Cardiff will face both Northampton Saints and Bath in the group stage of the Champions Cup, as the four regions found out the draw on Wednesday.

The capital region were drawn in Pool Four, alongside the English duo, with South African side Bulls, and French Top14 duo Montpellier and Stade Francais.

Cardiff faced Stade in the group stages of the EPCR Challenge Cup last season, with the Paris-based side winning 38-17 back in December.

The group’s difficulty is evident, with the Bulls losing in the United Rugby Championship final against Leinster in June, while Montpellier were also one match from glory, beaten by Toulouse in France’s showpiece league competition.

In the second-tier Challenge Cup, Ospreys have been drawn alongside three-time Champions Cup winners Toulon, along with Edinburgh, Black Lion, Vannes, and Harlequins.

Scarlets are in Pool Two with Newcastle, Benetton, Castres, Lyon, and Sharks.

Dragons have Bayonne and Perpignan as their French opposition in Pool Three, as well as Ulster, Cheetahs, and Zebre.

The fixture list, with potentially crucial home advantage, will be announced later this month.

The draw comes after a host of rule changes to the Champions Cup.

Try-scoring bonus points in next season’s pool stage will be awarded only to teams who cross at least three more times than their opponents – rather than for simply scoring four or more tries.

The concept, which is used in France’s Top 14, the southern hemisphere’s Super Rugby and, from next season, will be implemented in England’s second-tier Champ, aims to keep matches competitive for longer.

There will also be a change in qualification criteria for the last-16 stage.

Previously the top four teams from each of the four six-strong pools would progress, with home advantage in the knockouts decided by a seeding based on group-stage records.

From 2026-27, only three teams from each of the four pools will go through automatically, with the remaining four last-16 spots allocated on the basis of table points collected.

Both tournaments have secured an earlier starting slot next season, with the first pool-stage games to be played on the weekend of 16-18 October. The competitions culminate in a finals weekend to be staged in the French city of Lyon in May.

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