European rugby is back with a bang this autumn as the new look European Rugby Champions Cup kicks off and fans can follow every match throughout the 2014/15 season on BT Sport and Sky Sports, starting with the opening round on October 17-19.
Replacing the Heineken Cup as European rugby union’s premier club competition, the inaugural Champions Cup pits the cream of continent against one another over the next eight months as 20 sides aim to secure their place in rugby history.
After many months of protracted negotiations, the newly re-branded competition was given the go-ahead earlier this year and a few significant tweaks have been made to the format to the competition, which shares many similarities with its hugely successful predecessor.
The number of teams involved has been reduced from 24 to 20, with 19 qualifying automatically based on their position in their respective leagues, while the final spot goes to the winner of a play-off competition.
BT Sport and Sky Sports subscribers will be able to watch every match from the new-look competition live, with both broadcasters screening 35 matches each as they start the first year of a ground-breaking four-year TV deal with the newly formed European Professional Club Rugby.
The European Rugby Champions Cup was confirmed as the replacement to previous Heineken Cup, which ran from 1995 to 2014, following two years of political wrangling that eventually has yielded a 60 per cent hike in TV rights revenues and meritocratic qualification.
Spearheaded by England and French clubs, who spent two years battling for change in European rugby, the new tournament was put together with the idea of making the qualification process fairer and to boost overall revenues.
Once a truce had been brokered between the two broadcasters and following months of divisive talks between clubs and the unions, the new European cup rugby competitions were given the go-ahead back in April 2014 after Sky and BT finally reached an agreement to split the rights to the newly formed competition.
On the field of play, the action is set to be just as exciting and intense as the former Heineken Cup with all the star names from European rugby gunning to lift the spectacular new trophy at Twickenham next May.
French powerhouse Toulon won the final Heineken Cup last season and will undoubtedly be among the favourites to lift the new trophy, but reigning Premiership champions Northampton will be looking to back up their success in the Amlin Challenge Cup with victory at Europe’s top table.
Also vying for a place in the final at Twickenham in May are Irish heavyweights Leinster, Munster and Ulster while Clermont Auvergne are making waves in the Top 14 and are expected to mount a serious challenge.
England’s representatives will also have a huge say in the final reckoning of this season’s inaugural competition with Aviva Premiership sides Saracens, Leicester and Harlequins also firmly in the mix for the title.
As well as the European Champions Cup, BT Sport and Sky Sports will also bring rugby fans selected fixtures from the new second-tier competition, the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
A number of English clubs, including Gloucester and Exeter, pit themselves against some of Europe’s big teams and, as with the Champions Cup, a few tweaks have been made from the format adopted by the competition’s predecessor, the Amlin Challenge Cup.
Twenty teams will begin in the pool phase, with eight French clubs competing alongside five English teams and a further five from the Pro 12 league, comprised of Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Italian clubs, plus two more sides from a new qualifying tournament, which takes place in September, where there is potential for sides from Georgia and Romania to represent their nations.
The clubs have been drawn into five pools of four. Each pool winner advances to the quarter-finals along with the three highest ranked runners-up, a change from the previous format, when three sides that failed to reach the latter phase of the Heineken Cup took up the remaining spots.
Northampton Saints lifted the Challenge Cup last season after defeating Bath in the final at Cardiff Arms Park, becoming the sixth English club to claim the prize.
With the domestic rugby season well under way, Europe’s elite now take centre stage for the opening exchanges of the new European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup.
Full details of the opening round of live European rugby action can be found below, as well as details of how BT Sport and Sky Sports will be covering this season’s competition, as both broadcaster’s go directly head-to-head on the rugby field for the first time.
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BT Sport covers live European rugby for the first time this season and will screen some of the competitions biggest matches featuring sides from the Aviva Premiership.
In the European Champions Cup, BT Sport will show at least five matches exclusively live from each of the opening rounds of the tournament, plus two quarter-finals and one semi-final exclusively live, as well as the final, which will shared with Sky Sports.
