| European Challenge Cup | |
|---|---|
| Current season or competition: 2011–12 European Challenge Cup |
|
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Instituted | 1996 |
| Number of teams | 20 |
| Nations | England France Ireland Italy Portugal Romania Spain Wales Scotland |
| Holders | Harlequins (2011) |
The European Challenge Cup, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Amlin Challenge Cup, is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup. The cup was known as the Parker Pen Shield from 2001 to 2003 and Parker Pen Challenge Cup from 2003 to 2005. The European Challenge Cup is the second tier competition to the Heineken Cup. It is contested by teams from England, France, Wales, Ireland, Italy, Romania, and on some occasions, Spain and Portugal, on a pool, and then knock-out, basis. Because of the demise of their third professional side, Scotland's representation in the competition stopped. Today, the two surviving Scottish sides, Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors, receive automatic Heineken Cup places, but may parachute into the Challenge Cup if they finish 3rd, 4th or 5th best runners up in the Heineken Cup pool stages. The European Challenge Cup is the equivalent competition of the UEFA Europa League in football, whereas the Heineken Cup in the equivalent to the higher level UEFA Champions League.
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European rugby competition began with the launch of the Heineken Cup in the summer of 1995
The Challenge Cup began as the 'European Conference' (later renamed the European Shield) in 1996 with 24 teams from England, France, Italy, Romania, Scotland and Wales divided into four groups of six. All seven of the French teams made it to the quarter-finals with English club Northampton Saints filling the other berth. Predictably, the final was an all-French affair with Bourgoin beating Castres Olympique 18–9 to win the shield.
The following year's competition had an increased entry with eight groups of four teams. Colomiers continued the French dominance of the European Shield, defeating Agen 43–5 in the final.
The absence of English and Scottish clubs in 1998–99 saw the competition reduced to 21 teams divided into three groups of seven teams with representative sides of Spain and Portugal taking part. Once again, a French team was triumphant, with Montferrand beating holders Bourgoin 35–16 in the final held in Lyon.
With English and Scottish clubs back in the competition in 1999, there were 28 teams split in seven groups of four and London Irish and Bristol reached the semi-finals of the competition, but couldn't prevent another all-French final with Pau crowned champions after a 34–21 defeat of Castres.
The competition structure remained unchanged for the 2000-2001 season, although no team from Romania participated. The semi-final draw was an all-English and all-French affair to leave Harlequins and Narbonne contesting the first final on English soil. Harlequins ended French dominance of the European Shield, defeating RC Narbonne 27–26 after extra time in the final.
There was a new sponsor and a name change in 2001. The new Parker Pen Shield saw 32 teams divided into eight groups of four competing for the title. For the first time there were two Spanish club teams and Romania was represented. Only one French club reached the quarter-finals along with five English and two from Wales and for the first time no French club reached the semi-finals after Pau lost to London Irish. For the first time a Welsh team, Pontypridd made it to the final but Sale Sharks emerged victorious, coming from behind to win 25–22 at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford.
The league format was abandoned in 2002 and the tournament became a knock-out competition. This involved 32 clubs from eight nations, half of them seeded and drawn against an un-seeded team on a home and away basis. The name Parker Pen Shield was now applied to a reprechage knock-out tournament for those teams that did not qualify for the second round of the Challenge Cup. The Parker Pen Challenge Cup winner now automatically qualified for the Heineken Cup. London Wasps beat Bath 48–30 to win the renamed Parker Pen Challenge Cup at the Madejski Stadium, Reading.
In 2003/04 the Welsh Rugby Union voted to create regions to play in the Celtic League and represent Wales in European competition. Henceforce Wales entered regional sides rather than the club sides which had previously competed. With a reduction from nine professional clubs to just five, there was no Welsh entry in that year's competition. Romania also did not take part in the Challenge Cup. Harlequins won the cup with a 27–26 last-second victory over Montferrand at the Madejski Stadium to become the first side to win the tournament twice.
Sale eased to victory in the 2005 final 27–3 over a disappointing Pau side. In 2006 Gloucester edged out London Irish 36–34 after extra time.
