The Currie Cup champions are one of two invitees for the tournament, with the other team being the Black Lion of Georgia.

Black Lion will become the first Georgian team to compete in the Challenge Cup. Black Lion has previously competed in South Africa in the Currie Cup First Division.

Unfortunately, the Cheetahs won’t be based in Bloemfontein again this coming season as they will be playing out of Amsterdam in the Netherlands for the competition. However, the Cheetahs are in the same pool as the Sharks and this fixture will be played in either Bloemfontein or Durban, and this is all dependent on how the fixtures work out.

To OFM Sport’s understanding, it will be a lot cheaper to be based in the Netherlands as opposed to the previous season it cost an arm and a leg to play out Italy.

The CEO of Cheetahs Rugby, Ross van Reenen, told OFM Sport that he believes they will be more competitive this time round.

“For me it's a great honour and I am extremely excited to have made the cut so to speak to play in the EPCR Challenge Cup for 2023/24,” said Van Reenen.

“I think we are going to be very competitive this year. Hawies Fourie and his coaching team have worked very hard. We actually have a different team this year - we won the Currie Cup with a much stronger and a fitter team.

“I believe that we will be a strong team to compete against.”

The other three teams in the same pool as the Cheetahs and Sharks are Oyonnax Rugby (France), Section Paloise (France) and Zebre (Italy). The Cheetahs faced Section Paloise from Pau last season and their famous win against this side saw them advance to the knockout round where they played against Toulon.  The Cheetahs will remember Zebre well from playing in the PRO14, while they have never played against Oyonnax.

The fixtures for the 2023/24 EPCR Challenge Cup will be announced in due course.

2023/24 weekends

Round 1 – 8/9/10 December 2023
Round 2 – 15/16/17 December 2023
Round 3 – 12/13/14 January 2024
Round 4 – 19/20/21 January 2024
Round of 16 – 5/6/7 April 2024
Quarter-finals – 12/13/14 April 2024
Semi-finals – 3/4/5 May 2024
EPCR Challenge Cup final – Friday, 24 May 2024, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Champions Cup final – Saturday, 25 May 2024, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Morgan Piek OFM Sport