Saints set to discover Champions Cup fate

Jim Mallinder (left) steered his side to victory in the Champions Cup play-offs (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

And Jim Mallinder's men are set to face a tough task in next season's tournament.Saints, who finished seventh in the Aviva Premiership and qualified for the Champions Cup via play-offs, will be in Tier 4, alongside Harlequins, Castres, Glasgow Warriors and Treviso.That means they cannot meet any of those teams, but will be drawn against one club from each of the top three tiers.Tier 1 will definitely include Premiership champions Exeter Chiefs, PRO12 winners Scarlets and Top 14 victors Clermont Auvergne.There will then be a draw to decide the rest of Tier 1, with two of Wasps, Munster and Toulon joining that set of teams.Tier 2 will include one of Wasps, Munster and Toulon as well as Saracens, Leinster and La Rochelle.There will then be another draw to decide which one of Leicester Tigers, Racing 92 and Ospreys also go into Tier 2.Tier 3 will be made up of the two teams who don't get drawn into Tier 2, plus Bath, Montpellier and Ulster.The 20 clubs will compete in five pools of four.The Champions Cup draw will follow the draw for the Challenge Cup, which is due to start at 1pm on Thursday. Both draws will be streamed live on epcrugby.com, YouTube and the official tournament channels on Facebook.Tiers...Tier 1: Exeter, Scarlets, Clermont Auvergne, plus two of Wasps/Munster/Toulon.Tier 2: Wasps, Munster or Toulon, plus Saracens, Leinster, La Rochelle, plus one of Leicester/Racing 92/OspreysTier 3: Bath, Montpellier, Ulster, plus two of Leicester/Racing 92/OspreysTier 4: Saints, Harlequins, Castres, Glasgow, Treviso