The EPCR has announced two important changes for next season’s Investec Champions Cup, in a bid to create more jeopardy and closer games.
Tournament organisers have tweaked the way teams can now pick up bonus points in pool stage games, while they have also made an adjustment to four of the qualification spots for the Round of 16.
Under the new rules, teams can no longer secure a bonus-point simply by scoring four tries, with next season’s Champions Cup following the model used in the French Top 14 and in Super Rugby, where a bonus point will only be awarded if you score at least three tries more than your opponent.
The current losing bonus point for a defeat by seven points or fewer remains in place, but it will now be highly unlikely for a team to lose and pick up two bonus points.
It also removes the possibility of a team simply playing for a bonus point through scoring tries in a heavy defeat.
The second change to next season’s competition will be around the pool stage, the draw for which will be made on Wednesday.
In recent years, the 24 teams have been split into four pools of six, with the top four in each pool advancing to the Round of 16.
The controversial six-team pools, and the Round of 16 will remain for the coming seasons according to EPCR, but there has been a change made to create a more level playing field.
As part of the new change, the top three teams in each pool will be guaranteed to qualify for the knockout stage, with the four other places determined by ranking the remaining teams (similar to the FIFA World Cup).
The change has been made to try to eliminate the possibility of a team reaching the Round of 16 despite winning just one pool game, at the expense of a side that has won more games.
For example, in 2025/26, both Leicester Tigers and Bulls earned knockout rugby by winning just one of their four games, while the Sharks were eliminated despite winning twice.
While it will still be possible to reach the Round of 16 with just one win from four pool games, it will no longer be possible to do so ahead of a team with more wins. To assist this, the first tiebreak in the event of teams finishing with the same number of points will be games won.
Full details of the changes can be viewed here
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