Rugby union has had its fun so far during the ongoing international break, but we at FloRugby also just can’t wait to get the club scene rolling again.

And with the pool stages of the 2024-25 edition of the EPCR Challenge Cup right around the corner, it’s time to start looking ahead at the eye-popping matches that are coming your way soon as one of the most competitive club rugby competitions in the world is about to kick up again.

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Here’s a look at 10 matches in Challenge Cup pool play that you’ll need to keep an eye on as the competition returns. 

Edinburgh vs. Gloucester Rugby, Round 1, 3 p.m. ET Dec. 6

Times have been strange at both Gloucester and Edinburgh recently. The English club finished runner-up in last year’s edition of the Challenge Cup as it romped through its pool and most of the knockouts until the final, but it couldn’t find similar form domestically as it finished second-bottom in the Premiership and lost one of its best players, Louis Rees-Zammit, in midseason due to his high-profile choice to try and give American football a crack. Meanwhile at Edinburgh, it looked absolutely abysmal earlier in the United Rugby Championship campaign when it was down a URC record 48-0 at the half to the Lions, but it has also looked good in spurts, like when it nearly pulled off an opening-round stunner over provincial juggernaut Leinster. This could easily be a chaotic match at Kingsholm.

RC Vannes vs Black Lion, Round 1, 8 a.m. ET Dec. 7

This Round 1 fixture will be a remarkable one for two reasons. Vannes, from the French region of Brittany on the country’s northwest coast, will be playing in Europe for the first time in its history against Black Lion a mere eight years after the club turned professional. Also now the club home of Saracens legend and ex-British & Irish Lion Mako Vunipola, Vannes is playing its first-ever season of top-flight rugby and is enjoying the spoils that come with it. On the other hand, Black Lion is Georgia’s club representative in the EPCR, being once again invited to the Challenge Cup and coming off of the back of a fourth straight Rugby Europe Super Cup title won last month.

Newcastle Falcons at Pau, Round 1, 8 a.m. ET Dec. 8

The Falcons finally ended a 25-match winless streak in the Premiership last month, beating the Exeter Chiefs to end their miserable run of form domestically after losing every match in 2023-24 and only being saved from a relegation playoff due to the fact that the second-tier winners did not meet the stadium capacity criteria needed for promotion. While a run in Europe would be surprising for Newcastle, it can look at Pau as a blueprint to follow. La Section led the Top 14 at multiple points early in last season’s campaign and finished just a point off of Champions Cup play at season’s end, employing players like reigning Top 14 points leader Joe Simmonds and Emilien Gailleton, an emerging star centre who has even broken through into the loaded France national side.

Perpignan vs. Cheetahs, Round 1, 8 a.m. ET Dec. 8

Like Black Lion, the Cheetahs did not earn their place into the Challenge Cup by way of qualifying through their domestic competition. Instead, the Bloemfontein-based South African club was invited back into the competition for the third straight season, having most notably played in South Africa’s domestic Currie Cup, different than some of its neighbour clubs in its home country who qualified for Europe by way of the United Rugby Championship. The Cheetahs (who will be based in Amsterdam for the Challenge Cup) won’t face another South African side in pool play, though they will get to take on a Perpignan squad that has a Springbok and Rugby World Cup winner in Marvin Orie and won 13 matches in the brutal Top 14 a season ago.

Bayonne vs. Edinburgh Rugby, Round 2, 3 p.m. ET Dec. 13

Putting the rest of the Top 14 (and Challenge Cup participants, for that matter) on notice when it closed its first block of Top 14 matches by defeating giants Toulouse 12-8 — the same Toulouse which is coming off of a Top 14-Champions Cup double achieved last season — Bayonne is here to show that its surge to fourth in the Top 14 entering the international break is no flash in the pan. A squad chock-full of senior internationals like the dynamic Mateo Carreras (Argentina), ex-British & Irish Lion Manu Tuilagi (England) and former France stalwarts Maxime Machenaud and Camille Lopez, Bayonne is not a side to be taken lightly and should be a force throughout its time in the Challenge Cup. Getting a result at the Hive Stadium could go a long way toward what could be a historic campaign in Europe for L’Aviron.

Pau vs. Lions, Round 2, 10:15 a.m. ET, Dec. 14

If you’re looking for an early favourite to take the Challenge Cup title, the Lions may be the team that you’re going to need to keep tabs on. Despite being the third highest-scoring team in the URC regular season in 2023-24 — even outscoring the eventual champion Glasgow Warriors — a litany of untimely defeats eventually led to the Lions missing out on the URC playoffs and Champions Cup qualification on the final day of the regular season. Nowadays after the first block of URC matches this season, the Lions sit fourth in the table despite playing one fewer match than the non-South African teams in the competition due to conflicts with the Currie Cup in Round 1, with their only defeat coming to a Leinster side that looks like the Champions Cup front-runner. Pau will be a tough out, but if the Lions want to make it two straight years of South African wins in the Challenge Cup, this will be a matchup in which they will need to put their foot on the gas.

Cheetahs vs. Cardiff Rugby, Round 2, 3 p.m. Dec. 14

Cardiff has a little extra motivation to make a deep Challenge Cup run as this year’s final will take place at the Principality Stadium, and it returns to the competition after a pool-stage exit in last season’s Champions Cup. The Blues have won the Challenge Cup twice and made the quarterfinals their last time out in 2022-23, and they should be a strong side once again upon their return with a bevy of Wales internationals. The Cheetahs should be a fun wild-card team that could make things chaotic based on the fact that they really have nothing to lose, being that they and Black Lion are already invited back to the Challenge Cup for 2025-26, too. But if Cardiff wants to return to glory and set itself up as a title favourite, these are the types of matches that it needs to win.

