The draw will take place at 9 pm on Wednesday, July 21st and is staged in Lausanne, Switzerland.

It will be streamed live on HeinekenChampionsCup.com and will include the winners of the three domestic leagues involved in the competition – Top 14 and Champions Cup holders Stade Toulousain, Gallagher Premiership winners Harlequins and Pro14 winners Leinster.

The draw will consist of eight teams from the three leagues mentioned above, as it did last season.

The teams who have qualified from the three leagues will be listed from one to eight for the draw, with number one being the champions.

The clubs will first be placed into four tiers based on their rankings, before being drawn into two pools of 12 – Pool A and Pool B.

Clubs from the same league in the same tier will not be drawn into the same pool.

Tier 1 will have numbers one and two on the qualifiers in it with Tier 2 having numbers three and four.

Tier 3 will have numbers five and six while Tier 4 will have numbers seven and eight.

The Tier 1 and the Tier 4 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away during the pool stage.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 sides that are in the same pool but not from the same domestic league will do the same.

Once the draw is concluded, clubs will know their pool stage opponents and EPCR will begin work on the fixture schedule with an announcement of exact dates, venues, kick-off times and TV coverage following as soon as practicable.

The 2021/22 tournament will be played over nine weekends with four rounds of matches in the pool stage starting in December when Stade Toulousain begin the defence of their title.

The eight highest-ranked clubs from each pool will qualify for the knockout stage which will consist of a Round of 16 on a home and away basis, quarter-finals and semi-finals, with the final in Marseille on 28 May 2022.

2021/22 Heineken Champions Cup qualifiers

Gallagher Premiership: 1 Harlequins, 2 Exeter Chiefs, 3 Bristol Bears, 4 Sale Sharks, 5 Northampton Saints, 6 Leicester Tigers, 7 Bath Rugby, 8 Wasps
Guinness PRO14: 1 Leinster Rugby, 2 Munster Rugby, 3 Ulster Rugby, 4 Connacht Rugby, 5 Scarlets, 6 Ospreys, 7 Cardiff Rugby, 8 Glasgow Warriors
TOP 14: 1 Stade Toulousain, 2 Stade Rochelais, 3 Racing 92, 4 Union Bordeaux-Bègles, 5 ASM Clermont Auvergne, 6 Stade Français Paris, 7 Castres Olympique, 8 Montpellier Hérault Rugby

Pool Draw tiers

Tier 1: Harlequins, Exeter Chiefs, Leinster Rugby, Munster Rugby, Stade Toulousain, Stade Rochelais
Tier 2: Bristol Bears, Sale Sharks, Ulster Rugby, Connacht Rugby, Racing 92, Union Bordeaux-Bègles
Tier 3: Northampton Saints, Leicester Tigers, Scarlets, Ospreys, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Stade Français Paris
Tier 4: Bath Rugby, Wasps, Cardiff Rugby, Glasgow Warriors, Castres Olympique, Montpellier Hérault Rugby

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The winger has started both of Ireland’s games prior to their Triple Crown match against the English is an admirer of their game.

Moxham noted that England U20s are a very physical side that like to kick – similar to Eddie Jones’ England of late in that sense.

“They’re definitely a good side – probably the best side we’re going to face yet,” said the Larne native.

He complimented the performances of their back three in their first two games and understands they will be a challenge.

However, the 20-year-old relishes the challenge facing him.

Moxham has come a long way since getting into rugby five years ago after not making it in football.

After deciding on rugby because it was “the only other sport” in Larne and putting a lot of hard work behind the scenes, he was recruited by Ulster.

Moxham has been working with the seniors at Ravenhill for a year and says that training with them has improved his game greatly.

“Training with the [Ulster] seniors has helped me massively…You’ve got [Jacob] Stockdale, [Ian] Madigan, James Hume and others that are eager to help you as a young player.”

Moxham cited his coaches and full-back, Jamie Osborne, as figures that have helped him throughout the U20 Six Nations Championship so far.

The Ulster winger said that Head Coach Richie Murphy has been a huge help to him.

