The club can now announce that all 12 Premiership teams will take part in this new competition along with the four big Welsh teams, Cardiff Blues, The Ospreys, Llanelli Scarlets and Newport Gwent Dragons, who risked exemption from the Celtic League to play in this new tournament.

The competition has been split into four pools based on the club’s regions with one Welsh team allocated to each pool. However, each team in the pool will only play each other once which means two sides in each pool will play two away games and one home game. This year, Saints will play Worcester and Leicester away, but will given the home advantage next year.

Head coach Budge Pountney said: “We all find ourselves in a tough group something which we, as a club, are relishing and looking forward to. This is a new competition which always adds a new degree of excitement, and we only hope that our games will generate enough intensity to match the excitement."

The other three pools are as follows:

Ospreys, Gloucester, Bath and Bristol
Cardiff Blues, Saracens, London Wasps and London Irish
Llanelli Scarlets, Leeds Tykes, Newcastle Falcons and Sale Sharks

The first round of the Powergen Cup will be played on the weekend of October 1 with Saints playing Worcester away. The second weekend will see the Newport-Gwent Dragons come to Franklin’s Gardens on October 8 with Saints playing Leicester at Welford Road on December 3.

The four top teams will play in semi-finals on March 4 or 5 at Twickenham, and the final will be held on April 8 or 9 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. These venues will also swap around for the 2006/07 season.