2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup

The 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the third edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Clubs from six European nations plus one Russian club competed. It was also the 21st season of the Challenge Cup competition in all forms, following on from the now defunct European Challenge Cup.

2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Italy  Romania  Russia  Scotland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	13 October 2016 – 12 May 2017
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Matches played	66
Attendance	483,750 (7,330 per match)
Highest Attendance	24,494 Gloucester v Stade Francais (12 May 2017)
Lowest Attendance	300 Enisey-ETM v Brive (10 December 2016)
Tries scored	433 (6.56 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Dan Biggar (Ospreys) (78 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Keelan Giles (Ospreys) (7 tries)
Final
Venue	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Champions	Stade Français
Runners-up	Gloucester

Montpellier were the reigning champions, having beaten Harlequins in the final of the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup. They did not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup as a result of the win.

The first round of the group stage began on the weekend of 13/14/15/16 October 2016, and the competition ended with the final on 12 May 2017 in Edinburgh.[1][2]

Stade Français won the final 25–17 against Gloucester.[3]

Teams

20 teams qualified for the 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup; a total of 18 qualified from across the Premiership, Pro12 and Top 14, as a direct result of their domestic league performance, with two coming through a play-off. The expected distribution of teams was:

• England: 6
  • Any teams finishing between 7th-11th position in the Aviva Premiership. (5 Teams)
  • The champion of the Greene King IPA Championship. (1 Team)
• France: 7
  • Any teams finishing between 8th-12th position in the Top 14. (5 Teams)
  • The champion, and the winner of the promotion play-off, from the Pro D2. (2 Teams)
• Ireland, Italy, Scotland & Wales: 5 teams
  • Any teams that did not qualify for the European Rugby Champions Cup, through the Guinness Pro12 — namely the Pro12 bottom 5. (5 teams)

The French Top 14 had its allocation reduced by 1 place after Montpellier won the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup. This is after it was decided that, due to the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there would be no qualification play-off.

• Other European Nations: 2 teams
  • Two teams qualified through the 2015–16 Qualifying Competition, which took place alongside the Challenge Cup and Champions Cup competitions.

The following clubs qualified for the Challenge Cup.

Aviva Premiership	Top 14	Pro12				Qualifying Competition
England	France	Ireland	Italy	Scotland	Wales	Other
Harlequins Gloucester Bath Worcester Warriors Newcastle Falcons Bristol (Championship winner)	Brive La Rochelle Grenoble Pau Stade Français Lyon (Pro D2 champion) Bayonne (Pro D2 Play-off winner)	None as the four provinces qualified for the Champions Cup	Treviso	Edinburgh	Cardiff Blues Ospreys Newport Gwent Dragons	Enisey-STM Timișoara Saracens

Qualifying competition

Once again, EPCR expanded the qualifying competition.[4]

Eight teams were split into two pools of four. Each team played the four teams in the other pool once. The winner of each pool then played a two-legged final against last year's qualifying sides, and the winners, on aggregate, took the two remaining places in the Challenge Cup.

Pool A Play-off

9 April 2016

Rovigo	0 – 31	Enisey-STM

---

23 April 2016

Enisey-STM	39–5	Rovigo

• Enisey-STM qualify with an aggregate score of 70–5

Pool B Play-off

9 April 2016

Timișoara Saracens	36–23	Calvisano

---

23 April 2016

Calvisano	17–28	Timișoara Saracens

• Timișoara Saracens qualify with an aggregate score of 64–40

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.

