Champions Cup 15/16 fixtures

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs will mark their return to the Europe’s top flight with a first-ever visit to the Liberty Stadium to tackle Welsh giants Ospreys.

Having recorded their best-ever Aviva Premiership season last term, Rob Baxter’s side find themselves back amongst the great and good of Northern Hemisphere rugby in the European Champions Cup.

Pitted in Pool Two alongside Ospreys and French Top14 sides Clermont-Auvergne and Bordeaux-Begles, it’s certainly a challenging return for the Devon outfit.

However, it’s the arena in which all modern-day players want to showcase their talents and the current crop of Chiefs’ stars are no different.

With six fixtures to tackle in the Pool Stage, Baxter will lead his side into battle for Round One on Sunday, November 15 with a 5:15pm kick-off in Swansea.

Six days later, the Chiefs will welcome Bordeaux-Begles to Sandy Park on Saturday, November 21 (7:45pm), before the competition takes a break for a month.

In what promises to be two cracking encounters pre-Christmas, the Chiefs play host to last season’s beaten finalists, Clermont-Auvergne, on Saturday, December 12 (5:15pm), before then making the trip to the imposing Stade Marcel Michelin on Sunday, December 20 (4:15pm).

Again domestic matters take over before Europe reconvenes in January when the Chiefs make a second trip across the English Channel to Bordeaux-Begles over the weekend of January 15/16/17.

Baxter’s side wrap up their Pool Two qualification stage on the weekend of January 22/23/24 when the Ospreys – who have played twice in Devon before in LV= Cup encounters – visit Sandy Park.

The first four rounds of the competition will all been screened by either Sky Sports or BT Sports, but dates and kick-off times for rounds five and six will not be confirmed until after Exeter’s trip to Clermont in Round Four.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP 2015/16
POOL TWO FIXTURES

Round One -Sunday, November 15:

Bordeaux-Begles v Clermont-Auvergne (Stade Chaban-Delmas, 2pm)
Ospreys v Exeter Chiefs (Liberty Stadium, 5:15pm)

Round Two – Saturday, November 21

Clermont-Auvergne v Ospreys (Stade Marcel Michelin, 2pm)
Exeter Chiefs v Bordeaux-Begles (Sandy Park, 7:45pm)

Round Three – Saturday, December 12

Exeter Chiefs v Clermont-Auvergne (Sandy Park, 5:15pm)
Ospreys v Bordeaux-Begles (Liberty Stadium, 5:15pm)

Round Four – Saturday, December 19

Bordeaux-Begles v Ospreys (Stade Chaban-Delmas, 6:15pm)

Sunday, December 20

Clermont-Auvergne v Exeter Chiefs (Stade Marcel Michelin, 4:15pm)

Round Five – Weekend of January 15/16/17

Bordeaux-Begles v Exeter Chiefs (Stade Chaban-Delmas, TBC)
Ospreys v Clermont-Auvergne (Liberty Stadium, TBC)

Round Six – Weekend of January 22/23/24

Clermont-Auvergne v Bordeaux-Begles (Stade Marcel Michelin, TBC)
Exeter Chiefs v Ospreys (Sandy Park, TBC)