2014–15 British and Irish Cup

2014–15 British and Irish Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England Ireland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	10 October 2014 — 3 April 2015
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Matches played	67
Highest Attendance	7,640 Bristol 50–34 Connacht Eagles (12 October 2014)
Attendance	111,051 (1,657 per match)
Lowest Attendance	150 Ulster Ravens 25–12 Aberavon (13 December 2014)
Top point scorer(s)	Douglas Flockhart (Doncaster Knights) 89 points
Top try scorer(s)	Cian Kelleher (Leinster A) 9 tries
Final
Venue	Castle Park, Doncaster
Attendance	3,115
Champions	Worcester Warriors (1st title)
Runner-up	Doncaster Knights
← 2013–14 (Previous) (Next) 2015–16 →

The 2014–15 British and Irish Cup is the sixth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. Leinster A are the defending champions having won the 2013–14 final against Leeds Carnegie 44–17 at Donnybrook on 23 May 2014. There has been four different winners and five different losing finalists of the competition in the five seasons of its existence.

The format of the competition has been changed once again, with the Scottish withdrawing from the competition because of an increase, from four to six, in the number of the group matches before Christmas. Scottish Rugby felt that Scottish teams would not be able to compete fully in both the British and Irish cup and the BT Premiership; the premier competition for clubs in Scotland.^[1] The Welsh teams selection is based on regional play-offs involving the 2013–14 Premier Division clubs at the start of the season. This process yielded Pontypridd to represent the Cardiff Blues Region, Cross Keys to represent the Dragons Region, Aberavon to represent the Ospreys Region, and Carmarthen Quins to represent the Scarlets Region.

Matches in the competition proper were played on the same weekends as the European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup. First round matches began on 10 October 2014 and the final was held on 3 April 2015. Worcester Warriors beat Doncaster Knights 35 – 5 in the final held at Castle Park, Doncaster; the home ground of the Knights.^[2]

Participating teams and locations

The allocation of teams is as follows:

• – twelve clubs from RFU Championship
• – four Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• – four clubs from the Welsh Premier Division

Club	Country	League	Stadium	Capacity	Area
Aberavon	Wales	Welsh Premier Division	Talbot Athletic Ground	3,000	Port Talbot
Bedford Blues	England	RFU Championship	Goldington Road	6,500	Bedford
Bristol	England	RFU Championship	Ashton Gate Stadium	21,497	Bristol
Carmarthen Quins	Wales	Welsh Premier Division	Carmarthen Park Parc y Scarlets	3,000 14,870	Carmarthen Llanelli
Connacht Eagles	Ireland	Inter-Provincial Championship	Galway Sportsgrounds	7,500	Galway
Cornish Pirates	England	RFU Championship	Mennaye Field	3,500	Penzance
Cross Keys	Wales	Welsh Premier Division	Pandy Park	3,000	Crosskeys
Doncaster Knights	England	RFU Championship	Castle Park rugby stadium	5,000	Doncaster
Jersey	England[lower-alpha 1]	RFU Championship	St. Peter	5,000	Saint Peter
Leinster A	Ireland	Inter-Provincial Championship	Donnybrook Stadium	6,000	Dublin
London Scottish	England	RFU Championship	Richmond Athletic Ground	4,500	London
Moseley	England	RFU Championship	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham
Munster A	Ireland	Inter-Provincial Championship	Musgrave Park Clonmel Rugby Club Temple Hill	9,251    1,000	Cork Clonmel Cork
Nottingham Rugby	England	RFU Championship	Meadow Lane Lady Bay Sports Ground	19,588 2,000 (est)	Nottingham
Plymouth Albion	England	RFU Championship	The Brickfields	8,500	Plymouth
Pontypridd	Wales	Welsh Premier Division	Sardis Road	7,861	Pontypridd
Rotherham Titans	England	RFU Championship	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham
Ulster Ravens	Ireland	Inter-Provincial Championship	Kingspan Stadium Deramore Park	18,196 1,000+	Belfast
Worcester Warriors	England	RFU Championship	Sixways Stadium	12,024	Worcester
Yorkshire Carnegie	England	RFU Championship	Headingley Carnegie Stadium Silver Royd Brantingham Park Laund Hill	20,250 1,950 240 (seated)	Leeds Scarborough Kingston upon Hull Huddersfield

^[3]

Welsh qualification

The Welsh teams are selected, based on regional play-offs involving the twelve clubs from the 2013–14 Premier Division and played at the start of the season. Teams gained home advantage depending upon their finishing position at the end of last season.^[3]

Cardiff Blues Region

The two constituent clubs of the Cardiff Blues played in a one-off game to determine the region's representative in the Cup.

Dragons Region

The four teams that make up the Newport Gwent Dragons each played in semi-finals, with the winner of each progressing to play off for the opportunity to represent the region.

Ospreys Region

With three teams making up the Ospreys region, Aberavon and Neath faced each other first, with the winner going into the final play-off with Bridgend.

Scarlets Region

Like the Ospreys, the Scarlets region has three constituent clubs, so two teams played each other in a pleminary game for the chance to face the third team in the deciding match.

