We continue our in-depth analysis of Heineken Champions Cup sides with a profile of newcomers Lyon, who have been drawn in Pool 3 with Cardiff Blues, Glasgow Warriors and Saracens. What is their European Cup record like? This will be Lyon's maiden season in the competition. All their previous 24 European matches have been in the Challenge Cup, where their record is split equally – 12 wins and 12 defeats. Last season they finished fourth in Pool 2 behind eventual winners Cardiff Blues. Who is on their coaching staff? Former France scrum-half Pierre Mignoni has been Lyon's head coach since the start of the 2015/16 season. The 41-year-old joined after four years as assistant coach at RC Toulon. As a player, Mignoni, who won 28 caps, made a total of 70 European appearances for Toulon, Beziers, Dax and ASM Clermont Auvergne, scoring 20 tries. He also won the Challenge Cup with Clermont in 2007. Mignoni is assisted by Karim Ghezal (forwards), New Zealander Kendrick Lynn (backs) and David Attoub (scrum), all of whom are former Lyon players. Ghezal made 50 European appearances in a career that also took in Beziers, Grenoble, Castres Olympique, Montauban and Racing 92, while ex-France prop Attoub played 44 times in the European and Challenge Cups for ASM Clermont Auvergne, Castres, Stade Français Paris, Montpellier and Lyon.

✍🏼 Et si nous commencions à parler un peu de nos recrues 😉 A ce jour : 8 arrivées, 7 #JIFF, 4 avants, 4 arrières. Bienvenue @NNakaitaci @Charlie_Ngatai @JonnyWis @LaGouje8 @PatrickSobela @jeremmaurouard #Chaume #Doussain 💪🏼#LOU1819 pic.twitter.com/YnDvjm7EyL
— LOU Rugby (@LeLOURugby) June 26, 2018

Who are their new signings? Lyon have largely done their summer recruiting from their TOP 14 rivals, with the notable exception being their signing of New Zealand centre or full-back Charlie Ngatai, who has joined from Super Rugby side Chiefs. Otherwise, they have signed prop Raphaël Chaume and winger Noa Nakaitaci from ASM Clermont Auvergne; fly-halves Jean-Marc Doussain and Jonathan Wisniewski have joined Lyon from Toulouse and Toulon respectively; and hooker Jérémie Maurouard and back row Loann Goujon have arrived from La Rochelle. All six have played in the Champions Cup, with Chaume featuring in the 2017 final against Saracens and Doussain having the most experience of Europe's elite club competition with 40 games. French international Doussain also made history in 2011, when he became the first player to make his Test debut in a World Cup final. Who are some of their other key players? Two-time European Cup winner Delon Armitage and Alexis Palisson both lifted the trophy with their former club, RC Toulon, in 2013. Prop Francisco Gómez Kodela has also tasted European glory, in the Challenge Cup with Biarritz in 2012. The experienced Lionel Beauxis has amassed 379 points from 55 European matches, while Lyon will be looking towards former Australia flanker Liam Gill to boss the breakdown in the Heineken Champions Cup Pool stages. What are Lyon saying about the draw? Pierre Mignoni told the club's official website: "These are top-level matches. Our Pool is going to be very hard, but when you see the other Pools, they will be the same. We wanted this, we have it and we've got it! But we are very happy to play these types of matches. This competition is very demanding; it's one of the best in the world. “We will need players capable of keeping up with it. It will be up to us to make the best use of our squad and manage our championship [the TOP 14] in parallel with it. “The target? To make a real impression in this competition and to show that we are big enough to take on the best teams in Europe. We will look at the performances behind the results to evaluate our progress. That is important."