Lyon vs. Connacht Rugby, Round 3, 3 p.m. Jan. 11

The Irish provincial teams do European nights as well as any other clubs in the world, and now that Connacht got a taste of a Challenge Cup knockout-round run by making it to the quarterfinals last season, the Westerners want a little bit more this time around for the passionate supporters that fill into the Dexcom Stadium. Connacht entering the international break has three wins from six matches (all defeats of which have come to fellow provincial sides) and is fifth in the URC table, a solid start that’s included a win over last season’s Challenge Cup winners in the Sharks. Still, it must be careful against a Lyon squad that still has plenty of firepower left from the 2022 Challenge Cup-winning side, though. 

Cheetahs vs. Lyon, Round 4, 12:30 p.m. Jan. 18

No player in the Top 14 scored more tries last season than Lyon’s Baptiste Couilloud, and he’s been right back to his high-flying form with LOU as he has six tries in eight Top 14 appearances this season for the club. Can he bring that form to the European stage, too? Lyon is back into the Challenge Cup — which it won the last time it was in it two years ago — after making the Round of 16 in the Champions Cup last season, and while it is 10th in the Top 14 standings at the international break, it does hold a strong win over Bordeaux. Whether or not the iron strikes hot for Couilloud in the Challenge Cup could make or break whether or not Lyon will be contenders once again in the competition, and with points up for grabs in a relatively-open Pool 1, he’ll be looking to strike hard and fast in Lyon’s matchup against the Cheetahs.

Gloucester vs. Bayonne, Round 4, 8 a.m. Jan. 19

We could see knockout round positioning decided in this clash on the final day of play in Pool 3, with Gloucester needing to go to France to play a potential dark-horse team to win the Challenge Cup outright. Gloucester’s ability to score and find the try line, however, may make for a key difference. The club currently ranks third in the Premiership with 21 tries and fourth with 154 points, and Welsh talisman Max Llewellyn is currently tied for the lead in the competition with five tries. Bayonne should be carrying a beefy squad into this match and one that has high hopes to make some potential history, but do keep in mind that Gloucester is a club that has seen Challenge Cup success in the past — winning the competition in both 2006 and 2015 — so a deep run abroad is not something that is foreign to the Cherry and Whites, either.

EPCR Challenge Cup Format 

Key points for the 2024/25 EPCR Challenge Cup:

• A multi-pool format, as launched in the 2023/24 season
• 18 clubs in three pools of six
• sporting jeopardy with each club playing against four different opponents home or away in the pool stage
• Four highest-ranked clubs in each pool qualify for the knockout stage
• Eight weekends with four pool stage rounds and four knockout stage rounds culminating in the 2025 final at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on Friday, 23 May

EPCR Challenge Cup Weekends

• Round 1 – 6/7/8 December 2024
• Round 2 – 13/14/15 December 2024
• Round 3 – 10/11/12 January 2025
• Round 4 – 17/18/19 January 2025
• Round of 16 – 4/5/6 April 2025
• Quarter-finals – 11/12/13 April 2025
• Semi-finals – 2/3/4 May 2025
• 2025 EPCR Challenge Cup final – Principality Stadium, Cardiff; Friday May 23

EPCR Challenge Cup Qualifiers 

Clubs from the United Rugby Championship, the TOP 14 and the Gallagher Premiership who have not qualified for the 2024/25 Investec Champions Cup will compete in the 2024/25 EPCR Challenge Cup.

NB If not already qualified, the winner of the 2024 EPCR Challenge Cup will secure a place in the 2024/25 Investec Champions Cup, replacing the eight-ranked club in its league.

EPCR Challenge Cup Qualifiers 

• UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP   – Ospreys, Emirates Lions, Edinburgh Rugby, Connacht Rugby, Cardiff Rugby, Scarlets, Dragons RFC, Zebre Parma
• TOP 14   – Section Paloise, USAP, Lyon Olympic University, Aviron Bayonnais, Montpellier Hérault Rugby, RC Vannes
• GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP  – Gloucester Rugby, Newcastle Falcons
• INVITED   – Black Lion, Toyota Cheetahs

When Does The 2024-2025 EPCR Challenge Cup Begin? When Is The Challenge Cup Final?

The Investec Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup begin on Dec. 6 and the four-round pool play action ends on Jan. 19, 2025. The Round of 16 starts on April 4, while the quarterfinals are April 11-13 and the semifinals are May 2-4. 

The EPCR Championships weekend is in Cardiff, Wales at Principality Stadium. There are championship games on May 23 (EPCR Challenge Cup) and May 24 (Investec Champions Cup). 

What Are The EPCR Challenge Cup Pools?

Here are the pools. 

EPCR Challenge Cup

Pool 1:

• Cardiff Rugby
• Connacht Rugby
• Toyota Cheetahs
• Perpignan (USAP)
• Lyon Olympic University (Lyon OU)
• Zebra Parma

Pool 2:

• Montpellier Herault Rugby
• Pau (Pau Section)
• Newcastle Falcons
• Dragons RFC
• Emirates Lions
• Ospreys

Pool 3:

• RC Vannes
• Black Lion
• Bayonne (Bayonne Rowing)
• Scarlets
• Edinburgh Rugby
• Gloucester Rugby

How To Watch Rugby Matches In the United States On FloRugby

FloRugby and FloSports also are the US home to: 

• Investec Champions Cup
• EPCR Challenge Cup
• Currie Cup
• Top 14
• Super Rugby
• And more

FloRugby also is home to match archives and match replays. 

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