BT has first picks and additional matches involving clubs from the Aviva Premiership in the Champions Cup and it is using those picks to show Saracens, Leicester, Wasps, Harlequins and Bath in the opening weekend.
It will launch its coverage with a high quality Round 1 line-up, which spans October 16-19, featuring a replay of last year’s memorable semi-final between Saracens and Clermont Auvergne, which the London club won 46-6.
Other exclusively live matches from the opening weekend include Leicester taking on Ulster at Welford Road, a match in which the home side will hope to gain revenge, after the Irish club ended their 25 match unbeaten home run in the Heineken Cup last January.
There will be another Anglo-Irish match on BT Sport when Wasps return to the top tier of European rugby with a visit to Leinster, while the channel will also show Bath’s visit to Glasgow Warriors, as well as a fifth match between Harlequins and Castres, which concludes the opening weekend’s action.
BT Sport’s European Champions Cup coverage will be anchored live from the grounds around Europe for key matches, with further games broadcast live from the BT Sport studio in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London.
Craig Doyle leads the channel’s presentation team alongside its regular rugby union experts, including Lawrence Dallaglio, Ben Kay, Matt Dawson and Austin Healey, plus BT Sport’s new signing, former Ireland and Leinster centre Brian O’Driscoll.
Match commentary will be led by Nick Mullins and Alastair Eykyn, with Andrew Cotter also part of the roster, while reporting and additional presenting duties fall to Sarra Elgan and Martin Bayfield.
BT Sport’s rugby magazine show Rugby Tonight moves to a new slot of Monday nights and will recap on all the action from the new European tournaments every week during the seasno.
It will continue to be hosted by Martin Bayfield, Matt Dawson, Craig Doyle plus Sarra Elgan and will offer a mixture of rugby analysis, debate and lively entertainment around the tournaments, as well as the wider world of rugby.
Commenting on the channel’s first season of European rugby coverage, Grant Best, senior executive channel producer, BT Sport, said: “As well as being the home of the world leading Aviva Premiership, we’re delighted to be adding coverage of Europe’s premier rugby competition to our line-up.
“We are passionate about rugby at BT Sport and look forward to growing the profile of European rugby. Last season, in our inaugural season of Aviva Premiership Rugby, TV audiences rose by 40 per cent.”
Alongside live high-definition TV coverage, all the action will be available to watch online and on the go via the BT Sport website and app.
For more information about BT Sport’s rugby union coverage, visit btsport.com.
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Sky Sports will continue to broadcast some of the biggest head-to-heads from European rugby’s biggest competition this season in the inaugural European Champions Cup.
The winners of last season’s Heineken Cup, Amlin Challenge Cup, Aviva Premiership, Top 14 and Pro12 will be shown all live on Sky Sports during the first two rounds the new competition.
Subscribers can enjoy 10 live matches across the first two weekends on Sky Sports, including Toulon, the reigning European rugby champions, opening their campaign at home to Scarlets, before an away trip the following week to Ulster.
Premiership champions Northampton Saints also feature live twice on Sky Sports, a trip to Paris for an opening weekend clash with Racing Métro, before a home match against Ospreys.
Sky Sports will show 16 teams from all six countries across the first two rounds, with Sale aginst Munster opening the coverage on Saturday, October 18, while coverage of the European Rugby Challenge Cup begins with Gloucester Rugby at home to CA Brive on Thursday, October 16.
The line-up of Sky Sports commentators and analysts includes some of the biggest names in rugby union with over 650 caps between them.
Expert analysis is provided by Will Greenwood, Dewi Morris, Ieuan Evans, Scott Quinnell, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh, Stuart Barnes, Shane Horgan and Paul Wallace, with additional faces also appearing in the Sky Sports studios throughout the season.
England’s 2003 World Cup-winning hero Jonny Wilkinson has also been signed by Sky Sports as a regular pundit on its rugby union coverage ahead of the start of the new European competitions.
