2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup

The 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup was the second European Rugby Champions Cup championship (21st overall), the annual rugby union club competition for teams from the top six nations in European rugby. The European Rugby Champions Cup replaced the Heineken Cup, which was Europe's top-tier competition for rugby clubs for the first nineteen years of professional European rugby union.[1]

2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Ireland  Italy  Scotland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	13 November 2015 – 14 May 2016
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Matches played	67
Attendance	955,647 (14,263 per match)
Tries scored	321 (4.79 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Owen Farrell (Saracens) (127 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers) Thomas Waldrom (Exeter Chiefs) (6 tries)
Final
Venue	Grand Stade de Lyon, Lyon
Champions	Saracens (1st title)
Runners-up	Racing 92

As a result of the 2015 Rugby World Cup being held in England, the tournament started slightly later than in previous seasons, with the opening round taking place on the weekend of 13/14/15 November 2015. The tournament was won for the first time by Saracens who beat Racing 92 in the final on the 14 May 2016, at Parc Olympique Lyonnais (called "Grand Stade de Lyon" by competition organiser European Professional Club Rugby) in the Lyon suburb of Décines.[2] [3][4][5]

Teams

20 clubs, from the three major European domestic leagues, competed in the Champions Cup. Nineteen clubs qualified directly as a result of their domestic league performance, with the final team coming from a play-off.

The distribution of teams was as follows:

• England: 6 clubs
  • The top 6 clubs in the Aviva Premiership. (6 clubs)
• France: 7 clubs
  • The top 6 clubs in the Top 14. (6 clubs)
  • The victory of Bordeaux Bègles in the play-off series against Gloucester gave France a seventh place in the Champions Cup. (1 club)
• Ireland, Italy, Scotland & Wales: 7 clubs, based on performance in the Pro12.
  • The best placed club from each nation. (4 clubs)
  • The 3 highest ranked clubs not qualified thereafter. (3 clubs)

Aviva Premiership	Top 14	Pro 12
England	France	Ireland	Italy	Scotland	Wales
Northampton Saints Bath Leicester Tigers Saracens Exeter Chiefs Wasps	Toulon Clermont Toulouse Stade Français Racing 92 Oyonnax Bordeaux Bègles (7th Place play-off)	Munster Ulster Leinster	Benetton Treviso	Glasgow Warriors	Ospreys Scarlets

20th team play-off

Main article: 2015–16 European Rugby Champions–Challenge Cup play-offs

The following teams took part in play-off matches to decide the final team in the Champions Cup. The play-off was held between Premiership side Gloucester, as Challenge Cup winners, and teams from the Pro12 and Top 14. The losers of this play-off joined the Challenge Cup.

Aviva Premiership	Top 14	Pro 12
England	France	Ireland
Gloucester	Bordeaux Bègles	Connacht

The play-off was a two-match series, with the winner of the first match, Gloucester, progressing to the second, and the winner of that second match, Bordeaux Bègles, qualifying for the Champions Cup.

24 May 2015 15:30 GMT

Gloucester	40−32 (a.e.t.)	Connacht
	Report[6]

Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester Attendance: 7,633 Referee: Romain Poite (FFR)

31 May 2015 17:00 GMT

Gloucester	22−23	Bordeaux Bègles

Sixways Stadium, Worcester Referee: Leighton Hodges (WRU)

Team details

Below is the list of coaches, captains and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.

