The season structures for next year’s Magners League and Heineken Cup have today been confirmed by Celtic Rugby and ERC respectively.
The 2011/12 Magners League season will kick-off on the first weekend of September and will be played over six of the eight weeks set aside for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
After the opening six rounds of matches there will be a two-week break for the semi-finals and final of the World Cup before fixtures resume on 29 October.
There will be two more weekends of Magners League action before the European Pool matches begin on the weekend of 12 November.
There will be four rounds of matches during the seven week RBS 6 Nations window with the final league weekend coming on 5 May.The Play-Off semi-finals will follow on the weekend of 12 May with the third Grand Final being scheduled for the weekend of 26 May.
The 2011 / 2012 Heineken Cup, meanwhile, will kick-off in November 2011, less than three weeks after the Rugby World Cup reaches its climax with the final in Auckland on 23 October.
Due to the staging of the World Cup, the two European club rugby tournaments will start later than usual. Once the opening two rounds are completed in November, the tournaments will revert to their customary format with Rounds 3 and 4 scheduled for December, and Rounds 5 and 6 taking place in January, 2012.
The 17th Heineken Cup final will be staged at Twickenham on the weekend of 19 / 20 May 2012.
2011 / 2012 HEINEKEN CUP AND AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP DATES
ROUND 1 – 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 November, 2011
ROUND 2 – 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 November, 2011
ROUND 3 – 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 December, 2011
ROUND 4 – 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 December, 2011
ROUND 5 – 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 January, 2012
ROUND 6 – 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 January, 2012
QUARTER-FINALS – 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 April, 2012
SEMI-FINALS – 27 / 28 / 29 April, 2012
FINALS – 18 / 19 / 20 May, 2012