His defensive game is his strong point in his own opinion and the connection he has with Osborne on the pitch has helped him to do his job well.

“Jamie’s [a] really good [communicator], it makes my job a lot easier.”

The Ireland U20s match against England U20s kicks off at 8 pm on Thursday night and will be available to watch on RTÉ News Now and the RTÉ Player.

Click here to see the starting lineup.

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The two sides will face off at 8 pm on Thursday in Cardiff, having both won their first two games ahead of their match.

Soroka is not worried about the silverware that will come with a win or the implications that a loss will have.

“We’re just treating it as another rugby game,” said Soroka.

The Leinster prospect has been a huge figure for Ireland at set-pieces and sees the clash with England as a very tough matchup, but an exciting one.

He’s gathered from the video footage studied throughout the week that England are a multi-faceted side.

They can play through teams or play around teams and have some impressive kickers.

“I think it’s pretty exciting for us as a team to play against a team that has that much quality.”

However, the utility forward is confident of his side’s abilities in a head-to-head clash with the England u20s.

The 20-year-old enjoyed his team’s two wins and believes they can play well against their biggest opposition to date on Thursday night.

Their game-by-game approach has helped the side, according to the man starting at lock on Thursday.

“We are just focusing on ourselves, not thinking about other rugby stuff.”

He believes that their set-piece will be able to challenge England’s, even if Ireland does not have the height advantage.

Soroka has studied their lineout and believes that skill and technique will be enough to counter the height advantage.

His time studying and calling the lineouts during the tournaments has proved successful with the side boasting an 88% success rate in their two games.

He believes Ireland can impose their will upon this English side, in one way or another.

“We want to show what we can do.”

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Their strong, cohesive forwards have looked powerful in their set-pieces and the side are very comfortable with playing direct or going wide.

However, Tucker has been impressed most by another aspect of their game.

“One of the most impressive things for me about the team so far has been their character,” said the forwards coach.

England have gone two from two in the 2021 U20 Six Nations Championship so far with both wins impressing Cullie.

Their bonus-point comeback win against France and their victory over Scotland after being down to 13-men at one point in the game has underlined the strength of Alan Dickens’ side.

“There’s massive threats within them.”

Fortunately, Ireland U20s have multiple threats of their own, particularly among their pack which has been very impressive in the competition so far.

Tucker praised Ireland’s set-pieces in their opening games, noting their 88% success rate at the lineout.

Their scrummaging has also been very good with over 10 players showing their quality in that area of the game.

Ireland’s depth has looked impressive in the two games, especially at prop and Tucker says that, if the quality’s there, the coaches should not be afraid to rotate.

“There’s no doubt our depth will be tested and it’s up to us as coaches to trust our squad.”

The two Alex’s – Kendellen and Soroka – both earned individual praise from their coach.

Cullie described Kendellen as a great leader who wouldn’t ask anything of his fellow players that he would not do.

The coach put Soroka’s versatility down to his hard work off the field – studying set-pieces and other team’s calls.

“His versatility has been a huge asset to us.”

Ireland U20s will play England U20s at 8 pm on Thursday with a Triple Crown at stake for Richie Murphy’s side.

The game will be available to watch on RTÉ News Now and the RTÉ Player.

The starting lineup and bench can be seen here.

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In a statement on Thursday the RFU said, “The RFU has stated we need to do more to achieve diversity and we are determined to accelerate change and grow awareness”. The spokesperson acknowledged the song has been long part of the culture of rugby but said that “”We are reviewing its historical context and our role in educating fans to make informed decisions.”

The history books tell us that the first time the song was sung was at Twickenham in 1987. BBC Sport state that it occured at the Middlesex Tournament when Martin “Chariots” played. The song itself is thought to have been written in the 19th century by Wallace Willis who was a black slave. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, Rugby Union’s Weekly Podcast, Maro Itoje current England player said the background of the song was “complicated”.

RFU Chief Bill Sweeney has promised to increase diversity in the organisation. He said, “We have undertaken some very good initiatives at the grassroots level to encourage more diverse participation however, that in itself is not enough. “We need to do more to achieve diversity across all areas of the game including administration.”

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