Glasgow Warriors to enter Challenge Cup

Glasgow Warriors will enter the Challenge Cup at the round of 16 stage, following today's announcement by EPCR regarding its revised tournament formats for 2020/21.

The round of 16 and quarter-final draws will be made on Tuesday 9 March, at which point Glasgow Warriors will discover their opposition for the conclusion of the European campaign.

It will be the club’s first venture into the Challenge Cup since 2007, when a Sean Lineen-led squad containing club legends such as Al Kellock, Dan Parks and Graeme Morrison were eliminated by a 23-19 quarter-final loss to Saracens at Vicarage Road.

How it works

The eight highest-ranked teams from the Challenge Cup at the time of the competition’s suspension will join the eight clubs eliminated from the Heineken Champions Cup in a round of 16 format.

For the purposes of the draw, clubs from the same league cannot be drawn together; however, Challenge Cup and Heineken Champions Cup sides can potentially be drawn to face each other.

The clubs to have won both of their Challenge Cup matches on the pitch – as opposed to COVID-19 impacted results – will be guaranteed home ties in the round of 16. As a result, London Irish, Ospreys and Leicester Tigers will all receive a home fixture in the round of 16 draw.

The venues of the remaining five ties will be determined as part of the draw on Tuesday 9 March.

The draw for the quarter-finals will be made immediately after the draw for the round of 16 stage, which will be streamed live – more details will follow in the coming weeks.

Open draws will determine the quarter-final stage, allowing the possibility of two sides from the same league being drawn together.

Glasgow Warriors’ potential opponents

Based on these criteria, Danny Wilson’s side could be drawn to face the following teams in the round of 16 stage.

English Premiership: Bath, Harlequins, Leicester Tigers, London Irish, Newcastle Falcons, Northampton Saints.

Top14: Agen, Montpellier

As fellow Guinness PRO14 sides, Glasgow Warriors cannot be drawn against Benetton, Cardiff Blues, Connacht, Dragons, Ospreys, Ulster or Zebre in the round of 16, but could face these teams should they progress to the quarter-finals.