 A draw was used to allocate two second seeds to Tier 1; the remaining team went into Tier 2.This allocation indirectly determined which fourth-seeded team entered Tier 2, while the others entered Tier 3.Given the nature of the Qualifying Competition, a competition including developing rugby nations and Italian clubs not competing in the Pro12, Rugby Europe 1 and Rugby Europe 2 were automatically included in Tier 4, despite officially being ranked 1/2 from "that competition".