2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup

Sixteen teams qualified for the 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup from Premiership Rugby, the Top 14 and the United Rugby Championship as a direct result of their domestic league performance having not qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup. Plus two invited sides making 18 teams.[1]

The distribution of teams are:

• England: two teams
  • Remaining teams in the 2023–24 Premiership Season that do not qualify for the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup. Bristol Bears had previously qualified but replaced London Irish in the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup following London Irish's suspension from the Premiership[2]
• France: six teams
  • Teams taking part in the 2023–24 Top 14 season that did not qualify for the Champions Cup
• Georgia, Italy, Scotland, Wales, South Africa: ten teams
  • Eight teams qualified from Italy, Scotland, Wales and South Africa through the United Rugby Championship. Ireland are not represented.
  • Two teams invited, one each from South Africa and Georgia.[3]

Entry Point	Premiership	Top 14	United Rugby Championship				Invited
—	England	France	Italy	Scotland	Wales	South Africa		Georgia
Pool stage	Gloucester Newcastle Falcons	Castres Clermont Montpellier Pau Perpignan Oyonnax	Benetton Zebre Parma	Edinburgh	Ospreys Scarlets Dragons	Sharks Lions	Cheetahs	Black Lion

Team details

Team	Coach / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Method of qualification
Entering at Pool stage
Benetton	Marco Bortolami	Dewaldt Duvenage Michele Lamaro	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	5,000	URC bottom eight
Black Lion	Levan Maisashvili	Merab Sharikadze	Mikheil Meskhi Stadium	27,223	Invited[lower-alpha 1]
Castres	Jeremy Davidson	Mathieu Babillot	Stade Pierre-Fabre	12,500	Top 14 bottom 6
Cheetahs	Hawies Fourie	Victor Sekekete	Free State Stadium	46,000	Invited[lower-alpha 2]
			NRCA Stadium
Clermont	Christophe Urios	Arthur Iturria	Stade Marcel-Michelin	19,022	Top 14 bottom 6
Dragons	Dai Flanagan	Steffan Hughes	Rodney Parade	8,700	URC bottom eight
Edinburgh	Sean Everitt	Grant Gilchrist Jamie Ritchie	Edinburgh Rugby Stadium	7,800	URC bottom eight
Gloucester	George Skivington	Lewis Ludlow	Kingsholm	16,115	Premiership bottom 2
Lions	Ivan van Rooyen	Reinhard Nothnagel	Emirates Airline Park	62,567	URC bottom eight
Montpellier	Philippe Saint-André	Fulgence Ouedraogo	GGL Stadium	15,697	Top 14 bottom 6
Newcastle Falcons	Alex Codling	Callum Chick	Kingston Park	11,200	Premiership bottom 2
Ospreys	Toby Booth	Justin Tipuric	Swansea.com Stadium	22,200	URC bottom eight
Oyonnax	Joe El Abd	Tommy Raynaud	Stade Charles-Mathon	11,500	Pro D2 Champions
Pau	Thomas Domingo	Beka Gorgadze	Stade du Hameau	18,324	Top 14 bottom 6
Perpignan	David Marty	Mathieu Acebes	Stade Aimé Giral	14,593	Top 14 bottom 6
Scarlets	Dwayne Peel	Josh Macleod	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	URC bottom eight
Sharks	John Plumtree	Thomas du Toit	Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium	54,000	URC bottom eight[lower-alpha 3]
Zebre Parma	Fabio Roselli	Dave Sisi	Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi	5,000	URC bottom eight

Teams were awarded four points for a win, two for a draw, one for scoring four tries in a game, and one for losing by less than eight points.

Pool 1

Pool 1
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Cheetahs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dragons	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Oyonnax	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pau	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sharks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Zebre Parma	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are qualification places for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Starting table — source: EPCR

Pool 2

Pool 2
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Benetton Rugby	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lions	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Montpellier	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Newcastle Falcons	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ospreys	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
USAP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are qualification places for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Starting table — source: EPCR

Pool 3

Pool 3
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Black Lion	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Castres	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clermont	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gloucester	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scarlets	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are qualification places for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Starting table — source: EPCR

The knockout stage will be played with a single-leg round of 16 matches consisting of the top four teams from each pool and the teams ranked 5th in each pool of the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup. The Round of 16 will follow a pre-determined format, while the quarter-finals and semi-finals will guarantee home advantage to the higher-ranked team.

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

• 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup