One of the five Welsh teams currently competing will play in the Parker Pen Cup next year, freeing up an extra Heineken place for England or France.

Rugby chiefs will choose on the basis of which country does better this year.

Wasps and Gloucester are still in the Cup, while France is represented by Stade Francais, Toulouse and Biarritz.

The Zurich Premiership will definitely provide one semi-finalist courtesy of Wasps' all-English showdown with Gloucester.

The French clubs have all been matched with opposition from other countries.

Should neither nation provide a side to the final, then the nationality of the seventh team will be determined by the superior performer - or whoever loses by the narrower margin - in the semi-finals.

The winners of the Wasps-Gloucester tie will travel to Dublin or Paris for the semi-final.

The match will be played at either Lansdowne Road or the Stade Charlety, depending on whether Munster or Stade Francais win their quarter-final.

The winner of that game will play in their own country, as will the winners of the Toulouse-Edinburgh match.

The other semi will be at Bordeaux's Stade Chaban-Delmas or Murrayfield.

Thus Llanelli will travel to France or Scotland if they beat Biarritz next Friday.

But their French opponents could end up playing an all-French semi-final at nearby Bordeaux, if they and Toulouse both prevail in the last eight.

Next season's pool stages will revert to the pre-World Cup format of three blocks of two rounds, starting in October and finishing in early January, 2005.

Heineken Cup semi-finals:

Munster or Stade Fran�ais v London Wasps or Gloucester
at either Lansdowne Road, Dublin or Stade Charlety, Paris

Toulouse or Edinburgh v Llanelli Scarlets or Biarritz
at either Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux or Murrayfield

Matches to be played on the weekend of 24/25 April.

Dates for Heineken Cup 2004/2005:

Round One - 22/23/24 October
Round Two - 29/30/31 October
Round Three - 3/4/5 December
Round Four - 10/11/12 December
Round Five - 7/8/9 January 2005
Round Five - 14/15/16 January

Quarter-finals - 1/2/3 April

Semi-finals - 22/23/24 April

Final - 21/22 May