British and Irish Cup

British and Irish Cup
Current season or competition: 2012–13 British and Irish Cup
Competition logo
Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	2009
Inaugural season	2009–10
Number of teams	32
Nations	England Ireland Scotland Wales
Holders	Munster A (2011–12)
Most titles	Cornish Pirates Bristol Rugby Munster A (1 title)

The British and Irish Cup is an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009–10 season and the fourth edition of the competition will take place in the 2012–13 season.

A total of 24 teams from England (12), Scotland (3), Wales (6), and Ireland (3) competed in the inaugural competition. This remained the case for the first three seasons, though the format has varied slightly in each season.

For the 2012–13 season, the competition was expanded to 32 teams: England (12), Scotland (4), Wales (12), and Ireland (4). For the first time, pool stage games will be played on a "home and away" basis.

Four different clubs have won the competition in each year that has been run to date. Similarly, there has been four different runners-up.

Finals

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance
2009-10	Cornish Pirates	23–14	Munster A	Recreation Ground, Camborne	4,240
2010-11	Bristol	17–14	Bedford Blues	Memorial Ground, Bristol	4,375
2011-12	Munster A	31–12	Cross Keys	Musgrave Park, Cork	3,000
2012-13	Leinster A	18–17	Newcastle Falcons	Kingston Park, Newcastle	3,838

Seasons

2009-10 Competition

Main article: 2009–10 British and Irish Cup

The inaugural competition was contested by 24 teams:

• 12 teams from the RFU Championship, the second tier of English rugby
• 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• 3 Scottish sides, 2 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership and Gael Force, a side made up of a combination of National Academy players
• 6 top clubs from the Principality Premiership, the second tier of Welsh rugby.

The teams were divided into four pools of six, playing over five weekends during the Autumn International and Six Nations windows, with semi-finals on 24 and 25 April and the final on 16 May.

Each team played each of the other five teams in its pool once (home or away). Two English teams (Cornish Pirates and Doncaster) and two Irish teams (Munster A and Ulster Ravens) topped their respective pools leading to an all-English semi-final and an all-Irish semi-final. Cornish Pirates defeated Munster A in the inaugural final.

	Semi-finals				Final
	25 April 2010 - Camborne
	Cornish Pirates	43
	Doncaster	5
					16 May 2010 - Camborne
					Cornish Pirates	23
					Munster A	14
	24 April 2010 - Thomond Park
	Munster A	27
	Ulster Ravens	3

2010-11 Competition

Main article: 2010-11 British and Irish Cup

The allocation of teams for the second season was very similar to that of the first:

• 12 teams from the RFU Championship, the second tier of English rugby
• 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• 3 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership, the second tier of Scottish rugby
• 6 top clubs from the Principality Premiership, the second tier of Welsh rugby.

The format closely mirrored that of the first season, the only difference being the introduction of a quarter final stage

The teams were divided into four pools of six, playing over five weekends during the Autumn International and Six Nations windows, with quarter-finals on 5 or 6 March, semi-finals on 23 April and the final on 7 May. Each team played each of the other five teams in its pool once (home or away), with the top two teams in each pool qualifying for the knock-out stages:

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	5 March 2011 - Sardis Road
	Pontypridd	12
					23 April 2011 - Sardis Road
	Llanelli	10
					Pontypridd	25
	6 March 2011 - Memorial Stadium
					Bristol	36
	Bristol	29
									7 May 2011 - Memorial Stadium
	Ayr	19
									Bristol	17
	5 March 2011 - Goldington Road
									Bedford Blues	14
	Bedford Blues	50
					23 April 2011 - Goldington Road
	Leinster A	15
					Bedford Blues	43
	5 March 2011 - Sixways Stadium
					Worcester Warriors	27
	Worcester Warriors	57
	Moseley	15

2011-12 Competition

Main article: 2011–12 British and Irish Cup

The allocation of teams for the third season was identical to that of the second season:

• 12 teams from the RFU Championship, the second tier of English rugby
• 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• 3 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership, the second tier of Scottish rugby
• 6 top clubs from the Principality Premiership, the second tier of Welsh rugby.

The pool stage saw a change in format and consisted of six pools of four teams playing cross-pool matches, giving each team two home and two away matches. Matches between English teams were played mid-week. Pool matches took place from 21 September to 18 December. The top team from each pool qualified for the quarter-finals, together with the two runners–up with the best records.

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	22 January 2012 – Donnybrook
	Leinster A	32
					6 April 2012 – RDS
	Pontypridd	0
					Leinster A	29
	20 January 2012 – Ravenhill
					Munster A	36
	Ulster Ravens	9
									27 April 2012 – Musgrave Park
	Munster A	20
									Munster A	31
	21 January 2012 – Pandy Park
									Cross Keys	12
	Cross Keys	32
					7 April 2012 – Pandy Park
	Llanelli	8
					Cross Keys	20
	22 January 2012 – Mennaye Field
					Cornish Pirates	16
	Cornish Pirates	33
	Nottingham	3

2012–13 Competition

Main article: 2012–13 British and Irish Cup

The competition has been considerably revamped, with expansion from 24 to 32 teams playing each other home and away in the pool stages (previously, pool matches were played home or away). The allocation of teams for the fourth season was therefore:

• 12 teams from the RFU Championship, the second tier of English rugby
• 4 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• 4 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership, the second tier of Scottish rugby
• 12 clubs from the Principality Premiership, the second tier of Welsh rugby.

The pool stage will see a considerable change in format and will consist of eight pools of four teams, giving each team three home and three away matches. Pool matches will take place on the same weekends as the Heineken and Amlin Cups. The top team from each pool will qualify for the quarter-finals.

The final round of pool matches, due to be played on the weekend of 18/19/20 January, was considerably disrupted. Of 16 matches, 7 were postponed: Connacht Eagles v Newport was not played until 27 April, the weekend of the semi-finals.

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	6 April 2013 - Goldington Road
	Bedford Blues	32
					27 April 2013 - Goldington Road
	Llanelli	18
					Bedford Blues	15
	5 April 2013 - Kingston Park
					Newcastle Falcons	18
	Newcastle Falcons	72
									17 May 2013 – Kingston Park
	Nottingham	17
									Newcastle Falcons	17
	7 April 2013 - Mennaye Field
									Leinster A	18
	Cornish Pirates	9
					26 April 2013 - Garryowen FC
	Munster A	10
					Munster A	15
	7 April 2013 - Memorial Stadium
					Leinster A	17
	Bristol	26
	Leinster A	30

2013–14 Competition

Main article: 2013–14 British and Irish Cup

The number of teams playing in the fifth competition are to be reduced from 32 to 24, with a reduction of Welsh teams from twelve to four.

• 12 teams from the RFU Championship, the second tier of English rugby
• 4 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• 4 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership, the second tier of Scottish rugby
• 4 clubs from the Principality Premiership, the second tier of Welsh rugby.

The pool stage will consist of six pools of four teams, giving each team three home and three away matches. The top team from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, along with two runners-up with the best playing records.

Teams

England	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	Ireland	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	Scotland	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	Wales	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Bedford Blues	•	•	•	•	•	Leinster A	•	•	•	•	•	Ayr	•	•	•		•	Aberavon	•		•	•
Birmingham & Solihull	•	•				Munster A	•	•	•	•	•	Gael Force	•					Cardiff	•			•
Bristol	•	•	•	•	•	Ulster Ravens	•	•	•	•	•	Heriot's FP	•					Llanelli	•	•	•	•
Cornish Pirates	•	•	•	•	•	Connacht Eagles				•	•	Currie		•	•			Neath	•	•	•	•
Coventry	•											Melrose		•	•	•		Newport	•	•		•
Doncaster	•	•	•	•								Dundee HSFP				•		Pontypridd	•	•	•	•
Exeter Chiefs	•											Gala				•	•	Llandovery		•		•
London Welsh	•	•	•		•							Stirling County				•	•	Swansea		•	•	•
Moseley	•	•	•	•	•							Edinburgh Academicals					•	Cross Keys			•	•
Nottingham	•	•	•	•	•													Bedwas				•
Plymouth Albion	•	•	•	•	•													Bridgend Ravens				•
Rotherham	•	•	•	•	•													Carmarthen Quins				•
Esher		•	•
Worcester Warriors		•
Leeds Carnegie			•	•	•
London Scottish			•	•	•
Jersey				•	•
Newcastle Falcons				•
Ealing Trailfinders					•

Geography

Current season participants in bold.

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area/Country
Aberavon	Talbot Athletic Ground	3,000	Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
Ayr	Millbrae	Unknown	Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	4,684	Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Bedwas	The Bridge Field	Unknown	Bedwas, Caerphilly County Borough, Wales
Birmingham & Solihull	Sharmans Cross Road	3,500	Solihull, West Midlands, England
Bridgend Ravens	Brewery Field	8,000	Bridgend, Bridgend County Borough, Wales
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Horfield, Bristol, England
Cardiff	Cardiff Arms Park	13,500	Cardiff, Wales
Carmarthen Quins	Carmarthen Park	Unknown	Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Connacht Eagles	Dubarry Park	10,000	Athlone, Leinster, Ireland
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	4,000	Penzance, Cornwall,
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000	Coventry, West Midlands, England
Cross Keys	Pandy Park	Unknown	Crosskeys, Caerphilly County Borough, Wales
Currie	Malleny Park	Unknown	Balerno, Edinburgh, Scotland
Doncaster	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Dundee HSFP	Mayfield Playing Fields	Unknown	Dundee, Scotland
Esher	Molesey Road	Unknown	Esher, England
Exeter Chiefs	Sandy Park	10,744	Exeter, Devon, England
Gael Force	Bridgehaugh	4,000	Stirling, Scotland
Gala	Netherdale	6,000	Galashiels, Scottish Borders, Scotland
Heriot's FP	Goldenacre	Unknown	Edinburgh, Scotland
Jersey	St. Peter	5,000	Saint Peter, Jersey
Leeds Carnegie	Headingley Stadium	21,062	Headingley, Leeds, England
Leinster A	Donnybrook	7,000	Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Llandovery	Church Bank	5,000	Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Llanelli	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales
London Scottish	Richmond Athletic Ground	1,000 seat stand	Richmond, London, England
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	London, England
Melrose	The Greenyards	Unknown	Melrose, Scottish Borders, Scotland
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,650	Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Munster A	Musgrave Park	8,300	Cork, County Cork, Ireland
Neath	The Gnoll	7,500	Neath, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
Newcastle Falcons	Kingston Park	10,200	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Newport	Rodney Parade	10,500	Newport, South Wales, Wales
Nottingham	Meadow Lane	19,588	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	6,500	Plymouth, Devon, England
Pontypridd	Sardis Road	7,861	Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales
Rotherham	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England
Stirling County	Bridgehaugh	4,000	Stirling, Scotland
Swansea	St Helens	4,500	Brynmill, Swansea, Wales
Ulster Ravens	Ravenhill	12,125	Belfast, Ulster, Northern Ireland
Worcester Warriors	Sixways Stadium	12,068	Worcester, England

External links

• Unofficial British and Irish Cup website - latest news, teams etc
• Results from the BBC
• rugbyweek.com - BritishandIrishCup