NEWPORT Gwent Dragons will find out who their opponents are in the group stages of next season’s European Challenge Cup when the draw is made in Switzerland on Wednesday (1pm).

The Rodney Parade region made it to the semi-finals of last season’s competition before going down to a brave defeat by French Top 14 giants Montpellier.

They came through a pool which also included Sale Sharks, Castres and Pau, and then recorded a famous victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm in the last eight.

The Dragons are joined in Wednesday’s draw by fellow Guinness Pro12 sides Cardiff Blues, ospreys, Edinburgh and Treviso.

Seven Pro12 teams – champions Connacht, runners-up Leinster, Glasgow, Ulster, Scarlets, Munster and Zebre – qualified for the European Champions Cup and will also discover their pool stage opponents at the draw in Neuchâtel.

The 2016/17 European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup will both feature 20 teams which will be split in five pools each with four teams.

Each pool in both competitions will have at least one club from the Pro12, Aviva Premiership and Top 14 and one club from each of the four tiers.

There will be no more than two clubs from the same league in a pool and no pool will contain two Pro12 clubs from the same country.

The first round of European rugby fixtures will take place on the weekend of October 13/14/15/16 followed by round two a week later.

Round three takes place on December 8/9/10/11, with round four the following week before the final group games in January 2017.

Both the Challenge Cup and the Champions Cup finals will be played at Murrayfield on Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13 respectively.