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The scenario where Lions could miss Champions Cup

By URC
Thursday 21 May 2026

EXPLAINER: The Lions will have to wait a little bit longer to see if they have qualified for next season’s Champions Cup, despite finishing in seventh position in the United Rugby Championship standings.

The race for EPCR qualification has an added layer of complexity this season due to the interaction between the URC table positions and EPCR title winners.

Normally, the top eight teams in the final URC table qualify for the following season’s Champions Cup.

However, if a URC team wins either the Champions Cup or EPCR Challenge Cup, and has not already qualified through its league position, that club still earns a Champions Cup place under EPCR regulations.

That qualification then comes from the URC’s allocation of eight places.

This means there are scenarios where teams inside the top eight can miss out.

The story continues below…

For example, Ulster finished ninth in the URC standings but will play in this weekend’s EPCR Challenge Cup Final. If Ulster win the competition, they would qualify for next season’s Champions Cup, taking the URC allocation place currently occupied by Connacht in eighth.

However, there is a further twist. If Connacht were then to go on and win the URC Championship title, they would also qualify automatically for the Champions Cup as URC champions.

In that scenario, Connacht would regain a Champions Cup place, with the side that finished seventh in the table, the Lions, dropping into the EPCR Challenge Cup instead.

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