Draw Made For European Champions Cup Play-Off
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A draw has taken place for the play-off matches to determine which club secures the 20th place in next season’s European Champions Cup.
Four clubs will battle it out over the last two weekends in May with the winner joining the six clubs from the Aviva Premiership and the TOP 14, and the seven clubs from the Guinness PRO12, which qualify automatically through their league positions.
The seventh-ranked club from the Premiership will have home advantage against the ninth-ranked club from the PRO12 in Play-off 1, and the seventh-ranked club from the TOP 14 will have home advantage against the eighth-ranked club from the PRO12 in Play-off 2. The matches are scheduled for the weekend of 19/20/21 May.
The draw also determined that the winner of Play-off 1 will have home advantage in the Play-off final which will be staged on the weekend of 26/27/28 May.
Champions Cup play-offs
19/20/21 May
Play-off 1: Premiership (seventh-ranked club) v PRO12 (ninth-ranked club)
Play-off 2: TOP 14 (seventh-ranked club) v PRO12 (eighth-ranked club)
26/27/28 May
Play-off Final: winner Play-off 1 v winner Play-off 2
(Winner of Play-off 1 will have home advantage)
The winner of the final will take the 20th place in the 2017/18 Champions Cup.
The remaining 18 clubs from the Aviva Premiership, the Guinness PRO12 and the TOP 14 which have not qualified for the Champions Cup will play in the 2017/18 Challenge Cup. The 19th and 20th places will go to the two Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition finalists.
