OSPREYS AND SCARLETS: New bonus point rule and a wins-first tie-break: how the Challenge Cup works this season

The Ospreys and Scarlets both start their EPCR Challenge Cup campaigns on Saturday, and the rules have changed since last season.

A try bonus point is harder to earn, wins count for more when teams finish level, and the route to the knockouts has been redrawn.

Here’s how it all works, who the two west Wales sides play, and what they need to do to still be in it when the final comes round in Lyon next May.

Three pools of six, four games each

The 18 clubs are split into three pools of six. The Scarlets are in Pool 2 and the Ospreys in Pool 3.

Each club plays four of the other five teams in its pool, two at home and two away.

A win is still worth four points and a draw two.

Challenge Cup bonus point: three more tries than the opposition

The big change is the try bonus point. A team now has to score at least three more tries than its opponent to earn it.

It’s the system France’s Top 14 uses. Four tries alone no longer guarantees anything. A side that wins the try count 5-3 gets no bonus, but a 3-0 try count earns one.

The losing bonus point hasn’t changed. Lose by seven points or fewer and you still take a point.

Twelve of 18 go through, and fourth place could still be enough

The top three in each pool go straight into the round of 16, which is nine clubs in all.

The last three places go to the best of the rest across all three pools combined, ranked on match points. So a side that finishes fourth could still make it.

Those 12 are joined by four clubs dropping down from the Investec Champions Cup. They’re the four highest-ranked sides there that miss out on that competition’s knockouts.

Wins first: how teams level on points are split

When clubs finish level on match points, the side with more wins now goes ahead, whatever else has happened.

That means a side with three wins finishes above a side with two wins that has drawn level through bonus points.

If wins are level too, it goes to points difference, then total tries scored, and finally the drawing of lots.

The same order applies inside each pool and across the pools when the last three places are handed out.

Home advantage all the way to the semi-finals

All 16 clubs are then seeded. The pool winners are seeds one to three, the runners-up four to six, and the two best third-placed sides seven and eight.

The four Champions Cup clubs are nine to 12, the other third-placed side is 13, and the three best-of-the-rest qualifiers are 14 to 16.

The higher seed is at home in the round of 16, the quarter-finals and the semi-finals. The final is at the OL Stadium in Lyon on Friday 21 May 2027.

Scarlets fixtures: Newcastle at Parc y Scarlets, then Durban

The Scarlets start at home to Newcastle Red Bulls on Saturday night. That’s a week after Sam Costelow’s late penalty gave them their first URC win of the season against Benetton.

In January they go to Lyon, the city that hosts the final, before finishing at home to Castres.

• Sat 17 Oct: Scarlets v Newcastle Red Bulls, Parc y Scarlets, 8pm
• Sat 12 Dec: Hollywoodbets Sharks v Scarlets, Kings Park, Durban, 7.30pm
• Sat 9 Jan: Lyon v Scarlets, Matmut Stadium de Gerland, 8pm
• Sat 16 Jan: Scarlets v Castres Olympique, Parc y Scarlets, 4.15pm

Ospreys fixtures: Black Lion in Tbilisi, then two home games at St Helen’s

The Ospreys open in Georgia against Black Lion, and Mark Jones has already said his side will look different to the one that beat the Dragons.

They’ll be without Kieran Hardy, who needs knee surgery after the derby at Rodney Parade.

Both home games fall on the same weekends that South Africa’s Toyota Cheetahs use St Helen’s as their European home, so the ground hosts four Challenge Cup games in all.

• Sat 17 Oct: Black Lion v Ospreys, Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi, 1pm UK time
• Sat 12 Dec: Ospreys v Harlequins, St Helen’s, 1pm
• Sat 9 Jan: RC Toulon v Ospreys, Stade Mayol, 1pm
• Sat 16 Jan: Ospreys v RC Vannes, St Helen’s, 8pm

The new Challenge Cup rules at a glance

Twelve of the 18 go through, and under the new rules, how many games you win could decide which 12. Here’s what has changed this season:

• Try bonus point: you now need to score at least three more tries than the opposition, not just four tries
• Losing bonus point: unchanged, one point for losing by seven or fewer
• Qualifying: the top three in each pool go through automatically, plus the three best of the rest across all pools on match points
• Tie-breaks: wins come first, then points difference, then tries scored, then the drawing of lots
• Knockouts: four Champions Cup drop-outs join the 12 qualifiers in a seeded round of 16, with the higher seed at home up to the semi-finals