2016–17 European Rugby 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 20
Highest Attendance 14,634
La Rochelle v La Rochelle
20 October 2016
Attendance 133,612 (6,681 per match)
Lowest Attendance 1,000
Enisey-ETM v Worcester Warriors
15 October 2016
Tries scored 66 (3.3 per match)
Top point scorer(s) Rhys Priestland (Bath)
(20 points)
Top try scorer(s) Nasi Manu (Edinburgh)
Stuart McInally (Edinburgh)
(3 tries)
Final
Venue BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Official website EPCR Website
← 2015–16 (Previous) (Next) 2017–18 →

The 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup is 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 compete. It is also the 21st season of the Challenge Cup competition in all forms, following on from the now defunct European Challenge Cup.

Montpellier are the reigning champions, having beaten Harlequins in the final of the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup. They do 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 will begin on the weekend of 13/14/15/16 October 2016, and the competition will end with the final on 12 May 2017 in Edinburgh.[1][2]

Teams

20 teams will qualify for the 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup; a total of 18 qualified from across the Aviva Premiership, Guinness 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 is:

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.

The following clubs have qualified for the Challenge Cup.

Aviva Premiership Top 14 Pro12 Qualifying Competition
England England France France Ireland Ireland Italy Italy Scotland Scotland Wales Wales European Union Other
None as the four provinces qualified for the Champions Cup

Qualifying Competition

Once again, EPCR expanded the qualifying competition.[3]

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, will take the two remaining places in the Challenge Cup.

Pool A Play-off

9 April 2016
Rovigo Italy 0 - 31 Russia Enisey-STM

23 April 2016
Enisey-STM Russia 39 - 5 Italy Rovigo

Pool B Play-off

9 April 2016
Timișoara Saracens Romania 36 - 23 Italy Calvisano

23 April 2016
Calvisano Italy 17 - 28 Romania Timișoara Saracens

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
England Bath New Zealand Todd Blackadder England Dave Attwood Recreation Ground 14,500 Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (9th)
France Bayonne France Vincent Etcheto France Jean Monribot Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 Pro D2 runner-up
Italy Benetton Treviso New Zealand Kieran Crowley Italy Alessandro Zanni Stadio Comunale di Monigo 6,700 Pro12 bottom 5 (12th)
England Bristol England Andy Robinson Samoa Jack Lam Ashton Gate Stadium 27,000 2015–16 RFU Championship Champion
France Brive France Nicolas Godignon France Arnaud Méla Stade Amédée-Domenech 16,000 Top 14 7th-12th (8th)
Wales Cardiff Blues England Danny Wilson Wales Gethin Jenkins BT Cardiff Arms Park 12,125 Pro12 bottom 5 (10th)
Scotland Edinburgh South Africa Alan Solomons Scotland Grant Gilchrist Murrayfield Stadium
Myreside[lower-alpha 1]		 12,464[lower-alpha 2]
6,000		 Pro12 bottom 5 (9th)
Russia Enisey-STM Russia Alexander Pervukhin Latvia Uldis Saulite Slava Stadium
Trud Stadium
Central Stadium		 2,500
10,028
22,500		 Challenge Cup Qualification Play-off
England Gloucester Ireland David Humphreys Scotland Greig Laidlaw Kingsholm Stadium 16,115 Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (8th)
France Grenoble Ireland Bernard Jackman France Jonathan Wisniewski Stade des Alpes 20,068 Top 14 7th-12th (10th)
England Harlequins England John Kingston England Danny Care Twickenham Stoop 14,800 Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (7th)
France La Rochelle France Patrice Collazo
France Xavier Garbajosa		 France Uini Atonio Stade Marcel-Deflandre 15,000 Top 14 7th-12th (9th)
France Lyon France Pierre Mignoni France Julien Puricelli Matmut Stadium 11,805 Pro D2 Champion
England Newcastle Falcons England Dean Richards England Will Welch Kingston Park 10,200 Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (11th)
Wales Newport Gwent Dragons Wales Kingsley Jones Wales T. Rhys Thomas Rodney Parade 8,800 Pro12 bottom 5 (9th)
Wales Ospreys Wales Steve Tandy Wales Alun Wyn Jones Liberty Stadium 20,827 Pro12 bottom 5 (8th)
France Pau New Zealand Simon Mannix France Julien Pierre Stade du Hameau 13,819 Top 14 7th-12th (11th)
France Stade Français Argentina Gonzalo Quesada Italy Sergio Parisse Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 Top 14 7th-12th (12th)
Romania Timișoara Saracens New Zealand Grainger Heikell Romania Cătălin Fercu Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu 32,972 Challenge Cup Qualification Play-off
England Worcester Warriors Scotland Carl Hogg South Africa 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.[5]