The Parker Pen Shield was abandoned in 2005 due to restructuring of the European Challenge Cup. The competition reverted back to being a league format followed by knock-out phase with five pools of four teams and home and away matches. Romanian interest returned to the competition in the form of Bucureşti Rugby who had been formed to represent Romania in European competition, however there was no representation from Spain or Portugal.
Clermont were the first French winners of the title for 7 years after they beat Bath in the 2006-07 competition, Clermont also reached the Top 14 final this year after finishing poorly the previous couple of years.
Beaten 2007 finalists Bath won the 2007-08 tournament after beating fellow English club Worcester Warriors in the final in Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester. Spanish representation resumed in the 2007-08 Challenge Cup when Spanish Champions CR El Salvador took part.
Northampton Saints won the 2009 final after beating Bourgoin 15-3 at the Twickenham Stoop, that season Northampton avoided relegation, they went on to finished 2nd in the regular season of the Guinness Premiership, reach the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and won the Anglo-Welsh Cup the next season. Northampton became the 8th English club to win the competition in 9 seasons.
The competition organiser, European Rugby Cup, announced several changes to the Challenge Cup effective in 2009–10:[1]
Cardiff Blues benefited from the new format in its first year, winning the first ever Challenge Cup for the club and were also the first Welsh Club to win the tournament. Cardiff beat Toulon 28-21 in the final at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, which was also the first final to have no English involvement for 10 years.
England made a triumphant return to the final in 2011, with Harlequins defeating Stade Français 19-18. with a try in the last 5 minutes by Argentinian wing, Gonzalo Camacho. This meant Harlequins became the first team to win the Challenge Cup three times and with this entered the Heineken Cup. The final was also notable in that it involved two teams that began the season in the Challenge Cup.
It is hoped that VVA-Podmoskovye Monino the 'Russian Air Academy' from the Russian Professional Rugby League will be able to enter a team into the competition in a near future.[2]
With the move torwards professionalising rugby union in Germany, led by the SC 1880 Frankfurt, it is hoped that the Wild Rugby Academy in Heidelberg will be able to field a German team in the competition.[3][4] The later plan was delayed but a German team is expected to enter the competition in the future alongside other academy teams from Russia, Spain and Georgia.[5]
It's been suggested that Portugal will enter the competition in the future with a team made up from the top sides in the country, in a similar way to Bucureşti Oaks, from Romania.
There is a further suggestion that the highest-placed Welsh Premiership team at the end of the British and Irish Cup tournament be entered into the following season's competition.
All top division English, French and Celtic League clubs that do not qualify for the Heineken Cup enter the European Challenge Cup. The Italian Super 10, now largely a developmental competition after that country joined the Celtic League, sends its top four teams into the Challenge Cup. This generally results in either 7 or 8 French clubs, 5 or 6 English clubs, and 4 Italian clubs, with one each from Ireland and Romania and one from either Spain or Portugal. Romania is represented by Bucureşti Rugby who are specially formed for this competition.
Through the 2009–10 competition, the number of French and English clubs depended on the results of the previous year's Heineken Cup. Under the former rules of that competition, one extra Heineken Cup berth was awarded to England, France, or Italy, based on which country's club advanced the farthest in the previous season's competition. In the time that this rule existed, an English or French club always claimed the extra berth. For example:
Going forward from 2009–10, the default number of teams from each country will be 8 from France, 6 from England, and 4 from Italy, with one each from Ireland, Romania and Wales, and one from either Spain or Portugal. Subtractions are made for the countries that win the Heineken and Challenge Cups. For the 2010–11 Challenge Cup, the Italian entries were the top four teams from the Super 10 that did not enter the Celtic League.
The 20 teams are five pools of four teams who play each other in home and away matches. Through the 2008–09 competition, the winners of each pool and the three best runners-up qualified for the quarter-finals. From 2009–10, only the winners of each pool qualify for the quarter-finals. The remaining three quarter-final berths go to the third-, fourth- and fifth-best runners-up from the Heineken Cup pool stage. The knockout phase is seeded as follows:[1]
Another change in 2009–10 was that the ECC adopted a semi-final draw similar to that long employed by the Heineken Cup.[1] Previously, the ECC employed a traditional eight-team bracket (1 vs 8 and 4 vs 5 in the top half, and 2 vs 7 and 3 vs 6 in the bottom half) in which the semi-finals were not reseeded.
