Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe lifts the European Challenge Cup for the Saints

Three sides from the Heineken Cup will enjoy a second stab at European rugby next season under new rules for the European Challenge Cup.

The third, fourth and fifth-ranked Heineken Cup group runners-up will play in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

They will form three of the four away sides in the second-tier competition.

In another change, the winners of the Challenge Cup will also secure an additional Heineken Cup qualifying place for their country.

Whichever side follows Northampton in winning next year's competition will still earn their own automatic spot in the 2010-2011 Heineken Cup.

Wales, meanwhile, will only have three teams in the Heineken Cup from the 2010/2011 season as a result of the changes announced by the ERC.

The playoff between a Celtic side and an Italian side has been scrapped with the winners of the European Challenge Cup earning an extra place for their country instead.

The playoff system has produced three Welsh winners from four matches with Newport Gwent Dragons going through on two occasions and Cardiff Blues once.

The Dragons, though, lost, to Overmach Parma in 2006 and that was the only occasion a Welsh region has featured in the Challenge Cup.

The Rodney Parade side reached the semi-finals on that occasion, winning their group and beating Brive in the quarter finals, before losing away to Clermont.

The changes come after discussions with the unions, leagues and clubs involved aimed at "enhancing the quality and profile of the European Challenge Cup matches".

Less than 10,000 spectators watched Northampton beat Bourgoin in the Challenge Cup final last year compared to the 66,523 who saw Leinster overcome Leicester at Murrayfield in the Heineken Cup.

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