{"id":668220,"date":"2026-07-01T16:12:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/668220\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:12:29","slug":"champions-cup-draw-northampton-and-bath-handed-tough-assignments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/668220\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions Cup draw: Northampton and Bath handed tough assignments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northampton and Bath will compete for points in the same tough Champions Cup pool next season, having been drawn alongside the Pretoria-based Bulls and Top 14 runners-up Montpellier.<\/p>\n

The Bulls lost in the United Rugby Championship (URC) final against Leinster in June, while Montpellier were also one match from glory, beaten by Toulouse in France’s showpiece league competition.<\/p>\n

Stade Francais, who reached the Top 14 semi-finals, and Cardiff – the top-ranked Welsh side in the URC – complete a competitive Pool Four.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Bristol will face Gloucester and Munster in Pool Three, as well as being reunited with defending champions Bordeaux-Begles.<\/p>\n

The French superpower took a narrow victory at Ashton Gate when the teams met at the same stage in January.<\/a><\/p>\n

Leinster will take on Leicester, Sale and Glasgow in Pool One, while Toulouse – who clinched a fourth successive French title last weekend – will provide opposition for Saracens, Exeter and Connacht in Pool Two.<\/p>\n

In the second-tier Challenge Cup, Harlequins have been drawn alongside three-time Champions Cup winners Toulon, along with Edinburgh and Ospreys.<\/p>\n

Newcastle are in Pool Two with Scarlets, Benetton and Sharks.<\/p>\n

Ulster have Bayonne and Perpignan as their French opposition in Pool Three, as well as Dragons.<\/p>\n

The fixture list, with potentially crucial home advantage, will be announced later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northampton and Bath will compete for points in the same tough Champions Cup pool next season, having been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-668220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}