2011–12 European Challenge Cup

2011–12 Amlin Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Italy  Romania  Spain  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	10 November 2011 to 18 May 2012
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Matches played	40
Attendance	192,649 (4,816 per match)
Tries scored	217 (5.43 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Nicky Robinson (London Wasps) (51 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Johnny Leota (Sale Sharks) Christian Loamanu (Toulon) Chris Pennell (Worcester Warriors) (4 tries)
Final
Official website	http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/
← 2010–11 (Previous) (Next) 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 Amlin Challenge Cup is the 16th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second tier club rugby union competition. The tournament began with two matches on 10 November 2011 and is scheduled to end with the final on 18 May 2012 at the Twickenham Stoop in London. Twenty teams from six countries will participate.

Contents 1 Teams 2 Seeding 3 Pool stage 3.1 Pool 1 3.2 Pool 2 3.3 Pool 3 3.4 Pool 4 3.5 Pool 5 4 References

Teams

England	France	Italy	Spain	Romania	Wales
London Wasps Sale Sharks Newcastle Falcons Worcester Warriors Exeter Chiefs	Stade Français Perpignan Toulon Brive Agen Bayonne Lyon Bordeaux	Cavalieri Prato Crociati Parma Petrarca Padova Rovigo	La Vila	Bucharest Wolves	Newport Gwent Dragons

Seeding

Teams that did not qualify for the 2011–12 Heineken Cup were ordered into four tiers according to the European Rugby Club Ranking. Five pools of four teams were drawn comprising one team from each tier.

The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2010–11 season.^[1]

Tier 1	Stade Français (8)	Perpignan (9)	London Wasps (14)	Toulon (19)	Sale Sharks (22)
Tier 2	Newport Gwent Dragons (26)	Brive (27)	Newcastle Falcons (28)	Worcester Warriors (29)	Bayonne
Tier 3	Petrarca Padova	Crociati Parma	Rugby Rovigo	Agen	Exeter Chiefs
Tier 4	Cavalieri Prato	Lyon	Bordeaux-Bègles	Bucharest Wolves	Club Rugby La Vila Comunidad Valencia

Pool stage

Key to colours

Winner of each pool advances to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses.

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Stade Français	4	4	0	0	24	2	+22	174	20	+154	3	0	19
Worcester Warriors	4	3	0	1	20	3	+17	129	52	+77	3	0	15
Bucureşti Wolves	4	1	0	3	6	21	−15	63	137	−74	1	0	5
Crociati Parma	4	0	0	4	1	25	−24	13	170	−157	0	0	0

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Toulon	4	3	0	1	15	4	+11	118	57	+61	2	1	15
Newcastle Falcons	4	3	0	1	10	6	+4	77	61	+16	1	0	13
Lyon	4	2	0	2	12	6	+6	112	72	+40	1	1	10
Petrarca Padova	4	0	0	4	3	24	−21	44	161	−117	0	0	0

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
London Wasps	4	3	0	1	13	5	+8	121	51	+70	2	0	14
Bayonne	4	3	0	1	10	3	+7	93	49	+44	1	0	13
Bordeaux Bègles	4	2	0	2	8	10	−2	63	84	−21	1	0	9
Rovigo	4	0	0	4	4	17	−13	34	127	−93	0	1	1

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Perpignan	4	3	0	1	13	5	+8	112	68	+44	2	0	14
Exeter Chiefs	4	3	0	1	12	1	+11	121	40	+81	1	1	14
Newport Gwent Dragons	4	2	0	2	8	3	+5	81	57	+24	1	1	10
Cavalieri Prato	4	0	0	4	3	27	−24	36	185	−149	0	0	0

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Brive	4	4	0	0	18	6	+12	140	57	+83	2	0	18
Sale Sharks	4	3	0	1	20	6	+14	147	67	+80	3	0	15
Agen	4	1	0	3	13	13	0	93	109	−16	1	0	5
La Vila	4	0	0	4	4	30	−26	47	194	−147	0	0	0

^[2]

References

European Challenge Cup 2011–12 Teams Agen Bayonne Bordeaux Brive Bucureşti Wolves Cavalieri Prato Crociati Parma Exeter Chiefs La Vila London Wasps Lyon Newcastle Falcons Newport Gwent Dragons Perpignan Petrarca Padova Rovigo Sale Sharks Stade Français Toulon Worcester Warriors Seasons 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 Pool stages 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 Rankings European Rugby Club Rankings