Anglo Welsh Cup Rugby Background

* The Anglo-Welsh Cup is a 16-team competition involving the 12 Guinness Premiership clubs and 4 Welsh regions.

* Played in four pools of four with three Guinness Premiership clubs and one Welsh Region in each pool.

* Teams in Pool 1 play teams in Pool 4 and teams in Pool 2 play teams in Pool 3.

* Each team guaranteed four pool matches - two home and two away - with the top teams from each pool qualifying for the semi finals.

* Teams have been seeded depending on their finish in last season's Guinness Premiership and Magners League and best efforts have been made to avoid teams playing each other in back to back matches in various competitions.

* If the winner of the competition is an English club, they will qualify for the following season's Heineken Cup.

* The Anglo-Welsh Cup is a separate tournament to the British & Irish Cup which involves 12 teams from the English Championship (the level below the Guinness Premiership), six club sides from the Welsh Principality Premiership, Irish provinces Munster, Leinster and Ulster and three Scottish sides.