2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup
The 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup is the sixth edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 24th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition. Clubs from six European nations compete, including Russian and Italian clubs who qualified via the Continental Shield.
| 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Countries |      .svg.png){kind=small} |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and Knockout |
| Date | 15 November 2019 - 16 October 2020 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Teams | 20 |
| Matches played | 60 |
| Attendance | 374,846 (6,247 per match) |
| Highest Attendance | 17,553 - Bordeaux Bègles v Edinburgh (11 January 2020) |
| Lowest Attendance | 100 - Enisey-STM v Castres (6 December 2019) |
| Tries scored | 376 (6.27 per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) | 67 points |
| Top try scorer(s) | 5 tries |
| Final | |
The tournament began in November 2019. The final will take place on 16 October at a venue to be confirmed.[1]
Teams
20 teams will qualify for the 2019–20 European Challenge Cup; 18 will qualify from Premiership Rugby, the Pro14 and the Top 14, as a direct result of their domestic league performance, with two qualifying through the 2018–19 Continental Shield. The distribution of teams is:
- England: Five teams
- Any teams finishing between 7th and 11th position in Premiership Rugby that do not qualify for the Champions Cup (Sale Sharks (7th) qualified for the Champions Cup and therefore did not take part in the Challenge Cup)).
- The champion of the RFU Championship.
- France: Eight teams
- Italy, Scotland, Wales: six teams
- Five teams from the Pro14, excluding the South African teams, that do not qualify for the 2019-20 European Champions Cup
- One team from Italy qualified through the Continental Shield
- Russia: one team
- One team from Russia qualified through the Continental Shield
No team from Ireland will participate in the competition as all four clubs have qualified for the 2019-20 European Champions Cup.
The following clubs have qualified for the Challenge Cup.
| Premiership | Top 14 | Pro14 | Qualifying Competition | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Qualifying competition
Six teams were split into two pools of three to compete in the pool stage of the European Rugby Continental Shield. Each team played the other two teams in its pool twice on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each pool will each other in a two-legged play-off for a place in the Challenge Cup.
The Russian team and the Romanian team which competed in the 2018-19 European Challenge Cup will play each other in a two-legged play-off for a place in the Challenge Cup.
Team details
Below is the list of coaches, captain 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.
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Seeding
The 20 competing teams will be seeded and split into four tiers; seeding is based on performance in their respective domestic leagues. Where promotion and relegation is in effect in a league, the promoted team is seeded last, or (if multiple teams are promoted) by performance in the lower competition.[3]
| Rank | Top 14 | Premiership | Pro 14 | Continental Shield |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | | | |
| 2 | | | | |
| 3 | | | | |
| 4 | | | | |
| 5 | | | | |
| 6 | | |||
| 7 | | |||
| 8 | |
Based on these seedings, teams are placed into one of the four tiers, with the top-seeded 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 fourth-seed team from the same domestic league as the second-seed team which was put in Tier 2 will also be placed in Tier 2. Brackets show each team's seeding and their league. e.g. 1 Top 14 indicates the team was the top seed from the Top 14.
Given the nature of the Continental Shield, a competition including developing rugby nations and Italian clubs not competing in the Pro14, the qualifying teams from this competition are automatically included in Tier 4.
| Tier 1 | |
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| Tier 2 | |
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| Tier 3 | |
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| Tier 4 | |
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Pool stage
The draw took place in June 2019.
Teams in the same pool will play each other twice, both at home and away in the group stage, that will begin in November 2019, and continue through to January 2020, before the pool winners and three best runners-up progressed to the quarter finals.
Teams will be awarded competition points, based on match result. Teams receive four points for a win, two points for a draw, one attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and one defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.[4]
In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers will be used, as directed by EPCR:
- Where teams have played each other
- The club with the greater number of competition points from only matches involving tied teams.
- If equal, the club with the best aggregate points difference from those matches.
- If equal, the club that scored the most tries in those matches.
- Where teams remain tied and/or have not played each other in the competition (i.e. are from different pools)
- The club with the best aggregate points difference from the pool stage.
- If equal, the club that scored the most tries in the pool stage.
- If equal, the club with the fewest players suspended in the pool stage.
- If equal, the drawing of lots will determine a club's ranking.
