{"id":563694,"date":"2026-07-01T16:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/563694\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:36:16","slug":"connacht-face-into-group-of-death-on-return-to-champions-cup-action-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/563694\/","title":{"rendered":"Connacht face into \u2018group of death\u2019 on return to Champions Cup action \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u2018group of death\u2019 was first coined by Mexican journalists for the 1970 World Cup, that particular \u2018grupo de la muerte\u2019 pitting together reigning world champions England, tournament favourites Brazil, 1962 World Cup finalists Czechoslovakia and Romania in Group Three.<\/p>\n

Ever since then it has been appropriated by many sports and rugby is no different. On an annual basis one of the pools in the Champions Cup<\/a> gets the moniker, and for next season\u2019s tournament it will be Pool Three, the one containing Connacht<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Munster<\/a> will play the two-time and reigning competition kingpins Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles<\/a> in Pool Two, it\u2019s Connacht that find themselves pitted alongside clubs with oodles of European bling. Current French Top 14 champions Toulouse lead the way overall with six Champions Cup wins, Saracens have three titles and a third club, Ronan O\u2019Gara\u2019s<\/a> La Rochelle<\/a> won the tournament in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Throw in beaten English Premiership finalists Exeter Chiefs and Stuart Lancaster\u2019s charges face a very tough schedule in their four pool games. Connacht have never beaten Exeter (two defeats) or Saracens (two defeats), have a 100 per cent win record against La Rochelle, while in eight matches against Toulouse the western province has won twice.<\/p>\n

They were victorious 16-14 in a memorable game in Toulouse in 2013 and three years later beat the French aristocrats 23-21 in Galway.<\/p>\n

URC champions Leinster<\/a> could find their way to Pool One opponents Leicester blindfolded at this stage as they have faced the Tigers on 16 occasions in Europe, one of which was beating the English club at Murrayfield in 2009 to lift the trophy for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"Clermont'sClermont’s Irae Simone tackles Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien during the Champions Cup match at the Aviva Stadium in December 2024. Photograph: Paul Faith\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Leo Cullen\u2019s<\/a> side will face the Sale Sharks, whom they have beaten twice in Dublin in recent seasons and won three of four games overall. Clermont Auvergne (10 matches, six wins) were perennial European opponents for Leinster at one point, while the Irish province won their only previous encounter with French Top 14 side Pau.<\/p>\n

Clayton McMillan\u2019s<\/a> Munster will take on Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles, conquerors of Leinster in last season\u2019s Champions Cup final in Bilbao. The French club beat Munster 47-29 at the quarter-final stage of the tournament in 2025.<\/p>\n

The Irish province have a poignant history with Racing 92 in relation to the late Anthony Foley, while Pat Lam\u2019s Bristol Bears and the familiar cherry and red of Gloucester, whom Munster played as recently as last season, is likely to contain Jean Kleyn, who joined the English club from the Irish province this summer.<\/p>\n

The designated Tier One clubs, Champions Cup winners Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles, URC victors Leinster, Top 14 champions Toulouse and English Premiership winners Northampton Saints were seeded and therefore drawn into separate pools at the start of the draw, with the other 20 teams placed in the one bowl.<\/p>\n

The primary stipulation for the URC teams was that no two teams from one of the four shields (Irish, Welsh, South African and Scottish-Italian) could be drawn into the same pool. Teams will play four matches in the pool phase against four different opponents not from the same league. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ulster<\/a> Ulster have been drawn alongside two French sides, Perpignan and Bayonne, in Pool One of the Challenge Cup<\/a> next season. Richie Murphy\u2019s<\/a> side have a couple of URC rivals Dragons and Zebre as well as South African Currie Cup side the Toyota Cheetahs, who have played their European matches including against Ulster, in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

The fixtures schedules for both tournaments including dates, venues, kick-off times and TV coverage will be announced later this month.<\/p>\n

Champions Cup<\/p>\n

Pool 1: Leinster<\/b>, Glasgow, Pau, Sale Sharks, Leicester Tigers, Clermont Auvergne \u2013 Leinster play Pau, Sale, Leicester and Clermont.<\/b><\/p>\n

Pool 2:<\/b> Toulouse, Lions, Saracens, La Rochelle, Exeter Chiefs, Connacht <\/b>\u2013 Connacht play Toulouse, Saracens, La Rochelle and Exeter.<\/b><\/p>\n

Pool 3:<\/b> Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles, Stormers, Racing 92, Munster<\/b>, Bristol Bears, Gloucester \u2013 Munster play Bordeaux, Racing 92, Bristol and Gloucester.<\/b><\/p>\n

Pool 4:<\/b> Northampton Saints, Bath, Cardiff, Montpellier, Stade Francais, Bulls.<\/p>\n

Challenge Cup<\/p>\n

Pool 1:<\/b> Cheetahs, Ulster,<\/b> Perpignan, Dragons, Bayonne, Zebre.<\/p>\n

Pool 2:<\/b> Benetton, Lyon, Newcastle, Sharks, Castres Olympique, Scarlets.<\/p>\n

Pool 3:<\/b> Ospreys, Edinburgh, Black Lion, Harlequins, Toulon, RC Vannes.<\/p>\n

2026\/27 match weekends<\/p>\n

Round 1:<\/b> October 16th to 18th, 2026.<\/p>\n

Round 2:<\/b> December 11th to 13th, 2026.<\/p>\n

Round 3:<\/b> January 8th to 10th, 2027.<\/p>\n

Round 4:<\/b> January 15th to 17th, 2027.<\/p>\n

Knock-outs<\/p>\n

Round of 16:<\/b> April 2nd to 4th, 2027.<\/p>\n

Quarter-Finals:<\/b> April 9th to 11th, 2027.<\/p>\n

Semi-Finals:<\/b> April 30th to May 2nd, 2027.<\/p>\n

Finals weekend, OL Stadium, Lyon<\/p>\n

Challenge Cup Final:<\/b> Friday, May 21st, 2027.<\/p>\n

Champions Cup Final:<\/b> Saturday, May 22nd, 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u2018group of death\u2019 was first coined by Mexican journalists for the 1970 World Cup, that particular \u2018grupo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[56840,56839,23199,18,19,17,12861,12311,132,23200],"class_list":["post-563694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-challenge-cup","tag-champions-cup","tag-connacht-rugby","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-munster-rugby","tag-sports","tag-ulster-rugby"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116845700981623271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}