The 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 15th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second-tier club rugby union competition, and the second to be sponsored by the British insurance company Amlin. The tournament began on 7 October 2010, with the final played on 20 May 2011 at Cardiff City Stadium, the day before the 2011 Heineken Cup Final in the same city at Millennium Stadium. A total of 23 teams from six countries participated. The competition began with 20 teams; three more teams that began their seasons in the Heineken Cup parachuted into the knockout stage. Cardiff Blues did not defend their title, as by winning the 2009–10 cup, they qualified for the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and did not parachute into the Challenge Cup.
Harlequins claimed the title with a 19–18 win over Stade Français, becoming the first team to win the Challenge Cup three times. The victory also sent Quins into the 2011–12 Heineken Cup.
Teams The allocation of teams is as follows: England: 6 teams — all teams from the Aviva Premiership that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup France: 7 teams — all teams from the Top 14 that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup. Normally 8 teams, but Toulouse's win in the 2009–10 Heineken Cup gave France an extra place in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. Italy: 4 teams — the top four teams from the 2009–10 Super 10 (now Top12) that did not move to the Celtic League for 2010–11 Ireland: 1 team — the Irish team that failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup through the Magners League Spain: 1 team — the champion of the previous season's División de Honor Romania: 1 team specially created for the competition
England France Ireland Italy Romania SpainGloucester Sale Sharks Harlequins Newcastle Falcons Leeds Carnegie Exeter Chiefs Stade Français Bourgoin Brive Agen Montpellier Bayonne La RochelleConnachtCrociati Parma Cavalieri Prato Petrarca Padova RovigoBucurești OaksEl Salvador
Seeding Teams that did not qualify for the 2010–11 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 2009–10 season.
Tier 1 Stade Français (8) Gloucester (13) Sale Sharks (18) Bourgoin (20) Harlequins (22) Tier 2Newcastle Falcons (25)Brive (28) Connacht (31)Agen (33)Crociati Parma (37) Tier 3Leeds Carnegie (38)Montpellier (39)BayonnePetrarca Padova Rovigo Tier 4La RochelleCavalieri PratoExeter Chiefs București OaksEl Salvador
Pool stage
The draw for the pool stage took place on 9 June 2010.
{| class="wikitable" |+ Key to colours |- |bgcolor="#ccffcc"| |Winner of each pool advances to quarterfinals.Seed # in parentheses.
Pool 1 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Harlequins (4) 6 5 0 1 21 6 +15 189 84 +105 3 1 24 Connacht 6 3 0 3 19 8 +11 173 99 +74 1 2 15 Bayonne 6 3 0 3 19 12 +7 163 116 +47 2 1 15 Cavalieri Prato 6 1 0 5 8 41 −33 77 303 −226 0 0 4
Pool 2 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Brive (2) 6 6 0 0 34 3 +31 257 54 +203 3 0 27 Sale Sharks 6 4 0 2 39 4 +35 279 58 +221 4 1 21 Petrarca Padova 6 1 0 5 10 26 −16 88 213 −125 1 1 6 El Salvador 6 1 0 5 6 56 −50 69 368 −299 0 0 4
Pool 3 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Montpellier (8) 6 5 0 1 10 11 −1 147 101 +46 1 0 21 Exeter Chiefs 6 3 0 3 16 10 +6 154 113 +41 1 3 16 Bourgoin 6 2 0 4 10 12 −2 119 130 −11 2 1 11 Newcastle Falcons 6 2 0 4 7 10 −3 66 142 −76 0 1 9
Pool 4 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Stade Français (1) 6 6 0 0 29 7 +22 216 73 +143 5 0 29 Leeds Carnegie 6 4 0 2 24 6 +18 173 88 +85 3 0 19 București Oaks 6 1 0 5 4 17 −13 74 148 −74 0 1 5 Crociati Parma 6 1 0 5 3 30 −27 70 224 −154 0 1 5
Pool 5 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts La Rochelle (3) 6 5 0 1 26 10 +16 197 91 +106 3 1 24 Gloucester 6 4 0 2 35 7 +28 255 77 +178 3 2 21 Agen 6 3 0 3 21 18 +3 167 158 +9 2 1 15 Rugby Rovigo 6 0 0 6 6 53 −47 55 348 −293 0 0 0
Knockout stage
Seeding Following the end of the pool stage, the 5 pool winners were seeded alongside the top 3 2010–11 Heineken Cup pool runners-up who failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.
(HC) Means a team has entered the competition from the Heineken Cup SeedTeam1 Stade Français2 Brive3 La Rochelle4 Harlequins5 (HC) London Wasps6 (HC) Clermont7 (HC) Munster8 Montpellier
Quarter-finals The quarter-finals were decided based on the above seeding. All game times are local.
Semi-finals The draw for the semi-finals of both the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup took place after the Pool 6 Heinieken Cup match between London Wasps and Toulouse on 23 January 2011. The draw was conducted in the Sky Sports booth by Ieuan Evans and Jean-Pierre Lux, Chairman of ERC, at Adams Park, High Wycombe.
In last season's Challenge Cup, any semi-final that involved a club that started the season in the Challenge Cup and a club that started in the Heineken Cup would be hosted by the club that started in the Challenge Cup. This rule was abandoned for 2010–11; the home club in each semi-final is now determined strictly by the draw.
Final The final of the Amlin Challenge Cup took place at Cardiff City Stadium on 20 May 2011. Harlequins won the trophy for the third time with a 19–18 victory over Stade Francais.
Individual statistics
Top points scorers Player Team Points Julien Caminati Brive 97 Nick Evans Harlequins 94 Ian Keatley Connacht 71 Raphaël Lagarde Montpellier 65 Freddie Burns Gloucester 64 Nick Macleod Sale Sharks 58 Lionel Beauxis Stade Français 53 Rob Miller Sale Sharks 48 Ryan Davis Exeter Chiefs 47 Greg Goosen La Rochelle 47
Top try scorers Player Team Tries Tom Brady Sale Sharks 5 Sam Gerber Bayonne 5 Nicolas Jeanjean Brive 5 Nick Macleod Sale Sharks 5 Pierre Rabadan Stade Français 5 James Simpson-Daniel Gloucester 5 Henry Trinder Gloucester 5 Julien Caminati Brive 4 Jonathan Elgoyhen Brive 4 Henry Fa'afili Leeds 4
References