2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup

2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries  England
 France
 Ireland
 Italy
 Romania
 Russia
 Scotland
 Wales
Tournament format(s) Round-robin and Knockout
Date 13 October 2016 – 12 May 2017
Tournament statistics
Teams 20
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 pan-European rugby union competition for professional clubs. It is also the 21st season of the Challenge Cup competition in any form, following on from the now defunct European Challenge Cup.

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:

A league will have it's allocation reduced by 1 place if the winner of the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup comes from that league. In this instance, the winner of last season's Challenge Cup will qualify for the 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup. If this team has already qualified, the highest non qualified side from that league will compete in the Champions Cup.

The following clubs have qualified for the Challenge Cup. Teams in italics would currently qualify, but are not guaranteed a place:

Aviva Premiership Top 14 Pro12 Qualifying Competition
England England France France Ireland Ireland Italy Italy Scotland Scotland Wales Wales European Union Other
  • No sides currently qualified

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


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.[4]

The following restrictions apply to the draw:

Pool Stage

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.[5]

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.


Knock-out stage

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

The semi-finals will 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:[5]

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]

See also

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. ↑ "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.
  5. 1 2 "EPCR Competition Rules".
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