TWO of the finalists from last season's domestic competitions in England and France are to be the first opponents for the two Scottish teams in this season's Heineken Champions Cup.

Edinburgh will be making their first appearance in the competition under its current format, where no country has guaranteed places in the main tournament. Their reward is a trip to Montpellier, coached by Vern Cotter, the former Scotland head coach, who has former Edinburgh lock Nathan Hines among his staff.

Edinburgh will have to produce something special to get anything from the game. Not only did Montpellier reach the Top 14 final, where they lost to Castres, but they showed their dominance over Scots opponents by doing the double over Glasgow.

Cotter has a formidable array of international talent at his disposal and a thorough inside knowledge of the game in Scotland, making it about as daunting an opening game as possible for their return to the top flight after four years in the second-tier Challenge Cup.

The following week brings an even more intriguing encounter as Richard Cockerill, the Edinburgh head coach, welcomes Toulon one of his former clubs to BT Murrayfield.

He took charge of the French club for the second half of the season in 2017 and became something of a local hero when he rescued them from an early season slump and took them all the way to the Top 14 final.

After that, they will take on Newcastle in the December double header with both games being as close to local derbies as European competition can ever get.

It is more familiar territory for Glasgow Warriors, who were last relegated to the second tier 12 years ago, so it is more a meeting of old friends when they taken on Saracens, the English champions, at home on the Sunday of the first weekend.

Home wins are the key to qualifying but since it is the opening match and there are a number of Scots involved in the Saracens squad, there is no chance of their opponents being complacent.

As new co-captain Ryan Wilson pointed out, however, the fans on both sides hit it off famously when the sides last met in the 2017 quarter final, so there is likely to be something of a party atmosphere in the stands.

They then travel to Cardiff a week later, looking for that vital away win, before the double header against Lyon in December with the first leg in France.

After only once qualifying for the quarter finals in the Champions Cup and all the previous versions of the competition, getting a second taste of knock-out rugby is a main focus of the Glasgow season.

"We did not do anywhere as near as well as we hoped to last year," Wilson admitted. "We will be looking to make the quarters and go on to win it. That is our goal. We are in this competition to win it, that’s what we want to do.

"It will be good to get up against Saracens again. Not just for us but the fans. The fans at Scotstoun always talk about how they went down to Saracens as part of a big travelling support and had a brilliant day.

"It was a learning experience [for the players]. You’ve got people in there who had not been in knock-out footy. That was the way the league went. We got to the semis, got to a final, and finally won one.

"It was brilliant experience for the boys who are still here to have made that quarter final. There is stuff we have taken from that and know if we get there again we have to change a few things."

Fixtures:

Edinburgh: Saturday 13 October, Montpellier, away, 16:15. Saturday 20 October, Toulon, home, 15:15. Friday 7 December, Newcastle Falcons, home, 19:45. Sunday 16 December, Newcastle Falcons, home, 15:15.

Glasgow Warriors: Sunday 14 October, Saracens, home, 15:15. Sunday 21 October, Cardiff Blues, away, 15:15. Saturday 8 December, Lyon, away, 14:00. Saturday 15 December, Lyon, home, 13:00.