Ospreys, Scarlets, Cardiff and Dragons European…

Ospreys, Scarlets, Cardiff and Dragons European fixtures are announced as English champions kick-off in Wales

The Ospreys will kick off their Heineken Champions Cup campaign by playing hosts to English title winners Leicester.

Wales’ sole representatives in the European top tier event will entertain Tommy Reffell’s Tigers at the Swansea.com Stadium on the weekend of December 9-11. They then face back-to-back games against French champions Montpellier before travelling to Welford Road for their final group fixture in mid-January.

As for the other three Welsh teams, who are all in the second-tier Challenge Cup, the opening round sees Cardiff at home to Brive, the Dragons away to Wasps and the Scarlets hosting the Cheetahs. The visit of Brive to the Arms Park will bring back distant memories of when the two sides met in the 1997 Heineken Cup semi-final, with the French club going on to lift that trophy that year. Cardiff’s other group opponents are Newcastle.

After travelling to Wasps - which will see Wales lock Will Rowlands back on familiar turf - the Dragons have home and away ties against Pau, while the Scarlets’ second and third round fixtures are against the Cheetahs, from Bloemfontein, who have received a special invitation to the tournament.

The Cheetahs are one of five South African teams involved in Europe this year in a landmark move, with the Lions joining them in the Challenge Cup and the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks making their Champions Cup debuts. URC winners the Stormers kick off with a testing trip to the Stade Marcel-Michelin cauldron to take on Clermont Auvergne.

European champs La Rochelle begin the defence of their crown at home to Dan Biggar’s Northampton, while two of the tournament’s traditional heavyweights, Munster and Toulouse, will lock horns at a packed-out Thomond Park in round one.

The exact dates and kick-off times of the group matches will be announced following the conclusion of negotiations with broadcasters. Teams are divided into two pools of 12 in the Champions Cup, with the top eight from each section going through to the last 16 at the end of March. The sides ranked ninth and tenth in each pool will drop down to the Challenge Cup knock-out stage, joining 12 qualifiers from that tournament.