Team	Coach / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Method of Qualification
Bath	Todd Blackadder	Dave Attwood	Recreation Ground	14,500	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (9th)
Bayonne	Vincent Etcheto	Jean Monribot	Stade Jean Dauger	16,934	Pro D2 runner-up
Benetton Treviso	Kieran Crowley	Alessandro Zanni	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	6,700	Pro12 bottom 5 (12th)
Bristol	Andy Robinson	Jack Lam	Ashton Gate Stadium	27,000	2015–16 RFU Championship Champion
Brive	Nicolas Godignon	Arnaud Méla	Stade Amédée-Domenech	16,000	Top 14 7th-12th (8th)
Cardiff Blues	Danny Wilson	Gethin Jenkins	BT Cardiff Arms Park	12,125	Pro12 bottom 5 (7th)
Edinburgh	Alan Solomons	Grant Gilchrist	Murrayfield Stadium New Myreside[lower-alpha 1]	67,144[lower-alpha 2] 5,500	Pro12 bottom 5 (9th)
Enisey-STM	Alexander Pervukhin	Uldis Saulite	Slava Stadium Trud Stadium Sochi Central Stadium	2,500 3,000 10,200	Challenge Cup Qualification Play-off
Gloucester	David Humphreys	Greig Laidlaw	Kingsholm Stadium	16,115	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (8th)
Grenoble	Bernard Jackman	Jonathan Wisniewski	Stade des Alpes	20,068	Top 14 7th-12th (10th)
Harlequins	John Kingston	Danny Care	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (7th)
La Rochelle	Patrice Collazo Xavier Garbajosa	Uini Atonio	Stade Marcel-Deflandre	15,000	Top 14 7th-12th (9th)
Lyon	Pierre Mignoni	Julien Puricelli	Matmut Stadium	11,805	Pro D2 Champion
Newcastle Falcons	Dean Richards	Will Welch	Kingston Park	10,200	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (11th)
Newport Gwent Dragons	Kingsley Jones	T. Rhys Thomas	Rodney Parade	8,800	Pro12 bottom 5 (11th)
Ospreys	Steve Tandy	Alun Wyn Jones	Liberty Stadium Millennium Stadium	20,827 74,500	Pro12 bottom 5 (8th)
Pau	Simon Mannix	Julien Pierre	Stade du Hameau	13,819	Top 14 7th-12th (11th)
Stade Français	Gonzalo Quesada	Sergio Parisse	Stade Jean-Bouin	20,000	Top 14 7th-12th (12th)
Timișoara Saracens	Grainger Heikell	Cătălin Fercu	Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu	32,972	Challenge Cup Qualification Play-off
Worcester Warriors	Carl Hogg	Gerrit-Jan van Velze	Sixways Stadium	12,024	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (10th)

Seeding

The 20 competing teams were seeded and split into four tiers; seeding was based on performance in their respective domestic leagues. Where promotion and relegation is in effect in a league, the promoted team was seeded last, or (if multiple teams are promoted) by performance in the lower tier.[6]

Rank	Top 14	Premiership	Pro 12	Qualifying Competition
1	Brive	Harlequins	Cardiff Blues	Enisey-STM
2	La Rochelle	Gloucester	Ospreys	Timișoara Saracens
3	Grenoble	Bath	Edinburgh
4	Pau	Worcester Warriors	Newport Gwent Dragons
5	Stade Français	Newcastle Falcons	Treviso
6	Lyon	Bristol
7	Bayonne

Teams were taken from a league in order of rank and put into a tier. A draw was used to allocate two second seeds to Tier 1; the remaining team went into Tier 2. This allocation indirectly determined which fourth-seeded team entered Tier 2, while the others entered Tier 3.

Given the nature of the Qualifying Competition, a competition including developing rugby nations and Italian clubs not competing in the Pro12, Rugby Europe 1 and Rugby Europe 2 were automatically included in Tier 4, despite officially being ranked 1/2 from that competition.

The 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	Harlequins (1 AP)	Cardiff Blues (1 Pro12)	Brive (1 Top 14)	Ospreys (2 Pro12)	La Rochelle (2 Top 14)
Tier 2	Gloucester (2 AP)	Bath (3 AP)	Edinburgh (3 Pro12)	Grenoble (3 Top 14)	Worcester Warriors (4 AP)
Tier 3	Pau (4 Top 14)	Newport Gwent Dragons (4 Pro12)	Newcastle Falcons (5 AP)	Treviso (5 Pro12)	Stade Français (5 Top 14)
Tier 4	Bristol (6 AP)	Lyon (6 Top 14)	Bayonne (7 Top 14)	Enisey-STM (QC 1)	Timișoara Saracens (QC 2)

The following restrictions applied to the draw:

• The 5 pools each contain four clubs, one from each of the 4 Tiers.
• Each pool is required to have one club from each league, drawn from Tier 1, 2 or 3. A second team will only be added to a pool during the Tier 4 allocation.

Pool stage

Main article: 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup pool stage

The draw took place on 29 June 2016, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Teams played each other twice, both at home and away, in the group stage, that began on weekend of 13/14/15/16 October 2016, and continued through to 19/20/21/22 January 2017, before the pool winners and three best runners-up progressed to the quarter finals.

Teams were awarded competition points, based on match result. Teams received 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.[7]

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, advance to quarter-finals.
	Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarter-finals.
	Cannot advance to the quarter-finals.