Unlike the Heineken Cup, in which semi-finals are held at nominally neutral sites in countries determined by the semi-final draw, the ECC semi-finals are held at home grounds. In 2009–10, any semi-final that matched a team that started in the ECC with one that parachuted in from the Heineken Cup would be hosted by the team that started in the ECC. Otherwise, a draw was used to determine the home team.[1] This rule was abandoned starting with the 2010–11 season; the home teams in the semi-finals are now determined strictly by the draw.
| Ranking | Country | Team | Country specific competition |
Times won | Times runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England |
Harlequins | Aviva Premiership | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | France |
ASM Clermont Auvergne (formerly Montferrand) | Top 14 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | England |
Sale Sharks | Aviva Premiership | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | England |
Bath | Aviva Premiership | 1 | 2 |
France |
Bourgoin | Top 14 | 1 | 2 | |
| 6 | France |
Pau | Top 14 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Wales |
Cardiff Blues | RaboDirect Pro12 | 1 | 0 |
France |
Colomiers | Top 14 | 1 | 0 | |
England |
Gloucester | Aviva Premiership | 1 | 0 | |
England |
London Wasps | Aviva Premiership | 1 | 0 | |
England |
Northampton Saints | Aviva Premiership | 1 | 0 | |
| 12 | France |
Castres | Top 14 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | England |
London Irish | Aviva Premiership | 0 | 1 |
France |
Narbonne | Top 14 | 0 | 1 | |
Wales |
Pontypridd | Welsh Premier Division | 0 | 1 | |
France |
Toulon | Top 14 | 0 | 1 | |
England |
Worcester Warriors | Aviva Premiership | 0 | 1 | |
France |
Stade Français | Top 14 | 0 | 1 |
Statistics are as of 21 December 2010 (Round 4 of the 2010–11 pool stage). Players involved in the 2010–11 Challenge Cup, and their current clubs, are in bold. Players not involved in this season's competition, but still active at club level, are in italics.
| Player | Clubs | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Ludovic Mercier | Petrarca, Gloucester, Pau, Grenoble, Beziers | 520 |
| Eric Elwood | Connacht | 473 |
| Olly Barkley | Bath Rugby | 408 |
| Jonny Wilkinson | Toulon, Newcastle Falcons | 389 |
| Gerald Merceron | Clermont Auvergne, Montferrand | 349 |
| Sébastien Fauque | Bayonne, Toulon, Montauban, Dax, Castres Olympique, Pau | 337 |
| Charlie Hodgson | Sale Sharks | 313 |
| David Aucagne | Montpellier, Grenoble, Pau | 281 |
| Gareth Cull | Ebbw Vale, Bridgend | 280 |
| Barry Everitt | Northampton Saints, London Irish | '280 |
| Player | Clubs | Tries |
|---|---|---|
| Jean-Victor Bertrand | Grenoble, Agen, Montpellier, Narbonne | 19 |
| Sebastien Kuzbik | Montpellier, Montferrand, Bordeaux-Begles, Perigueux, Grenoble | 18 |
| David Bory | Brive, Bath Rugby, Montferrand | 17 |
| Alexandre Bouyssie | Mont-de-Marsan, Bordeaux-Begles | 17 |
| Philippe Escale | Beziers, Castres Olympique | 17 |
| Ben Johnston | Brive Saracens | 17 |
| James Simpson-Daniel | Gloucester Rugby | 17 |
| Mark Cueto | Sale Sharks | 16 |
| Mathieu Dourthe | Pau, Agen, Dax | 16 |
| Richard Haughton | Saracens | 16 |
In Australia the European Challenge Cup is currently available on Setanta Sports Australia.
It is shown in the United Kingdom & Ireland on Sky Sports.
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