2021–22 European Rugby Challenge Cup

2.1 Fifteen clubs – six from the TOP 14, five from the Gallagher Premiership and four from the United Rugby Championship – were divided into three tiers based on meritocracy from last season’s leagues, or on other qualification criteria as follows: 2.3 The pool stage will consist of five rounds with each club playing four matches home or away against opponents in its own pool. One club in each pool will have a bye in every round. 2.6 The ranking of the clubs which qualify for the Round of 16 will be as follows: (i) the three Challenge Cup pool winners will be ranked 1st to 3rd (ii) the three Challenge Cup pool runners-up will be ranked 4th to 6th (iii) the three Challenge Cup third-placed clubs will be ranked 7th to 9th (iv) the leading fourth-placed Challenge Cup club will be ranked 10th (v) the six Heineken Champions Cup qualifiers will be ranked 11th to 16th 2.8 Clubs with the higher rankings from the pool stage will have home venue advantage in the quarter-final matches as follows: Semi-finals 2.9 Clubs with the higher rankings from the pool stage will have home venue advantage in the semi-final matches as follows: 3.4 Each club may register up to five Additional Players during the pool stage but none during the knockout stage, each to replace a player previously registered. A minimum of three Additional Players must be front row players, and two Additional Players can be from any position. Players must have a three-month contract with the club and must not have played for another club in the same tournament. Additional Player registrations must be submitted by 12 noon (GMT) on the Wednesday before the match. De-registered players may be re-registered (in place of the relevant Additional Players) during the pool stage. 3.5 For Second Registration, clubs can add up to three players to supplement their squads and one of the players must be a front row player. Second Registration is scheduled for March 2022. 6.2 Where a match is abandoned after fewer than 60 minutes, (a) if both clubs and the EPCR Board agree, the result will stand, or (b) the match will be replayed in full no earlier than 48 hours after kick-off of the abandoned match (unless both clubs and EPCR agree otherwise), with both clubs entitled to select new match day squads. 7.1 Each club must announce its match day squad by midday (GMT) on the Thursday before a Friday match and by midday (GMT) on the Friday before a weekend match. The match day squad announced must not differ from the squad that plays save in exceptional circumstances. Breaches of match day squad regulations may result in fines being imposed by the Board of EPCR.