The 2019/20 Challenge Cup runners-up, who will be looking to add to their three European crowns, have been drawn in Pool A, where they will face off home and away against Pro14 outfit Scarlets as well as Premiership side Sale Sharks.

Speaking to Toulon’s website about their return to the competition after a one-season absence, Collazo said: “I am very happy to be back in the Champions Cup this season. The players have worked hard to make it happen.

“It is a competition that we will tackle in depth and which will allow us to raise the level of the team a little more in experience, its demands and confidence.

“The Champions Cup is played in a very condensed format, so it will be imperative to start well.”

Collazo was full of praise for Sale, who won the Premiership Cup last season but failed to reach the knockout phases of the Heineken Champions Cup after finishing bottom of Pool 2.

“We will face two very good teams in the group stage,” he stated. “Sale are a great Premiership team. They had a good 2019/20 season with a very good set of forwards, international half-backs and a three-quarter line which represents almost the best of the Premiership.”

Toulon’s matchup with Scarlets will be a rerun of last season’s Challenge Cup quarter-final, which the French side edged 11-6, and Collazo is expecting similarly hard-fought games against them.

“It's a team that we know well,” he noted. “They are used to playing at a high level. They have a lot of internationals and will want to show that they can play a leading role in this competition."

RC Toulon director of rugby Patrice Collazo believes it is “imperative” that his side get off to a flying start in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup.