The WRU website has published details of the new season’s British & Irish Cup tournament, with the Drovers being one of six Welsh Premiership teams involved.

The article in full is here, and extracts are given below.

Llandovery’s games in the Pool phase will be:

Round 5, October 16, v Pontypridd (Home)

Round 1, December 11, v Rotherham Titans (Away)

Round 2, December 18, v Ayr (Away)

Round 3, January 15, v Doncaster Knights (Home)

Round 4, January 22, v Birmingham & Solihull (Home)

The Welsh challenge will be led by reigning Principality Premiership champions, and Play-Off winners, Neath, while Llandovery and Swansea will make their bows in the competition after missing out last season. The other Welsh sides will be Llanelli, Newport and Pontypridd.

Llandovery join Pontypridd in Pool D, which also features three English sides.

Five of the Welsh clubs (including Llandovery) will open their British and Irish Cup campaign in October to avoid a clash with Six Nations games in late February.

Llandovery qualified for the British and Irish Cup by finishing in eighth place in the Principality Premiership and beating Aberavon in Round 1 of the play-offs.

"This competition means a great deal to the town of Llandovery. We have been relegation candidates in the Premiership for the past five years and we exceeded all expectations to qualify for this tournament," said outside half Cerith Rees.

"There won't be any pressure on us because people won't expect much from us. We will be playing my old club Doncaster and it will be great to catch up with some old mates. The Championship in England is more physical than the Premiership is here in Wales, although the system we have here in Wales is very good at developing talent. It will be interesting to see how we measure up to the physicality of sides like Doncaster."

WRU Head of Rugby, Performance and Development Joe Lydon said: "We have worked with the participating Unions and listened to our clubs in terms of how best to structure the tournament and we feel that by scheduling the majority of the British and Irish Cup away from the international window will give it greater visibility and put less pressure on the clubs in terms of the calls on players.”

Pools

Pool A: Cornish Pirates, Currie, Leinster, Newport, Plymouth Albion, Worcester Warriors
Pool B: Bristol Rugby, Esher, Llanelli, Melrose, Munster, Nottingham Rugby
Pool C: Bedford Blues, London Welsh, Moseley, Neath, Swansea, Ulster
Pool D: Ayr, Birmingham & Solihull, Doncaster Knights, Llandovery, Pontypridd, Rotherham Titans

Fixtures

Round 5, October 16

(This is brought forward from February 26 for some teams, including Llandovery – see full Round 5 listing below)

Round 1, December 11

Pool A: Leinster v Plymouth Albion, Currie v Cornish Pirates, Worcester Warriors v Newport
Pool B: Bristol Rugby v Nottingham Rugby, Melrose v Munster, Esher v Llanelli
Pool C: London Welsh v Moseley, Bedford Blues v Ulster, Swansea v Neath
Pool D: Birmingham & Solihull v Doncaster Knights, Rotherham Titans v Llandovery, Pontypridd v Ayr

Round 2, December 18

Pool A: Plymouth Albion v Newport, Cornish Pirates v Leinster, Currie v Worcester Warriors
Pool B: Melrose v Esher, Llanelli v Nottingham Rugby, Bristol Rugby v Munster
Pool C: Neath v Bedford Blues, Ulster v Moseley, London Welsh v Swansea
Pool D: Doncaster Knights v Rotherham, Ayr v Llandovery, Pontypridd v Birmingham & Solihull

Round 3, January 15

Pool A: Cornish Pirates v Plymouth Albion, Leinster v Worcester Warriors, Currie v Newport
Pool B: Esher v Bristol Rugby, Nottingham Rugby v Munster, Llanelli v Melrose
Pool C: Bedford Blues v London Welsh, Moseley v Swansea, Ulster v Neath
Pool D: Pontypridd v Rotherham, Llandovery v Doncaster Knights, Birmingham & Solihull v Ayr

Round 4, January 22

Pool A: Worcester Warriors v Plymouth Albion, Leinster v Currie, Newport v Cornish Pirates
Pool B: Nottingham Rugby v Melrose, Bristol Rugby v Llanelli, Munster v Esher
Pool C: Moseley v Neath, London Welsh v Ulster, Swansea v Bedford Blues
Pool D: Rotherham v Ayr, Doncaster Knights v Pontypridd, Llandovery v Birmingham & Solihull

Round 5, February 26
(Does not involve Llandovery, who will have played this match against Pontypridd on October 16).

Pool A: Worcester Warriors v Cornish Pirates, Plymouth Albion v Currie, Newport v Leinster*
Pool B: Esher v Nottingham Rugby, Melrose v Bristol Rugby, Munster v Llanelli*
Pool C: Bedford Blues v Moseley, Neath v London Welsh, Swansea v Ulster*
Pool D: Birmingham & Solihull v Rotherham, Ayr v Doncaster Knights, Llandovery v Pontypridd*

NB: Round 5 matches marked * will be played on the weekend of October 16.

Quarter finals, March 5

Pool A Winner v Pool C Runner Up
Pool C Winner v Pool A Runner Up
Pool B Winner v Pool D Runner Up
Pool D Winner v Pool B Runner Up

Semi finals, April 23


Final, May 7

Tournament Notes

Teams

12 English RFU Championship clubs (Bedford Blues, Birmingham & Solihull & Solihull, Bristol Rugby, Cornish Pirates, Doncaster Knights, Esher, London Welsh, Moseley, Nottingham Rugby, Plymouth Albion, Rotherham Titans, Worcester Warriors)

Top 6 Welsh Principality Premiership clubs (Llanelli, Llandovery, Neath, Newport, Pontypridd, Swansea)

3 Irish provinces - Munster, Leinster and Ulster Ravens

3 Scottish teams - top 3 finishers in Premier 1 (Ayr, Currie and Melrose). The Gael Force team will no longer continue.

Pool Stages

4 Pools of 6 playing once (5 matches/rounds)

4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 bonus point for either a) scoring 4 or more tries or b) losing by 7 points or less.

Quarter-Finals

Top two in each pool progress to knock-out stage.

Pool winners have home advantage

Semi-Finals and Final

Four winning quarter-finalists progress to semi-final draw

Winning semi-finalists progress to final