European Challenge Cup

European Challenge Cup
Current season or competition: 2013–14 European Challenge Cup
Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	1996
Number of teams	23
Nations	England  France Ireland  Italy  Portugal  Romania  Scotland  Spain  Wales
Holders	Leinster (2013)
Most titles	Harlequins (3 titles)
Website	Official site

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.

History

1996 to 1999 - French dominance

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.

2000 to 2006 - English Dominance

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 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.

2006 to 2009 - Tournament & Club Revival

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.

2010 to present - The Heineken Cup parachute

The competition organiser, European Rugby Cup, announced several changes to the Challenge Cup effective in 2009–10:^[1]

• Only the five pool winners will qualify for the knockout stage of the competition. They will be joined by three clubs that parachute in from the pool stage of the Heineken Cup, specifically the third- through fifth-highest ranked second-place teams from pool play. Because of the demise of their third professional side, Scotland representation stopped but now Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors may play in the competition if they finish 3rd, 4th or 5th best runners-up in the Heineken Cup.
• The European Challenge Cup winner will continue to receive an automatic berth in the following season's Heineken Cup; for the first time, this place will not come at the expense of its country's allocation. The only exception to this new rule will occur when England or France produces the winners of both the Heineken Cup and ECC in the same season. Both countries are capped at seven Heineken Cup places; in that scenario, the Heineken and ECC winners remain in the Heineken Cup while a berth is granted to the top club in the ERC rankings from another country that has not already qualified for the Heineken Cup.

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 any European club 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.

The 2011–12 competition was dominated by French sides, with all four semi-finalists coming from that country. Biarritz, which had parachuted in from the Heineken Cup, defeated Toulon to claim their first Challenge Cup.

The 2012–13 season again saw the Challenge Cup claimed by a team that parachuted in from the Heineken Cup. This time, the victor was Leinster, which became the first team from Ireland to win the Challenge Cup.^[2]

Qualification

All top division English, French and Pro12 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 then-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:

• In the 2007–08 Heineken Cup, Toulouse of France advanced to the final, where they were defeated by Munster of the Celtic League (then sponsored as Magners League). As a result, France had 7 berths in the 2008–09 Heineken Cup instead of its normal 6, and 7 in that season's Challenge Cup. England therefore sent 6 teams to both competitions.
• The 2008–09 Heineken Cup saw Leicester Tigers of England lose in the final to the Magners League's Leinster. As a result, England received 7 berths in the 2009–10 Heineken Cup instead of its normal 6, and sent only 5 teams to start the Challenge Cup (with Gloucester later parachuting in from the Heineken Cup). France sent its regular contingent of 6 teams to the Heineken Cup and sent 8 into the Challenge Cup; no French team parachuted in from the Heineken Cup.

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.

Format

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]

• The four best ECC pool winners are seeded 1 through 4, and will host a quarter-final.
• The three teams parachuting in from the Heineken Cup are seeded 5 through 7, in order of their placement among the second-place teams in the pool stage of that competition.
• The remaining ECC pool winner is the 8 seed.

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.

Finals

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Crowd
1996–97 Details	Bourgoin	18–9	Castres	Stade de la Méditerranée, Béziers	10,000
1997–98 Details	Colomiers	43–5	Agen	Stade des Sept Deniers, Toulouse	12,500
1998–99 Details	Montferrand	35–16	Bourgoin	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	31,986
1999–2000 Details	Pau	34–21	Castres	Stade des Sept Deniers, Toulouse	6,000
2000–01 Details	Harlequins	42–33	Narbonne	Madejski Stadium, Reading	10,013
2001–02 Details	Sale	25–22	Pontypridd	Kassam Stadium, Oxford	12,000
2002–03 Details	London Wasps	48–30	Bath	Madejski Stadium, Reading	18,074
2003–04 Details	Harlequins	27–26	Montferrand	Madejski Stadium, Reading	13,123
2004–05 Details	Sale	27–3	Pau	Kassam Stadium, Oxford	7,230
2005–06 Details	Gloucester	36–34 (aet)	London Irish	The Stoop, London	12,053
2006–07 Details	Clermont Auvergne	22–16	Bath	The Stoop, London	10,134
2007–08 Details	Bath	24–16	Worcester Warriors	Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester	16,157
2008–09 Details	Northampton Saints	15–3	Bourgoin	The Stoop, London	9,260
2009–10 Details	Cardiff Blues	28–21	Toulon	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	48,990[3]
2010–11 Details	Harlequins	19–18	Stade Français	Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff	12,236[4]
2011–12 Details	Biarritz	21–18	Toulon	The Stoop, London	9,376[5]
2012–13 Details	Leinster	34-13	Stade Français	RDS Arena, Dublin [6]	20,396[7]

By total wins

Ranking	Country	Team	Country specific competition	Times won	Times runners-up
1	England	Harlequins	Aviva Premiership	3	0
2	France	ASM Clermont Auvergne	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	France	Biarritz	Top 14	1	0
	Wales	Cardiff Blues	RaboDirect Pro12	1	0
	France	Colomiers	Top 14	1	0
	England	Gloucester	Aviva Premiership	1	0
	Ireland	Leinster	RaboDirect Pro12	1	0
	England	London Wasps	Aviva Premiership	1	0
	England	Northampton Saints	Aviva Premiership	1	0
14	France	Castres	Top 14	0	2
	France	Toulon	Top 14	0	2
	France	Stade Français	Top 14	0	2
17	France	Agen	Top 14	0	1
	England	London Irish	Aviva Premiership	0	1
	France	Narbonne	Top 14	0	1
	Wales	Pontypridd	Welsh Premier Division	0	1
	England	Worcester Warriors	Aviva Premiership	0	1

Statistics

Statistics are as of 21 October 2012, after Round 2 of the 2012–13 pool stage. Players involved in the 2012–13 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. Only those clubs for which each player participated in the Challenge Cup are listed.

Media coverage

In Australia the European Challenge Cup is currently available on Setanta Sports Australia.

In Asia the European Challenge Cup is currently available on Setanta Sports Asia.

It is shown in the United Kingdom & Ireland on Sky Sports.

In the USA, it is shown on Fox Soccer Plus.

See also

• Heineken Cup
• Six Nations Championship

Sources

• Parker Pen Cup and Shield History
• History from the official site

References

External links

• Official site (in English)
• Official site (in French)
• Unofficial European club rankings
• European Challenge Cup Fixtures & results 2008/09
• European Challenge Cup results
• Rugby livescore