Team	Coach / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Method of Qualification
Bath	Mike Ford	Stuart Hooper	Recreation Ground	13,500	Aviva Premiership top 6 (2nd) (RU)
Benetton Treviso	Marius Goosen (For Umberto Casellato) [lower-alpha 1]	Alessandro Zanni	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	6,700	Pro12 top Italian team (11th)
Bordeaux Bègles	Raphaël Ibañez	Matthew Clarkin	Stade Chaban-Delmas	34,694	7th Place play-off winner
Clermont	Franck Azéma	Damien Chouly	Stade Marcel-Michelin	18,000	Top 14 top 6 (2nd) (RU)
Exeter Chiefs	Rob Baxter	Jack Yeandle	Sandy Park	12,600	Aviva Premiership top 6 (5th)
Glasgow Warriors	Gregor Townsend	Jonny Gray	Scotstoun Stadium	9,708	Pro12 top Scottish team (1st) (CH)
Leicester Tigers	Richard Cockerill	Ed Slater	Welford Road	24,000	Aviva Premiership top 6 (3rd) (SF)
Leinster	Leo Cullen	Isa Nacewa	RDS Arena Aviva Stadium	18,500 51,700	Pro12 top 7 (5th)
Munster	Anthony Foley	CJ Stander[8]	Thomond Park	25,600	Pro12 top Irish team (2nd) (RU)
Northampton Saints	Jim Mallinder	Lee Dickson	Franklin's Gardens	13,600	Aviva Premiership top 6 (1st) (SF)
Ospreys	Steve Tandy	Alun Wyn Jones	Liberty Stadium	20,532	Pro12 top Welsh Team (3rd) (SF)
Oyonnax	Olivier Azam, then Johann Authier	Florian Denos	Stade Charles-Mathon	11,400	Top 14 top 6 (6th) (QF)
Racing 92	Laurent Labit Laurent Travers	Dimitri Szarzewski	Stade Yves-du-Manoir	14,000	Top 14 top 6 (5th) (QF)
Saracens	Mark McCall	Alistair Hargreaves	Allianz Park	10,000	Aviva Premiership top 6 (4th) (CH)
Scarlets	Wayne Pivac	Ken Owens Scott Williams	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	Pro12 top 7 (6th)
Stade Français	Gonzalo Quesada	Sergio Parisse	Stade Jean-Bouin	20,000	Top 14 top 6 (4th) (CH)
Toulon	Bernard Laporte	Juan Smith Jocelino Suta	Stade Mayol	15,400	Top 14 top 6 (1st) (SF)
Toulouse	Ugo Mola	Thierry Dusautoir	Stade Ernest-Wallon Stadium Municipal	19,500 35,575	Top 14 top 6 (3rd) (SF)
Ulster	Les Kiss	Rory Best	Kingspan Stadium	18,196	Pro12 top 7 (4th) (SF)
Wasps	Dai Young	James Haskell Matt Mullan	Ricoh Arena	32,609	Aviva Premiership top 6 (6th)

Seeding

In each Champions Cup season, the 20 competing teams are seeded and split into four tiers, each containing 5 teams.

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.[9] This represented a change for the Aviva Premiership, which seeded teams for the 2014–15 Champions Cup without reference to their play-off performance, meaning Northampton Saints, which came top in the Aviva Premiership, were seeded third - as the highest ranked losing semi-finalist. As a knock-on from this, Leicester Tigers, which came third in the league, dropped to fourth.

Rank	Top 14	Premiership	Pro 12
1	Stade Français	Saracens	Glasgow Warriors
2	Clermont	Bath	Munster
3	Toulon	Northampton Saints	Ospreys
4	Toulouse	Leicester Tigers	Ulster
5	Racing 92	Exeter Chiefs	Leinster
6	Oyonnax	Wasps	Scarlets
7	Bordeaux Bègles		Benetton Treviso

Based on these seedings, teams are placed into one of the four tiers, with the top seed clubs being put in Tier 1. The nature of the tier system means that a draw is needed to allocate two of the three second seed clubs to Tier 1, the remaining side being put into Tier 2. The draw also determines which fourth seed enters Tier 2, the place being given to the fourth seed from the league of the second seed placed in Tier 2. The other two sides fall into Tier 3.[10]

The tiers are shown below. Brackets show each team's seeding and their league (for example, 1 Top 14 indicates the team was seeded 1st from the Top 14).

