Just four pool games, but two-leg quarter-finals in revamped Heineken Champions Cup

The Champions Cup trophy 

Ireland’s provinces will be in two pools of 12 teams each in Europe next season under an expanded one-off format agreed for the Heineken Champions Cup in 2020-21, it was announced this morning.

Tournament organisers European Professional Club Rugby have sought to provide a workable format for their competition in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and the impact that has had on the still-to-be-completed 2019-20 campaign, not least the abandonment of the Top 14 competition in France, and the curtailment of the Guinness PRO14 to 15 rounds ahead of this weekend’s semi-finals.