For the purpose of creating the tiers, clubs are ranked based on their domestic league performances and on their qualification for the knockout phases of their championships, so a losing quarter-finalist in the Top 14 would be seeded below a losing semi-finalist, even if they finished above them in the regular season.

The other two fourth rankes sides fell into Tier 3.

The draw took place on 29 June 2016 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

During the pool stage, the teams played the 3 other teams in their pool twice, both at home and away,[3] Based on the result of the match, teams receive competition points as follows:[4] Following the pool stage, the five winners from each group progressed to the quarter-finals, along with the three best pool runners-up from the competition (the three of the five runners-up with the highest number of competition points).

Assistant referee Mathieu Raynal replaced the original referee Jérôme Garcès on the 73rd minute of the game after pulling a hamstring.