Stormers handed Champions Cup draw from hell, Sharks will fancy chances in Challenge Cup

The Stormers' reward for their considerable efforts in last season's URC, where they were finalists, is being placed in a European Champions Cup pool 4 from hell.

Wednesday's official EPCR draw for its respective continental competitions saw John Dobson's troops draw La Rochelle, Leinster, Leicester, Sale and Stade Francais.

Put into perspective, France's La Rochelle are the defending champions while the Springbok-laden Sale reached the final of the English Premiership and Leicester's Tigers were semi-finalists.

The Cape franchise won't play Leinster - last season's runners-up - due to EPCR regulations dictating that teams in the same league cannot face each other. 

Nonetheless, unless they build substantial new depth and find a way to mitigate unfavourable travel arrangements, the Stormers look set to find it highly challenging to even reach the play-offs of the tournament.

Stormers: 

La Rochelle, Leicester, Sale, Stade Francais (Not playing: Leinster)

Bulls:

Saracens, Lyon, Bordeaux, Bristol (Not playing: Connacht)

Sharks:

Invitee 1, Zebre, Oyonax, Dragons, Pau

Lions:

Benetton, Perpignan, Newcastle, Montpellier, Ospreys

Meanwhile, the Bulls, who looked jaded by season's end, have extra incentive to instigate a resurgence as they have been drawn into a more favourable pool 1.

Jake White's charges will have English champions Saracens to contend with, but they will fancy their chances a tad more against French duo Lyon - they were grouped with them last season as well - and Bordeaux (beaten by the Sharks away in 2022/23), as well as accomplished English outfit Bristol.

Again, however, it will require better planning and the implementation of lessons learnt from the past to progress.

In the Challenge Cup, the Sharks have been