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Gloucester (2)	6	5	0	1	237	110	+127	31	15	5	0	25
La Rochelle (6)	6	5	0	1	203	104	+99	28	11	4	0	24
Benetton Treviso	6	2	0	4	75	182	−107	9	23	0	0	8
Bayonne	6	0	0	6	116	235	−119	14	33	0	1	1

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Ospreys (1)	6	6	0	0	279	51	+228	42	7	6	0	30
Lyon	6	3	0	3	187	164	+23	26	21	4	0	16
Newcastle Falcons	6	2	0	4	158	180	−22	22	26	2	2	12
Grenoble	6	1	0	5	74	303	−229	8	44	1	0	5

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Brive (5)	6	5	0	1	175	120	+55	16	13	3	0	23
Newport Gwent Dragons	6	3	0	3	150	140	+10	19	19	2	0	14
Worcester Warriors	6	2	0	4	147	117	+30	22	13	2	3	13
Enisey-STM	6	2	0	4	107	202	–95	13	27	1	0	9

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Bath (4)	6	5	0	1	214	91	+123	24	10	3	0	23
Cardiff Blues (7)	6	5	0	1	150	115	+35	16	15	2	0	22
Bristol	6	2	0	4	138	181	–43	19	22	2	0	10
Pau	6	0	0	6	97	212	–115	13	25	0	2	2

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Edinburgh (3)	6	5	0	1	215	122	+93	30	15	3	1	24
Stade Français (8)	6	4	0	2	152	108	+44	20	16	3	1	20
Harlequins	6	3	0	3	230	113	+117	34	14	4	2	18
Timișoara Saracens	6	0	0	6	26	280	–254	2	41	0	0	0

Pool winners and runners-up rankings

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	+/−	TF
1	Ospreys	30	+228	42
2	Gloucester	25	+127	31
3	Edinburgh	24	+93	30
4	Bath	23	+123	24
5	Brive	23	+55	21
Seed	Pool Runners-Up	Pts	+/−	TF
6	La Rochelle	24	+99	28
7	Cardiff Blues	22	+35	16
8	Stade Français	20	+44	20
9	Lyon	16	+23	26
10	Newport Gwent Dragons	14	+10	19

Knock-out stage

Format

The eight qualifiers were ranked according to performance in the pool stages, and compete in the quarter-finals, which was held on the weekend of 30/31 March, 1/2 April 2017. The top four teams hosted the quarter-finals against the lower teams in a 1v8, 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5 format.

The semi-finals were played on the weekend of 21/22/23 April 2017. In lieu of the draw that used to determine the semi-final pairing, EPCR announced that a fixed semi-final bracket would be set in advance, and that home advantage would be awarded to a side based on "performances by clubs during the pool stages as well as the achievement of a winning a quarter-final match away from home".

Home advantage was awarded as follows:[7]

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 Murrayfield on 12 May 2017.[2]

Quarter-finals

31 March 2017 20:00

Edinburgh (3)	22–32	(6) La Rochelle
Try: Burleigh 19' c Ford 39' m Watson 46' c Con: Tovey (1/2) 20' Hidalgo-Clyne (1/1) 48' Pen: Weir (1/1) 65'	Report[8]	Try: Maurouard (2) 5' c, 11' c Retiere 24' m Barry 35' c Con: James (3/4) 6', 13', 35' Pen: James (2/3) 69', 79'

Murrayfield Stadium Attendance: 5,489 Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)

1 April 2017 12:45

Bath (4)	34–20	(5) Brive
Try: Faletau (2) 21' c, 43' c Homer 27' m Rokoduguni (2) 31' m, 75' c Con: Priestland (3/5) 22', 44', 77' Pen: Priestland (1/1) 9'	Report[9]	Try: Sanconnie (2) 49' c, 55' c Con: Germain (2/2) 50', 56' Pen: Germain (2/2) 14', 19'

Recreation Ground Attendance: 11,677 Referee: Marius Mitrea (FIR)

1 April 2017 20:05

Gloucester (2)	46–26	(7) Cardiff Blues
Try: Moriarty 10' c Marshall (2) 25' c, 58' c May 54' c Atkinson 65' c Purdy 78' m Con: Burns (1/1) 10' Twelvetrees (4/5) 26', 55', 60', 66' Pen: Burns (1/1) 17' Twelvetrees (1/1) 23'	Report[10]	Try: Cuthbert (2) 4' c, 34' c Con: Shingler (2/2) 5', 35' Pen: Shingler (3/3) 14', 21', 49' Drop: Anscombe (1/1) 39'

Kingsholm Stadium Attendance: 11,206 Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (FFR)