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Competition format

The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of five pools of four teams playing home and away matches. The top side in each pool, plus the three best runners-up, will progress to the knockout stage. The eight quarter-finalists will be ranked, with teams ranked 1-4 having home advantage. The four winning quarter-finalists will progress to the semi-final draw. Matches will take place on the same weekends as the European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup cups.^[3]

Pool stages

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Bristol	6	6	0	0	181	119	62	3	0	27
Pontypridd	6	4	0	2	158	115	43	2	1	19
London Scottish	6	1	0	5	110	129	–19	0	3	7
Connacht Eagles	6	1	0	5	111	197	–86	1	0	5
Source : BBC Updated: 13 December 2014 Points breakdown: *4 points for a win *2 points for a draw *1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less *1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

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Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Rotherham Titans	6	5	0	1	204	104	100	4	1	25
Yorkshire Carnegie	6	5	0	1	208	110	98	4	0	24
Ulster Ravens	6	1	0	5	121	162	–41	1	3	8
Aberavon	6	1	0	5	89	246	–157	1	0	5
Source : BBC Updated: 13 December 2014 Points breakdown: *4 points for a win *2 points for a draw *1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less *1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

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Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Worcester Warriors	6	6	0	0	189	94	95	3	0	27
Munster A	6	4	0	2	149	112	37	1	2	19
Moseley	6	2	0	4	95	172	–77	1	1	10
Nottingham	6	0	0	6	109	164	–55	1	3	4
Source : BBC Updated: 13 December 2014 Points breakdown: *4 points for a win *2 points for a draw *1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less *1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

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Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Doncaster Knights	6	6	0	0	204	122	82	5	0	29
Bedford Blues	6	3	0	3	180	154	26	3	2	17
Cornish Pirates	6	2	0	4	187	189	–2	4	4	16
Cross Keys	6	1	0	5	119	225	–106	2	1	7
Source : BBC Updated: 13 December 2014 Points breakdown: *4 points for a win *2 points for a draw *1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less *1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

• This match finished with a 35 – 34 victory to Cornish Pirates. However, in the 72nd minute the match went to uncontested scrums as Pirates were unable to provide a front-row replacement for injured prop Tyler Gendall. Pirates should have reduced to 14 men on the pitch, in accordance with the regulations but, instead, Gendall was replaced with fly-half Bertie Hokpin (who scored the winning try) and continued with 15 men. The Organising Committee decided to award the match to Bedford with a 28 – 34 scoreline, the score at the time that the scums went uncontested.^[7] Pirates are considering an appeal.^[8] Pirates' appeal failed to overturn the decision.^[9]

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Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Leinster A	6	5	0	1	229	115	114	3	1	24
Carmarthen Quins	6	4	0	2	126	169	–43	1	0	17
Jersey	6	2	0	4	109	128	–19	1	1	10
Plymouth Albion	6	1	0	5	121	173	–52	2	3	9
Source : BBC Updated: 13 December 2014 Points breakdown: *4 points for a win *2 points for a draw *1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less *1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

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Knock-out stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	24 January 2015 – Castle Park
	Doncaster Knights	38
					14 March 2015 – Castle Park
	Munster A	17
					Doncaster Knights	27
	23 January 2015 – Ashton Gate
					Bristol Rugby	22
	Bristol Rugby	41
									3 April 2015 – Castle Park
	Yorkshire Carnegie	28
									Doncaster Knights	5
	24 January 2015 – Sixways Stadium
									Worcester Warriors	35
	Worcester Warriors	24
					13 March 2015 – Sixways Stadium
	Pontypridd	10
					Worcester Warriors	15
	24 January 2015 – Clifton Lane
					Leinster A	13
	Rotherham Titans	32
	Leinster A	51

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

^[10]

Total Season Attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Aberavon	3	1,530	510	830	250	17%
Bedford Blues	3	6,645	2,215	2,425	2,002	37%
Bristol Rugby	4	21,475	5,369	7,640	3,467	25%
Carmathen Quins	3	800	267	400	200	5%
Connacht Eagles	2[n 1]	459	230	250	209	3%
Cornish Pirates	3	3,758	1,253	1,320	1,149	36%
Cross Keys	3	1,251	417	650	200	14%
Doncaster Knights	6	9,051	1,509	3,115	785	30%
Jersey	3	5,653	1,884	2,204	1,695	38%
Leinster A	3	2,286	762	827	720	13%
London Scottish	3	4,544	1,515	1,640	1,296	34%
Moseley	3	2,677	892	1,483	250	30%
Munster A	3	1,585	528	600	435	52%
Nottingham Rugby	3	2,444	815	1,119	569	13%
Plymouth Albion	3	2,945	982	1,047	875	12%
Pontypridd	3	9,900	3,300	5,800	1,500	42%
Rotherham Titans	4	4,081	1,020	1,167	827	41%
Ulster Ravens	3	1,150	383	600	150	19%
Worcester Warriors	5	26,579	5,316	6,916	3,760	44%
Yorkshire Carnegie	3	1,996	665	864	482	N/A

Individual statistics

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances will come first. Also note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

Notes

References

External links

• Unofficial British and Irish Cup website - latest news, teams etc