| Winner of each pool, advance to quarter-finals. | |
| Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarter-finals. | |
Pool 1
Team |
P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 159 | 103 | 56 | 22 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 23 |
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6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 194 | 136 | 58 | 24 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
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6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 209 | 127 | 82 | 27 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
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6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 73 | 269 | -196 | 10 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pool 2
Team |
P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 177 | 87 | 90 | 25 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 28 |
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6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 149 | 90 | 59 | 17 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 19 |
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6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 93 | 190 | -97 | 12 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
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6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 122 | 174 | -52 | 16 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Pool 3
Team |
P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 221 | 72 | 149 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 26 |
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6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 140 | 85 | 55 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 21 |
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6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 141 | 145 | -4 | 18 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
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6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 57 | 257 | -200 | 6 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pool 4
Team |
P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 209 | 58 | 151 | 27 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 26 |
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6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 111 | 165 | -54 | 14 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
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6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 106 | 151 | -45 | 15 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
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6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 104 | 156 | -52 | 11 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
Pool 5
Team |
P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 181 | 95 | 86 | 23 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
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6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 208 | 170 | 38 | 29 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
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6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 216 | 119 | 97 | 30 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
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6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 68 | 289 | -221 | 7 | 43 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Ranking of pool leaders and runners-up
| Rank | Pool Leaders | Pts | Diff | TF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 28 | 90 | 25 |
| 2 | | 26 | 151 | 27 |
| 3 | | 26 | 149 | 28 |
| 4 | | 23 | 86 | 23 |
| 5 | | 23 | 56 | 22 |
| Rank | Pool Runners–up | Pts | Diff | TF |
| 6 | | 21 | 55 | 16 |
| 7 | | 20 | 58 | 24 |
| 8 | | 19 | 59 | 17 |
| 9 | | 19 | 38 | 29 |
| 10 | | 14 | -54 | 14 |
Knock-out stage
Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| 1 | | |||||||||||||
| 8 | | |||||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-Final 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-Final 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | | |||||||||||||
| 5 | | |||||||||||||
| Winner Semi-Final 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Winner Semi-Final 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | | |||||||||||||
| 6 | | |||||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-Final 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-Final 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | | |||||||||||||
| 7 | | |||||||||||||
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
25/26/27 September |
| Winner Quarter-Final 1 | v | Winner Quarter-Final 2 |
|---|---|---|
25/26/27 September |
| Winner Quarter-Final 3 | v | Winner Quarter-Final 4 |
|---|---|---|
Final
16 October 2020 |
| Winner Semi-Final 1 | v | Winner Semi-Final 2 |
|---|---|---|
Attendances
- Does not include the attendance at the final as it takes place at a neutral venue.
| Club | Home Games |
Total | Average | Highest | Lowest | % Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 7,580 | 2,527 | 3,570 | 1,997 | 18% |
| 3 | 21,566 | 7,189 | 9,053 | 5,057 | 42% |
| 3 | 43,694 | 14,565 | 17,553 | 12,233 | 42% |
| 3 | 32,505 | 10,835 | 11,120 | 10,511 | 40% |
| 3 | 9,335 | 3,112 | 4,533 | 1,800 | 19% |
| 3 | 5,450 | 1,817 | 2,500 | 950 | 36% |
| 3 | 17,612 | 5,871 | 7,122 | 4,668 | 48% |
| 3 | 24,507 | 8,169 | 8,277 | 7,957 | 65% |
| 3 | 12,088 | 4,029 | 4,038 | 4,013 | 46% |
| 3 | 17,529 | 5,843 | 6,387 | 5,432 | 9% |
| 3 | 700 | 233 | 400 | 100 | 1% |
| 3 | 46,861 | 15,620 | 16,538 | 15,073 | 60% |
| 3 | 9,083 | 3,028 | 3,444 | 2,632 | 13% |
| 3 | 14,115 | 4,705 | 6,124 | 3,724 | 26% |
| 3 | 20,575 | 6,858 | 7,565 | 6,257 | 46% |
| 3 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 10% |
| 3 | 38,575 | 12,858 | 15,336 | 10,212 | 71% |
| 3 | 20,847 | 6,949 | 7,594 | 6,107 | 21% |
| 3 | 20,124 | 6,708 | 6,938 | 6,287 | 58% |
| 3 | 6,100 | 2,033 | 2,200 | 1,900 | 41% |
Player scoring
- Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).
Most points
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Most tries
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Season records
Team
66–10 Worcester Warriors at home to Enisei-STM on 11 January 2020
73–3 Bordeaux Bègles away to Agen on 6 December 2019
73–3 Bordeaux Bègles away to Agen on 6 December 2019
Bordeaux Bègles away to Agen on 6 December 2019
Bordeaux Bègles away to Agen on 6 December 2019
Dragons at home to Worcester Warriors on 13 December 2019
Leicester Tigers at home to Cardiff Blues on 12 January 2020
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Player
Attendances
Bordeaux Bègles at home to Edinburgh on 11 January 2020
Enisei-STM at home to Castres on 6 December 2019
Leicester Tigers
Enisei-STM
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See also
Notes
- Enisei-STM will play all their home games in Krasnodar - almost 3,000 miles west of their home town of Krasnoyarsk - due to the harshness of the Siberian winter.
- Scarlets lost the 7th place play-off to Ospreys, missing out on qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup.
- Heyneke Meyer began the tournament as Stade Français head coach, but resigned on November 12.[2]
References
- "Marseille finals moved to 2021 with new venues for this season to be decided". European Professional Club Rugby. 2020-07-09. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
- "Heyneke Meyer leaves Stade Francais with immediate effect". skysports.com. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- "Watch the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup Pool Draws live : News | ERC | Official Website". ERCRugby.com. 7 June 2014. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- "Champions Cup Rules". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Home attendance". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "Player Statistics". EPCR. 18 January 2020. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most points in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most tries in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most conversions in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most penalties in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most drop goals in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most points in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most tries in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most conversions in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most penalties in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
- "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most drop goals in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.