joe Launchbury and Dan Robson are in the England squad, along with Kyle Sinckler and Ben Earl

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42 minutes ago, phantom said:

Excuse my ignorance, are these all missing because they are playing international matches?

I notice Joe Launchbury and Dan Robson are in the England squad, along with Kyle Sinckler and Ben Earl

Sinckler, Earl, Malins and Sheedy are on international duty. The rest are injured whilst Radrada has Covid (although even if he didn't he'd have been with Fiji).

Edited by Northern Red
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