Guinness Pro12 champions Connacht will welcome four-time European Cup winners Toulouse to the Sportsground on the opening weekend of the Champions Cup.
The French side heads for Galway on Saturday October 15th (5.30) in a game that will be shown live, on BT Sport. Earlier that afternoon Leinster will be the first of the Irish provinces in action in this season’s tournament when they host familiar foes in Castres Olympique at the RDS (3.15), That match is also on Sky Sport.
Ulster and Munster travel to France on the opening weekend of the Champions Cup with Les Kiss' Ulster travelling to Bordeaux Begles (1.0, Irish time), the new home of Irish international and former Leinster outhalf Ian Madigan, while Munster's first European match under Rassie Erasmus couldn't be much tougher with a trip to the French Top 14 champions, Racing 92 (3.15, Irish time).
Ronan O’Gara, Racing’s defence coach, will be on hand to welcome his former province to Paris. Both games take place on Sunday, October 16th and will be shown live on Sky Sports. Leinster make the trip to France the following week on Sunday, October 23rd (1.0, Irish time), where they will face Montpellier. The last time these sides met at the Altrad stadium it ended in a 16-16 draw.
Munster's first home game of the campaign is the previous day, when they host Pro12 rivals, the Glasgow Warriors (1.0), while Ulster will embrace a couple of sons of the province, in Gareth Steenson and Ian Whitten, albeit that they will be wearing Exeter Chiefs jerseys. That match has a 7.45pm kickoff. Connacht travel to play Zebre (3.15, Irish time) on the Sunday afternoon.
The back-to-back games in November are mouth-watering with Leinster travelling to Franklin’s Gardens on the Friday night before hosting the English side at the Aviva stadium eight days later. It was honours even the last time they squared off with the away side prevailing in the two matches.
Munster play the Leicester Tigers at Thomond Park first before travelling to Welford Road, Ulster get a first crack at Clermont Auvergne at the Kingspan stadium before travelling to the Stade Marcel Michelin while Connacht travel to the Ricoh arena in Coventry where they'll face Wasps, before squaring up against the English side in Galway the following weekend.
On the final weekend of the pool stage Leinster, Munster and Ulster are all at home while Connacht travel to the scene of their most famous European triumph in Toulouse.
Irish provinces: Champions Cup fixtures
October 15th
Leinster v Castres (BT Sport) 3.15pm
Connacht v Toulouse (Sky Sports) 5.30pm
October 16th
Bordeaux v Ulster (Sky Sports) 1.00pm
Racing Metro v Munster (Sky Sports) 3.15pm
October 22nd
Munster v Glasgow Warriors ( Sky Sports) 1.00pm
Ulster v Exeter Chiefs (BT Sports) 7.45pm
October 23rd
Montpellier v Leinster (Sky Sports) 1.00pm
Zebre v Connacht (BT Sport) 3.15pm
December 9th
Northampton v Leinster (BT Sport) 7.45pm
Decemeber 10th
Ulster v Clermont (Sky Sports) 1.00pm
Munster v Leicester (BT Sport) 3.15pm
December 11th
Wasps v Connacht (Sky Sports) 1.00pm
December 17th
Leicester v Munster (BT Sport) 3.15pm
Connacht v Wasps (Sky Sports) 5.30pm
Leinster v Northampton (BT Sport) 7.45pm
December 18th
Clermont v Ulster (Sky Sports) 3.15pm
January 13th-15th
Glasgow v Munster
Connacht v Zebre
Leinster v Montpellier
Exeter v Ulster
January 20th-22nd
Munster v Racing
Toulouse v Connacht
Castres v Leinster
Ulster v Bordeaux