Tier 1	Saracens (1 AP)	Glasgow (1 Pro12)	Stade Français (1 Top 14)	Clermont (2 Top 14)	Bath (2 AP)
Tier 2	Munster (2 Pro12)	Northampton Saints (3 AP)	Ospreys (3 Pro12)	Toulon (3 Top 14)	Ulster (4 Pro12)
Tier 3	Toulouse (4 Top 14)	Leicester Tigers (4 AP)	Exeter Chiefs (5 AP)	Leinster (5 Pro12)	Racing 92 (5 Top 14)
Tier 4	Scarlets (6 Pro12)	Wasps (6 AP)	Oyonnax (6 Top 14)	Benetton Treviso (7 Pro12)	Bordeaux (Play-Off)

The pool draw took place 17 June, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.[10]

The following restrictions applied to the draw:[10]

• The 5 pools each consisted of four clubs, one from each of the 4 Tiers.
• Each pool had to have one Aviva Premiership club from Tier 1, 2 or 3, one Top 14 club from Tier 1, 2 or 3, and one Pro12 club from Tier 1, 2 or 3 (with a second Aviva or Top 14 or Pro12 club coming from Tier 4).
• If there were two PRO12 clubs in the same pool, they had to be from different countries. (This season's competition featured three teams from Ireland, two from Wales, and one each from Scotland and Italy.)

Pool stage

Main article: 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage

The draw took place on 17 June 2015.[11][12]

Teams played each other twice, both at home and away, in the pool stage, that began on the weekend of 13/14/15 November 2015, and continued through to 22/23/24 January 2016, before the pool winners and three best runners-up progressed to the quarter finals.[11]

Teams were awarded competition points, based on match result. Teams receive 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and 1 defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.[13]

In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers were used, as directed by EPCR:

1. Where teams have played each other
   1. The club with the greater number of competition points from only matches involving tied teams.
   2. If equal, the club with the best aggregate points difference from those matches.
   3. If equal, the club that scored the most tries in those matches.
2. Where teams remain tied and/or have not played each other in the competition (i.e. are from different pools)
   1. The club with the best aggregate points difference from the pool stage.
   2. If equal, the club that scored the most tries in the pool stage.
   3. If equal, the club with the fewest players suspended in the pool stage.
   4. If equal, the drawing of lots will determine a club's ranking.

Key to colours

	Winner of each pool, advanced to quarter-finals.
	Three highest-ranked second-place teams advanced to quarter-finals.

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Saracens (1)	6	6	0	0	220	73	+147	26	8	4	0	28
Ulster	6	4	0	2	169	109	+60	21	12	2	0	18
Oyonnax	6	1	0	5	99	218	–119	10	30	1	2	7
Toulouse	6	1	0	5	85	173	–88	11	18	0	1	5

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Exeter Chiefs (5)	6	3	0	3	148	151	–3	18	18	3	1	16
Bordeaux Bègles	6	3	0	3	149	163	–14	18	19	3	1	16
Ospreys	6	3	0	3	138	142	–4	12	16	2	2	16
Clermont	6	3	0	3	159	138	+21	19	14	3	0	15

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Racing 92 (3)	6	4	1	1	174	70	+104	23	6	4	0	22
Northampton Saints (8)	6	4	1	1	94	93	+1	12	9	1	0	19
Glasgow Warriors	6	3	0	3	114	96	+18	10	11	1	1	14
Scarlets	6	0	0	6	59	182	–123	7	25	0	2	2

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Leicester Tigers (2)	6	5	0	1	185	91	+94	24	11	3	0	23
Stade Français (7)	6	4	0	2	186	118	+68	25	17	3	0	19
Munster	6	3	0	3	118	100	+18	15	11	3	0	15
Benetton Treviso	6	0	0	6	53	233	–180	8	33	0	0	0

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Wasps (4)	6	4	0	2	186	72	+114	19	8	2	2	20
Toulon (6)	6	5	0	1	96	91	+5	9	7	0	0	20
Bath	6	2	0	4	88	131	–43	7	8	0	2	10
Leinster	6	1	0	5	82	158	–76	5	17	0	2	6

Pool winners & runners-up rankings

Rank	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Saracens	28	26	+147
2	Leicester Tigers	23	21	+109
3	Racing 92	22	23	+104
4	Wasps	20	19	+114
5	Exeter Chiefs	16	18	–3
Rank	Pool Runners–up	Pts	TF	+/−
6	Toulon	20	9	+5
7	Stade Français	19	25	+68
8	Northampton Saints	19	12	+1
9	Ulster	18	21	+60
10	Bordeaux Bègles	16	18	–4

Knock-out stage

Format

The four top teams hosted the quarter-finals against the four lower teams in a 1v8, 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5 format according to their ranking after the pool stages. The quarter-finals were played on the weekend of 8/9/10 April 2016.

