2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup

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2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup
Tournament details
Countries England
 France
 Ireland
 Scotland
 Wales
Tournament format(s)Round-robin and knockout
Date12 December 2020 – 22 May 2021
Tournament statistics
Teams24
Top point scorer(s)France Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux)
72 points
Top try scorer(s)Argentina Santiago Cordero (Bordeaux)
Japan Kotaro Matsushima (Clermont)
France Xavier Mignot (Lyon)
France Antoine Dupont (Toulouse)
4 tries
Final
VenueTwickenham Stadium
ChampionsFrance Toulouse (5th title)
Runners-upFrance La Rochelle
← 2019–20 (Previous)
(Next) 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the seventh season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (ECPR) for teams from the top six nations in European rugby. It was the 26th season of pan-European professional club rugby competition.

The tournament began on 11 December 2020. The final, originally scheduled to be held at the Stade de Marseille,[2] took place on 22 May 2021 at Twickenham Stadium.[3]

On 11 January 2021, EPCR suspended the tournament as a result of further public health restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

A revised format was announced on 24 February 2021.[5]

Teams

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the end of the previous tournament twenty-four clubs from the three major European domestic and regional leagues would compete in the Champions Cup in a one-year exceptional basis.[6] EPCR chief Vincent Gaillard confirmed the 24-team tournament in August 2020.[7][8]

The distribution of teams is:

  • England: eight clubs
  • France: eight clubs
    • The top eight clubs in the Top 14
  • Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales: eight clubs
    • The top four sides (not including the South African sides, which are ineligible for EPCR competitions) in both conferences in the Pro14.

While the 2019–20 Top 14 season was cancelled due to COVID-19,[9] the Premiership and Pro14 resumed in August 2020.[10][11] However, the Pro14 announced in June 2020 that their European representation would be decided by standings after round 13, the final series of games before the hiatus.[12] The following teams qualified for the tournament via their league performance.

Premiership Top 14 Pro14
England England France France Ireland Ireland Scotland Scotland Wales Wales

Team details

Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up and SF for losing Semi-finalist.

Team Coach /
Director of Rugby 		Captain Stadium Capacity Method of qualification
England Bath England Stuart Hooper England Charlie Ewels
The Recreation Ground
 14,509 Premiership top 8 (4th) (SF)
France Bordeaux Bègles France Christophe Urios France Jefferson Poirot Stade Chaban-Delmas 34,694 Top 14 top 8 (1st)
England Bristol Bears Samoa Pat Lam New Zealand Steve Luatua
Ashton Gate
 27,000 Premiership top 8 (3rd) (SF)
France Clermont France Franck Azéma France Morgan Parra Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 Top 14 top 8 (6th)
Ireland Connacht Australia Andy Friend Australia Jarrad Butler
Galway Sportsgrounds
 8,129 Pro14 Conference B (4th)
Dragons
 England Dean Ryan Wales Rhodri Williams Rodney Parade 8,700 Pro14 Conference A (5th)
Scotland Edinburgh England Richard Cockerill Scotland Stuart McInally Murrayfield 12,464[a] Pro14 Conference B (1st) (SF)
England Exeter Chiefs England Rob Baxter England Jack Yeandle Sandy Park 13,593 Premiership top 8 (1st) (CH)
Scotland Glasgow Warriors England Danny Wilson Scotland Fraser Brown
Scotland Ryan Wilson 		Scotstoun Stadium 7,351 Pro14 Conference A (3rd)
England Gloucester England George Skivington England Lewis Ludlow Kingsholm Stadium 16,115 Premiership top 8 (7th)
England Harlequins England Paul Gustard
Australia Billy Millard 		South Africa Stephan Lewies Twickenham Stoop 14,800 Premiership top 8 (6th)
France La Rochelle New Zealand Jono Gibbes New Zealand Victor Vito Stade Marcel-Deflandre 16,000 Top 14 top 8 (5th)
Ireland Leinster Ireland Leo Cullen Ireland Johnny Sexton RDS Arena
Aviva Stadium 		18,500
51,700 		Pro14 Conference A (1st) (CH)
Lyon
 France Pierre Mignoni France Baptiste Couilloud
France Félix Lambey 		Matmut Stadium de Gerland 25,000 Top 14 top 8 (2nd)
France Montpellier France Xavier Garbajosa France Fulgence Ouedraogo
Altrad Stadium
 15,697 Top 14 top 8 (8th)
Ireland Munster South Africa Johann van Graan Ireland Peter O'Mahony Thomond Park 25,600 Pro14 Conference B (2nd) (SF)
England Northampton Saints New Zealand Chris Boyd England Lewis Ludlam
England Alex Waller 		Franklin's Gardens 15,200 Premiership top 8 (8th)
France Racing 92 France Laurent Travers France Henry Chavancy Paris La Défense Arena 30,681 Top 14 top 8 (3rd)
England Sale Sharks England Paul Deacon South Africa Jono Ross
AJ Bell Stadium
 12,000 Premiership top 8 (5th)
Wales Scarlets New Zealand Glenn Delaney Wales Ken Owens Parc y Scarlets 14,870 Pro14 Conference B (3rd)
Toulon
 France Patrice Collazo France Raphaël Lakafia Stade Mayol 18,200 Top 14 top 8 (4th)
France Toulouse France Ugo Mola France Julien Marchand Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Top 14 top 8 (7th)
Ireland Ulster England Dan McFarland Ireland Iain Henderson Ravenhill Stadium 18,196 Pro14 Conference A (2nd) (RU)
England Wasps England Lee Blackett England Dan Robson
Wales Thomas Young
Ricoh Arena
 32,609 Premiership top 8 (2nd) (RU)

Seeding

The twenty four teams would be broken down into two pools of twelve. Originally, four rounds of inter-pool play was to be followed by a knockout stage, featuring two-legged quarterfinals, and single leg semi-finals and final (to be held in Marseille on 22 May 2021). However at suspension of the tournament in January 2021, only two rounds of the pool stage were completed and the revised format would introduce a round of 16 following these.[5]

For the purposes of the pool draw, the clubs would be separated into tiers based on their league finishing position, and clubs from the same league in the same tier would not be drawn into the same pool. The number 1 and number 2 ranked clubs from each league will be in Tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked clubs would be in Tier 2, the number 5 and 6 ranked clubs would be in Tier 3, and the number 7 and number 8 ranked clubs would be Tier 4.

The pool stage would feature the Tier 1 teams playing the Tier 4 teams in their pool (that are not from the same league) twice in a home or away manner, while the Tier 2 and 3 clubs would follow in a similar manner.[8]

When the revised format was announced, the top eight teams from each pool would qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions Cup and teams finishing between 9th and 12th in each pool would join the Challenge Cup at the Round of 16 stage, joining eight qualifiers from the Challenge Cup pool stage. Due to the suspension in January 2021, only six weekends of play would be provided for, three less than in previous seasons.[5]

Tier Rank Top 14 Premiership Pro14
1 1 France Bordeaux Bègles England Exeter Chiefs Ireland Leinster
2
Lyon
 England Wasps Ireland Ulster
2 3 France Racing 92 England Bristol Bears Ireland Munster
4
Toulon
 England Bath Scotland Edinburgh
3 5 France La Rochelle England Sale Sharks Wales Scarlets
6 France Clermont England Harlequins Ireland Connacht
4 7 France Toulouse England Gloucester Scotland Glasgow Warriors
8 France Montpellier England Northampton Saints
Dragons

Pool stage

Main article: 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage
[[File:
Dragons
class=notpageimage|
Locations
|1500px|alt=Locations of teams of the 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage.
Green: Pool A;
Red: Pool B.]]
[[:File:
class=notpageimage|
Locations
| ]]
Locations of teams of the 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage.
Green: Pool A;
Red: Pool B.