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

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

The following restrictions apply to the draw:

Pool Stage

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

Teams will play each other twice, both at home and away, in the group stage, that will begin 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 will be 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.[6]

In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers will be 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
France La Rochelle 2 2 0 0 92 34 +58 13 4 2 0 10
England Gloucester 2 2 0 0 84 35 +49 10 4 2 0 10
France Bayonne 2 0 0 2 51 98 –47 6 14 0 0 0
Italy Benetton Treviso 2 0 0 2 18 78 –60 2 9 0 0 0

Pool 2

Team
 P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
Wales Ospreys 2 2 0 0 76 13 +60 11 2 2 0 10
France Lyon 2 1 0 1 52 44 +8 6 5 1 0 5
England Newcastle Falcons 2 1 0 1 50 52 –2 8 8 1 0 5
France Grenoble 2 0 0 2 20 89 –69 2 12 0 0 0

Pool 3

Team
 P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
Russia Enisey-STM 2 2 0 0 57 30 +27 6 3 1 0 9
Wales Newport Gwent Dragons 2 1 0 1 55 54 +1 7 6 1 0 5
France Brive 2 1 0 1 41 61 –20 4 8 0 0 4
England Worcester Warriors 2 0 0 2 36 44 –8 5 4 0 2 2

Pool 4

Team
 P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
Wales Cardiff Blues 2 2 0 0 60 32 +28 7 4 1 0 9
England Bath 2 2 0 0 47 28 +19 2 3 0 0 8
France Pau 2 0 0 2 34 52 –18 5 4 0 1 1
England Bristol 2 0 0 2 26 55 –29 2 5 0 0 0

Pool 5

Team
 P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
Scotland Edinburgh 2 2 0 0 95 52 +43 15 7 2 0 10
England Harlequins 2 1 0 1 78 57 +21 12 9 2 1 7
France Stade Français 2 1 0 1 48 43 +5 7 7 1 0 5
Romania Timișoara Saracens 2 0 0 2 17 86 –69 2 13 0 0 0

Pool winners and runners-up rankings

Updated to 27 october 2016

Seed Pool Winners Pts TF +/−
1 Scotland Edinburgh 10 15 +43
2 France La Rochelle 10 13 +58
3 Wales Ospreys 10 11 +60
4 Wales Cardiff Blues 9 7 +28
5 Russia Enisey-STM 9 6 +27
Seed Pool Runners–up Pts TF +/−
6 England Gloucester 10 10 +49
7 England Bath 8 2 +19
8 England Harlequins 7 12 +21
9 Wales Newport Gwent Dragons 5 7 +1
10 France Lyon 5 6 +8

Knock-out stage

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

The semi-finals will be 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, will be awarded as follows:[6]

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 will contest the final, at BT Murrayfield on 12 May 2017.[2]

Attendances

Club Home
Games		 Total Average Highest Lowest % Capacity
England Bath 1 13,257 13,257 13,257 13,257
France Bayonne 1 5,005 5,005 5,005 5,005
Italy Benetton Treviso 1 1,900 1,900 1,900 1,900
England Bristol 1 8,289 8,289 8,289 8,289
France Brive 0 0 0 0 0
Wales Cardiff Blues 1 6,960 6,960 6,960 6,960
Scotland Edinburgh 1 5,326 5,326 5,326 5,326
Russia Enisey-ETM 2 2,500 1,250 1,500 1,000
England Gloucester 1 9,618 9,618 9,618 9,618
France Grenoble 1 7,003 7,003 7,003 7,003
England Harlequins 1 11,820 11,820 11,820 11,820
France La Rochelle 1 14,634 14,634 14,634 14,634
France Lyon 1 6,500 6,500 6,500 6,500
England Newcastle Falcons 1 3,390 3,390 3,390 3,390
Wales Newport Gwent Dragons 1 4,126 4,126 4,126 4,126
Wales Ospreys 1 7,352 7,352 7,352 7,352
France Pau 1 9,212 9,212 9,212 9,212
France Stade Francais 1 6,511 6,511 6,511 6,511
Romania Timișoara Saracens 1 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000
England Worcester Warriors 1 7,209 7,209 7,209 7,209

See also

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.[4]
  2. ↑ Although Murrayfield's full capacity is 67,800, 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. 1 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. ↑ "2015–16 Qualifying Competition".
  4. ↑ "Edinburgh confirm move from Murrayfield to Myreside". BBC Sport. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  5. ↑ "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.
  6. 1 2 "EPCR Competition Rules".
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