The Ospreys will meet newly-crowned Aviva Premiership champions, Northampton Saints, as well as Top 14 semi-finalists, Racing Metro 92, along with and Benetton Treviso.
The Scarlets face a daunting task having been drawn in the same group as RC Toulon, Leicester Tigers, and Ulster Rugby.
Ospreys Head Coach Steve Tandy says he is “super-excited” with his club’s draw and that the leading Welsh region “won’t be overawed”.
“With the changes to European rugby everybody knew that what was already a very tough competition would get even tougher this season, but when you look at that draw you have to be genuinely excited,” said Tandy.
“I would say that players, the rest of the coaches and, particularly our supporters, will share that sentiment. It’s going to be a fantastic, rollercoaster of a competition but we won’t be overawed in any way.
“It’s an awesome prospect and I can’t wait to get started. The next key stage will be getting the fixture dates through, but whoever we play in the opening rounds, wherever we are playing, it’s important that we get off to a flying start.”
Scarlets head coach Simon Easterby immediately dubbed their draw as a ‘Pool of Death’.
“There is real quality in all the pools, but ours, along with one other, looks to be by far the hardest. Having the back-to-back European champions is a huge challenge and going to the south of France means you are going to play in a real cauldron,” said Easterby.
“Toulon have a fantastic group of players, genuine world stars, but we showed away to Racing Metro 92 last season that we could get a result in France. That said, we accept we will really have to rise our game this season.
In the European Rugby Challenge Cup, Cardiff Blues Defence Coach, Dale McIntosh, has urged his side to build on a proud history when they launch their bid for Cup glory.
The Blues will face London Irish, Grenoble and the number one qualifier from the FIRA-AER qualifying tournament.
He believes the Blues – who won the European Challenge Cup against Toulon in Marseille back in 2010 – can go into the new-look tournament in confident mood.
“It’s an exciting draw for us and we look forward to mounting another strong European campaign. As a region we have a proud history in this competition as past winners and want to build on that,” said McIntosh.
Newport Gwent Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones had seen his team plunged into one of the top pools in the European Rugby Challenge Cup with Stade Francais Paris, Newcastle Falcons and a FIRA-AER qualifier to join them in Pool 3.
“There are some really strong teams in Pool 3 and Newcastle Falcons and Stade Francais make for some great fixtures. High profile games against clubs like Stade Francais are where we want to be.
“The third side could be from anywhere, they could come from Russia or Romania or it could be a trip to Spain which makes for a nice twist. From my work with Russia, I know quite a bit about the second tier nations. It’s an interesting pool, I’m not going to say we are going to win everything, but there are certainly some interesting fixtures there.
“The key thing for us is to start the season really well, but we’ll take each week as it comes and if we do well we will definitely challenge.”
2014/15 European Rugby Champions Cup
Pool 1: Saracens, Munster Rugby, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Sale Sharks
Pool 2: Leinster Rugby, Castres Olympique, Harlequins, London Wasps
Pool 3: RC Toulon, Leicester Tigers, Ulster Rugby, Scarlets
Pool 4: Glasgow Warriors, Montpellier, Bath Rugby, Toulouse
Pool 5: Northampton Saints, Racing Metro 92, Ospreys, Benetton Treviso
2014/15 European Rugby Challenge Cup
Pool 1: Cardiff Blues, London Irish, Grenoble, FIRA-AER 1
Pool 2: Exeter Chiefs, Bayonne, Connacht Rugby, La Rochelle
Pool 3: Stade Francais Paris, Newport Gwent Dragons, Newcastle Falcons, FIRA-AER 2
Pool 4: Edinburgh Rugby, Bordeaux-Begles, London Welsh, Lyon
Pool 5: Gloucester Rugby, Brive, Zebre, Oyonnax
Pool stage dates
Round 1: 16/17/18/19 October 2014
Round 2: 23/24/25/26 October 2014
Round 3: 4/5/6/7 December 2014
Round 4: 11/12/13/14 December 2014
Round 5: 15/16/17/18 January 2015
Round 6: 22/23/24/25 January 2015
