Harlequins have been drawn to face Clermont Auvergne, Scarlets and Racing Metro in pool four of next season’s Heineken Cup.
Director of rugby Conor O’Shea said: “It is incredibly challenging and exciting for us to have to play two superpowers of not just French but also European rugby in our pool.
“In addition, we have been drawn with Scarlets, another club with great tradition and talented players who are experienced in European competition.
“Another challenging Heineken Cup season beckons, and we have everything to play for and I can’t wait to get started.”
Meanwhile, O’Shea said Mike Brown and Danny Care could feature in a strong Harlequins side in the inaugural World Club 7s tournament.
Organisers Premiership Rugby confirmed Quins would be the eighth team in the August event, being held at Twickenham over two days.
O’Shea said: “You only have to look around the globe to see how important sevens is becoming in the world game.
“We are pleased to be taking part in this ground-breaking tournament.
“The teams taking part represent the best of world rugby so we’re looking forward to measuring ourselves against them.
“We will field a strong team, that may include Danny Care, pictured, and Mike Brown, and I hope our supporters can get along to Twickenham.”
The 12-team competition starts at rugby’s HQ on August 17.
The teams will include two more top English teams from this year’s JP Morgan Premiership Rugby 7s Championship, Western Province, from South Africa, Auckland, from New Zealand, the ACT Brumbies, from Australia, and Buenos Aires, of Argentina.
They will be joined by New York, Los Angeles and Moscow as the established and emerging rugby worlds meet.
- Pete Browne has joined London Welsh after three season at the Stoop.
The 25-year-old second row made 31 appearances for Quins, and was part of the LV= Cup-winning side.
Browned-off: Pete Browne has made the move to London Welsh SP74693
- Harlequins have announced three pre-season friendlies, starting on August 9 in France against Racing Metro 92.
There follows two home matches against London Scottish (August 16) and Glasgow Warriors (August 24).
- Jack Clifford bagged two tries as skipper of the England U20s in a 30-6 win over France in the first match of the IRB Junior World Championship.
England face South Africa on Sunday, and the United States on June 13.
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