Sky’s live European rugby coverage will be presented by Alex Payne and James Gemmell from pitchside at key games or in the studio, with match commentary coming from Miles Harrison, Mark Robson, Martin Gillingham and Johnnie Hammond.
The European Rugby Champions Cup forms part of Sky Sports’ biggest ever rugby union season, offering viewers more than 360 live matches from the international, European and domestic game.
Gus Williamson, executive producer of Sky Sports rugby union, said: “Our European schedule offers Sky Sports viewers many of the best players and best teams over the first two rounds.
“The matches form part of our biggest ever season, which will for the first time include coverage of Top 14, Guinness PRO12 and Ireland’s Autumn Internationals.
“Add to our existing schedule of matches from here and abroad and rugby union fans with Sky Sports have never had it so good. We can’t wait.”
All of Sky Sports’ live matches will be available to watch in HD, on demand and on the go through Sky Go, the leading sports mobile TV service in the UK.
To support the live match experience, Sky Sports customers can also benefit from the innovative Sky Sports smartphone and iPad apps, which offer additional viewing options and analysis.
For more information about Sky Sports’ rugby union coverage, visit skysports.com.
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Welsh language channel S4C will be the only place to watch free-to-air highlights from the new European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup this season.
In a last-minute deal ahead of the start of the new competitions, S4C will screen a one-hour highlights every Sunday night during the competition, with a further round-up show to follow on Mondays.
The S4C highlights show, presented by Gareth Roberts alongside former Wales captain Gwyn Jones, will feature action from key matches in both competitions featuring the Welsh regions, plus the pick of the other top European ties, from the opening round to next May’s final at Twickenham.
Every programme will be available to watch on-demand via the S4C website for up to 30 days after transmission.
Commenting on the highlights deal, Llion Iwan, S4C content editor for sport and factual programmes said, “We are delighted that viewers in Wales and the UK can enjoy free-to-air terrestrial highlights of our two premier European rugby competitions.
“It is a measure of our standing as a sports broadcaster that we can secure such rights in a hugely competitive market. It adds greatly to our impressive broadcasting portfolio of rugby at all levels.
“We salute the competition organisers for having the vision to see that there is room for coverage on a free-to-air platform in the Welsh language.”
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Indicates European Champions Cup / European Challenge Cup matches
Thursday 16th October
GLOUCESTER v BRIVE – Pool 5
Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.00pm-10.00pm Sky Sports 1
Friday 17th October HARLEQUINS v CASTRES – Pool 2 Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.00pm-10.00pm BT Sport 2
Saturday 18th October SALE SHARKS v MUNSTER – Pool 1 Kick-off: 13:00 LIVE: 12.30pm-3.15pm Sky Sports 2 SARACENS v CLERMONT AUVERGNE – Pool 1 Kick-off: 15:15 LIVE: 3.00pm-5.15pm BT Sport 1 GLASGOW WARRIORS v BATH – Pool 4 Kick-off: 15:15 LIVE: 3.00pm-5.15pm BT Sport 2 RACING METRO v NORTHAMPTON SAINTS – Pool 5 Kick-off: 17:15 LIVE: 5.00pm-7.35pm Sky Sports 2 LEICESTER TIGERS v ULSTER – Pool 3 Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.00pm-10.00pm BT Sport 2
Sunday 19th October OSPREYS v TREVISO – Pool 5 Kick-off: 13:00 LIVE: 12.30pm-3.00pm Sky Sports 2 TOULOUSE v MONTPELLIER – Pool 4 Kick-off: 13:00 LIVE: 12.55pm-3.00pm Sky Sports 2 Red Button TOULON v SCARLETS – Pool 3 Kick-off: 15:15 LIVE: 3.00pm-5.30pm Sky Sports 2 LEINSTER v WASPS – Pool 2 Kick-off: 17:15 LIVE: 4.30pm-8.00pm BT Sport 2 Match Highlights European Rugby Special 8.00pm-9.30pm Sky Sports 3 Rygbi: Cwpan Pencampwyr Ewrop 9.50pm-10.50pm S4C
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