The dates for next season's European Cup were decided following a meeting of European Rugby Cup Ltd in Dublin yesterday. The pool matches in the Cup and Shield will be split into three blocks of two rounds in the first half of the season.

The opening pool matches will be played on the weekend of September 28th-30th with round two played the following weekend, October 5th-7th. There will then be a two-week break for domestic fixtures before rounds three and four are played on the weekends of October 26th-28th and November 2nd-4th. The pool stages will be completed on the weekends of January 4th-6th and January 11th-13th, 2002.

The quarter-finals will be played on the weekend of January 25th-27th. The semi-finals take place on May 4th-5th, while the finals of the Cup and Shield will be played on June 1st and 2nd.

The splitting up of matches did not please Cardiff coach Lyn Howells, who was among those who advocated six successive weekends of European rugby to decide the quarter-finalists. He said: "It is difficult for the players to have this type of break."