The semi-finals were played on the weekend of 23/24 April 2016. In lieu of the draw that previously determined the semi-final pairing, EPCR announced that a fixed semi-final bracket would be set in advance, and that the home team would be designated based on "performances by clubs during the pool stages as well as the achievement of a winning a quarter-final match away from home". Semi-final matches must be played at a neutral ground in the designated home team's country.

Home country advantage was awarded as follows:[13]

Winner of QF Semi-Final 1 (Home v Away) 1 4 1 v 4 1 5 5 v 1 8 4 8 v 4 8 5 5 v 8

Winner of QF Semi-Final 2 (Home v Away) 3 2 2 v 3 3 7 7 v 3 6 2 6 v 2 6 7 6 v 7

The winners of the semi-finals contested the final, at Grand Stade de Lyon, on 14 May 2016.[14]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	2	Leicester Tigers	41
	7	Stade Français	13
						Leicester Tigers		16
						Racing 92		19
	3	Racing 92	19
	6	Toulon	16
											Racing 92		9
											Saracens		21
	1	Saracens	29
	8	Northampton Saints	20
						Saracens		24
						Wasps		17
	4	Wasps	25
	5	Exeter Chiefs	24

Quarter-finals

9 April 2016 15:15

Wasps (4)	25–24	(5) Exeter Chiefs
Try: Piutau (2) 42' m, 79' c Halai 64' c Con: Gopperth (2/3) 65', 80' Pen: Gopperth (2/3) 6', 17'	Report[15]	Try: Waldrom (2) 32' c, 36' c Williams 48' c Con: Steenson (3/3) 33', 37', 48' Pen: Steenson (1/1) 58'

Ricoh Arena Attendance: 23,866 Referee: Romain Poite (FFR)

9 April 2016 17:45

Saracens (1)	29–20	(8) Northampton Saints
Try: Ashton 67' c Wyles 76' c Con: Farrell (2/2) 68', 77' Pen: Farrell (5/5) 6', 20', 51', 61', 74'	Report[16]	Try: K. Pisi 15' c Lawes 80' c Con: Myler (2/2) 17', 80' Pen: Myler (2/4) 31', 55'

Allianz Park Attendance: 8,050 Referee: Jérôme Garcès (FFR)

10 April 2016 13:45

Leicester Tigers (2)	41–13	(7) Stade Français
Try: Tuilagi 1' c Goneva (2) 30' c, 44' c Burns 33' c Fitzgerald 59' m Veainu 65' m Con: Burns (4/4) 2', 31', 34', 46' Pen: Burns (1/1) 15'	Report[17]	Try: Dupuy 42' c Con: Steyn (1/1) 43' Pen: Steyn (2/3) 7', 24'

Welford Road Attendance: 20,866 Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)

10 April 2016 17:15

Racing 92 (3)	19–16	(6) Toulon
Try: Imhoff 2' c Con: Carter (1/1) 4' Pen: Carter (1/1) 1' Machenaud (3/6) 47', 51', 78'	Report[18]	Try: Ollivon 8' c Con: Pélissié (1/1) 10' Pen: Pélissié (3/5) 40', 43', 59'

Stade Yves du Manoir Attendance: 15,340 Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

Semi-finals

23 April 2016 15:00

Saracens	24–17	Wasps
Try: Rhodes 28' m Penalty Try 72' c Con: Farrell (1/2) 73' Pen: Farrell (4/6) 40', 42', 46', 68'	Report[19]	Try: Robson 1' c Johnson 75' c Con: Gopperth (2/2) 2', 76' Pen: Gopperth (1/1) 41'

Madejski Stadium, Reading Attendance: 16,820 Referee: Romain Poite (FFR)