2 April 2017 17:45

Ospreys (1)	21–25	(8) Stade Français
Try: Matavesi 47' m Ardron 76' c Con: Biggar (1/2) 76' Pen: Biggar (3/3) 13', 33', 53'	Report[11]	Try: Zhvania 30' m Lakafia 54' c Arias 59' c Con: Plisson (2/3) 54', 59' Pen: Plisson (2/2) 28', 44'

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 12,127 Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)

Semi-finals

22 April 2017 21:00

La Rochelle	14–16	Gloucester
Try: Lagrange 66' m Pen: James (3/5) 24', 40', 65'	Report[12]	Try: Burns 59' c Con: Burns (1/1) 59' Pen: Burns (3/3) 9', 18', 56'

Stade Marcel-Deflandre Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)

23 April 2017 13:30

Stade Français	28–25	Bath
Try: Doumayrou 12' c Plisson 48' m Pyle 78' c Con: Plisson (2/3) 12', 78' Pen: Plisson (2/2) 5', 17' Drop: Plisson (1/1) 80'	Report[13]	Try: Rokoduguni 63' c Fruean 68' m Stooke 71' c Con: Ford (2/3) 63', 71' Pen: Ford (2/2) 10', 34'

Stade Jean-Bouin Attendance: 10,175 Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)

Final

12 May 2017 20:00

Gloucester	17–25	Stade Français
	Report[14]

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 24,494 Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)

Attendances

• Does not include final as this is held at a neutral venue.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bath	4	49,570	12,393	13,257	11,677	85%
Bayonne	3	8,703	2,901	5,005	1,498	17%
Benetton Treviso	3	4,100	1,367	1,900	700	25%
Bristol	3	28,988	9,663	13,140	7,559	36%
Brive	3	11,500	3,833	5,000	2,500	24%
Cardiff Blues	3	21,752	7,251	7,569	6,960	60%
Edinburgh	4	20,105	5,026	5,489	4,055	29%
Enisey-ETM	3	2,800	933	1,500	300	18%
Gloucester	4	39,367	9,842	11,206	9,265	61%
Grenoble	3	20,607	6,869	7,003	6,754	42%
Harlequins	3	29,692	9,897	11,820	8,230	67%
La Rochelle	4	56,910	14,228	15,000	13,123	95%
Lyon	3	27,472	9,157	12,080	6,500	77%
Newcastle Falcons	3	10,448	3,483	3,551	3,390	34%
Newport Gwent Dragons	3	11,766	3,922	4,126	3,544	46%
Ospreys	4	33,504	8,376	12,127	6,986	30%
Pau	3	23,635	7,878	9,212	6,050	57%
Stade Francais	4	31,363	7,841	10,175	6,511	39%
Timișoara Saracens	2[a 1]	6,500	3,250	3,500	3,000	10%
Worcester Warriors	3	20,474	6,825	7,209	6,097	57%

1. • Timișoara Saracens only played 2 home games as their final home game was cancelled due to a frozen pitch.[15]

See also

• 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup

Notes

1. On 10 May 2016, it was announced that Edinburgh will move all their home games to Myreside for the second half of the season, as their new permanent home ground.[5]
2. Although Murrayfield's full capacity is 67,144, only the lower section of the West Stand, with a capacity of 12,464, is generally opened for Edinburgh fixtures.

References

1. "Key 2016/17 European club rugby dates". epcrugby.com.
2. "Lyon to host 2016 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals with Edinburgh chosen for 2017". EPCRugby. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
3. "European Challenge Cup final: Gloucester 17-25 Stade Francais". BBC Sport. 12 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
4. "2015–16 Qualifying Competition". Archived from the original on 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
5. "Edinburgh confirm move from Murrayfield to Myreside". BBC Sport. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
6. "Watch the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup Pool Draws live : News | ERC | Official Website". ERCRugby.com. 7 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
7. "EPCR Competition Rules". Archived from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
8. "European Rugby Challenge Cup (ECPR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-03. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
9. "REPORT: Bath reach Challenge Cup semi-finals". www.epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-03. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
10. "REPORT: Gloucester win Kingsholm thriller". www.epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-03. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
11. "European Rugby Challenge Cup (ECPR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-21. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
12. "REPORT: Gloucester become first team to win in La Rochelle". www.epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-03. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
13. "REPORT: Plisson fires Stade into final". www.epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-03. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
14. "REPORT: Stade Francais are 2017 Challenge Cup winners". www.epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-17. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
15. "Timișoara Saracens v Stade Francais Paris – match cancelled". EPCR. EPCR. 14 January 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2017.