British and Irish Cup

The British and Irish Cup is a semi-professional northern hemisphere rugby union competition. It will take place for the first time in the 2009/10 season. A total of 24 teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland will compete in the inaugural competition.

Competing teams will comprise:

12 teams from the RFU Championship, the second tier of English rugby - Bedford Blues, Birmingham & Solihull Bees, Bristol, Cornish Pirates, Coventry, Doncaster Knights, Exeter Chiefs, London Welsh, Moseley, Nottingham, Plymouth Albion and Rotherham Titans
6 top clubs from the Principality Premiership - Aberavon, Cardiff, Llanelli, Neath, Newport and Pontypridd
3 Irish provinces, Ulster, Leinster and Munster - represented by 'A' teams
3 Scottish sides (2 top clubs from the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership - Ayr and Heriot's FP, and Gael Force, a side made up of a combination of National Academy players)

The teams will be divided into four pools of six, playing over five weekends during the Autumn International and Six Nations windows, with semi-finals and finals on 24 April and 15 May respectively.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

2009/10 Competition

Pool A

Team	P	W	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	Pts
Cornish Pirates	1	1	0	4	29	8	+21	4
Newport	1	1	0	2	21	14	+7	4
(Ireland) Leinster A	1	1	0	1	16	13	+3	4
Plymouth Albion	1	0	1	1	13	16	-3	0
Exeter Chiefs	1	0	1	2	14	21	-7	0
Gael Force	1	0	1	1	8	29	-21	0

Pool B

Team	P	W	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	Pts
(Ireland) Munster A	1	1	0	4	20	13	7	5
Bristol	1	1	0	2	18	11	7	4
Nottingham	1	1	0	1	5	0	5	4
Heriot's	1	0	1	0	0	5	5	1
Coventry	1	0	1	2	13	20	-7	1
Neath	1	0	1	1	11	18	-7	1

Pool C

Team	P	W	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	Pts
(Ireland) Ulster Ravens	1	1	0	4	29	3	26	5
London Welsh	1	1	0	5	38	27	11	5
Aberavon	1	1	0	1	19	16	3	4
Llanelli	1	0	1	1	16	19	-3	1
Moseley	1	0	1	4	27	38	-11	1
Bedford Blues	1	0	1	0	3	29	-26	0

Pool D

Team	P	W	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	Pts
Rotherham Titans	1	1	0	7	52	10	42	5
Doncaster Knights	1	1	0	4	32	7	25	5
Cardiff	1	1	0	3	22	16	6	4
Pontypridd	1	0	1	1	16	22	-6	1
Ayr	1	0	1	1	7	32	-25	0
Birmingham & Solihull	1	0	1	1	10	52	-42	0

Semi-finals - 24 April 2010

Final - 15 May 2010

Teams

England	Ireland	Wales	Scotland
Bedford Blues Birmingham & Solihull Bristol Cornish Pirates Coventry Doncaster Knights Exeter Chiefs London Welsh Moseley Nottingham Plymouth Albion Rotherham Titans	Leinster A Munster A Ulster Ravens	Aberavon Cardiff Llanelli Neath Newport Pontypridd	Ayr Heriot's Rugby Club Gael Force

Geography

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area/Country
Aberavon	Talbot Athletic Ground	3,000	Aberavon, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
Ayr	Millbrae	Unknown	Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	4,684	Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Birmingham & Solihull	Sharmans Cross Road	3,500	Solihull, West Midlands, England
Bristol Rugby	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol, England
Cardiff	Cardiff Arms Park	13,500	Cardiff, Wales
Cornish Pirates	Recreation Ground	9,000	Camborne, Cornwall
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000	Coventry, West Midlands, England
Doncaster Knights	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Exeter Chiefs	Sandy Park	7,300 (to be expanded to 11,500 by the end of the season)	Exeter, Devon, England
Gael Force	Bridgehaugh Park	4,000	Stirling, Scotland
Heriot's	Goldenacre	Unknown	Edinburgh, Scotland
Leinster A	Donnybrook	7,000	Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Llanelli	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	London, England
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+ (650 seated)	Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Munster A	Musgrave Park	8,300	Cork, County Cork, Ireland
Neath	The Gnoll	7,500	Neath, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
Newport	Rodney Parade	10,500	Newport, 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
Ulster Ravens	Ravenhill Stadium	12,125	Belfast, Ulster, Northern Ireland

References

^ "British & Irish Cup unveiled". Setanta Sports. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
^ "New British & Irish Cup announced". RTE Sport. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
^ "Home unions devise British & Irish Cup". The Daily Telegraph. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.

External links

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[1] "British & Irish Cup unveiled". Setanta Sports. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.

[2] "New British & Irish Cup announced". RTE Sport. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.

[3] "Home unions devise British & Irish Cup". The Daily Telegraph. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.

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