Sky Sports and BT Sport have confirmed which quarter-final ties they shall be screening exclusively live as the inaugural season of European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup rugby reaches the knockout stages in April.
As the eyes of the rugby world in the Northern Hemisphere turn to the kick-off of the Six Nations, fans of the elite European club game can also look forward to another series of unmissable fixtures, with live coverage of all eight of EPCR’s quarter-finals to be shared between Sky Sports and BT Sport.
Dublin’s Aviva Stadium will be packed to the rafters for the opening shots in what is always a memorable weekend when Leinster take on Bath in the first of the Champions Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, April 4, which will be shown live on BT Sport.
When the three-time champions last played a quarter-final in Europe’s top flight at the Aviva Stadium in 2012 – defeating Cardiff Blues 34-3 before going on to retain the trophy – the 50,340 attendance was the second-highest for a last eight match in the tournament’s history.
Bath, who along with Wasps became the first club to qualify for the quarter-finals after losing their opening two pool games, will be fully aware of the task in hand as to date, Leinster have won all three of their matches staged at the Aviva in the tournament knockout phase.
The second of the quarter-finals on Saturday pits Pool 1 winners Clermont Auvergne against current Aviva Premiership leaders Northampton Saints, live on Sky Sports, at fortress Marcel-Michelin where Clermont have now won 22 European games in a row.
The road to the London 2015 final at Twickenham Stadium will be clearer by the time number one seeds and first-time quarter-finalists Racing Metro clash with Saracens at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir on Sunday, April 5, which will be shown by BT Sport.
Following that clash, holders Toulon wrap up the Champions Cup schedule with another mouthwatering Anglo-French confrontation against Wasps in the Stade Félix Mayol cauldron, which will be broadcast on Sky Sports.
A massive weekend of European rugby gets under way on Friday, April 3 when Challenge Cup top seeds Gloucester go up against Connacht at Kingsholm Stadium, live on Sky Sports.
The following day sees the all-Welsh meeting of Newport Gwent Dragons and 2010 champions Cardiff Blues, live on BT Sport, and the all-Aviva Premiership clash of Exeter Chiefs and Newcastle Falcons, live on Sky Sports.
The curtain will come down on the quarter-finals on Sunday evening in front of the BT Sport cameras with London Irish and Edinburgh Rugby going head-to-head at the Madejski Stadium.
Replacing the Heineken Cup as European rugby union’s premier club competition this season, the inaugural Champions Cup pits the cream of continent against one another 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 with a few significant tweaks made to its format, with the number of teams involved being reduced from 24 to 20.
Subscribers to BT Sport and Sky Sports 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.
Welsh language channel S4C is the only place to watch free-to-air highlights from the new European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup this season, following a last-minute deal ahead of the start of the new competitions.
For more information on the European Rugby Champions Cup, visit epcrugby.com.
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| FRIDAY 3rd APRIL |
| Gloucester v Connacht European Challenge Cup – Quarter Final | 19:45 |
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| SATURDAY 4th APRIL |
| Newport Gwent Dragons v Cardiff Blues European Challenge Cup – Quarter Final | 12:45 |
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| Leinster v Bath European Champions Cup – Quarter Final | 15:15 |
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| Clermont Auvergne v Northampton Saints European Champions Cup – Quarter Final | 17:45 |
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| Exeter Chiefs v Newcastle Falcons European Challenge Cup – Quarter Final | 20:00 |
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| SUNDAY 5th APRIL |
| Racing Metro v Saracens European Champions Cup – Quarter Final | 12:45 |
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| Toulon v Wasps European Champions Cup – Quarter Final | 15:15 |
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| London Irish v Edinburgh European Challenge Cup – Quarter Final | 17:45 |
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