24 April 2016 15:15

Leicester Tigers	16–19	Racing 92
Try: Veainu 79' c Con: O. Williams (1/1) 79' Pen: Burns (1/1) 28' O. Williams (2/2) 38', 44'	Report[20]	Try: Machenaud 4' c Con: Carter (1/1) 4' Pen: Carter (3/3) 21', 40', 51' Goosen (1/2) 74'

City Ground, Nottingham Attendance: 22,148 Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)

Final

Main article: 2016 European Rugby Champions Cup Final

14 May 2016 17:45

Racing 92	9–21	Saracens
Pen: Goosen (3/3) 18', 36', 58'	Report[21]	Pen: Farrell (7/7) 10', 25', 32', 39', 51', 76', 79'

Grand Stade de Lyon, Lyon Attendance: 58,017 Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)

Attendances

• Does not include the final as this was played at a neutral venues.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bath	3	39,726	13,242	13,480	12,961	98%
Benetton Treviso	3	10,100	3,367	4,600	2,300	50%
Bordeaux Bègles	3	65,868	21,956	28,483	17,233	63%
Clermont	3	49,308	16,436	16,838	15,702	91%
Exeter Chiefs	3	31,922	10,641	11,415	9,577	87%
Glasgow Warriors	3	22,439	7,480	9,063	6,576	61%
Leicester Tigers	5[a 1]	104,021	20,804	22,148	19,076	80%
Leinster	3	76,285	25,428	44,925	14,569	85%
Munster	3	58,908	19,636	22,261	17,763	77%
Northampton Saints	3	44,450	14,817	15,064	14,512	96%
Ospreys	3	26,181	8,727	9,479	7,969	42%
Oyonnax	3	23,500	7,833	8,800	7,200	69%
Racing 92	4	39,137	9,784	15,340	6,931	67%
Saracens	5[a 2]	53,393	10,679	16,820	8,050	87%
Scarlets	3	21,102	7,034	8,512	5,767	47%
Stade Francais	3	35,678	11,893	13,820	9,785	59%
Toulon	3	38,706	12,902	13,344	12,590	84%
Toulouse	3	36,819	12,273	13,852	10,469	63%
Ulster	3	48,333	16,111	17,209	15,108	89%
Wasps	4	71,754	17,939	23,866	11,319	55%

[22]

1. Includes semi-final 'home game' played at the City Ground in Nottingham.
2. Includes semi-final 'home game' played at the Madejski Stadium in Reading.

See also

• 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup

Notes

1. Umberto Casellato began the tournament as Benetton Treviso head coach, but was sacked on 5 January 2016, and replaced by Marius Goosen.[7]

References

1. Inaugural EPCR finals set for London Archived 2014-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Racing 9 Saracens 21: Saracens crowned European champions". Daily Telegraph. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
3. "Key 2015/16 EPCR dates and Champions Cup play-offs". epcrugby.com.
4. "Lyon to host 2016 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals with Edinburgh chosen for 2017". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-13. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
5. "Farrell boots Saracens to Champions Cup glory". ESPN. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
6. "Champions Cup play-off: Gloucester 40-32 Connacht". 24 May 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2017 – via www.bbc.com.
7. "Treviso and Casellato part ways". Planet Rugby. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
8. "From a South African farm to captaining Munster: The rise of CJ Stander". The42. 12 November 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2014-06-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ERCRugby.com. Accessed 8 June 2014
10. European Rugby Pool Draws for 2015/16 season - EPCRugby.com
11. "European heavyweights to clash following 2015/16 Pool Draws". EPCRugby. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
12. "Bath and Wasps draw holders Toulon in European Champions Cup pool". Guardian. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
13. "Champions Cup Rules". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2015-05-04. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
14. "Lyon to host 2016 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals with Edinburgh chosen for 2017". EPCRugby. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
15. "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
16. "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
17. "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2016-05-15. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
18. "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-18. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
19. "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-26. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
20. "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-29. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
21. "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2016-05-30. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
22. "European Rugby Champions Cup 15/16 Home attendance". Rugby Statbunker. 10 April 2016.