2014–15 British and Irish Cup

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 Yorkshire 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 Scottish Premiership, the top-flight league for clubs in Scotland. 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.

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 WalesWelsh Premier Division Talbot Athletic Ground3,000 Port TalbotBedford Blues EnglandRFU ChampionshipGoldington Road5,000 (1,700 seats)BedfordBristol EnglandRFU ChampionshipAshton Gate Stadium21,497BristolCarmarthen Quins WalesWelsh Premier DivisionCarmarthen ParkParc y Scarlets3,00014,870CarmarthenLlanelliConnacht Eagles IrelandInter-Provincial ChampionshipGalway Sportsgrounds7,500GalwayCornish Pirates EnglandRFU ChampionshipMennaye Field3,500PenzanceCross Keys WalesWelsh Premier DivisionPandy Park3,000CrosskeysDoncaster Knights EnglandRFU ChampionshipCastle Park rugby stadium5,000DoncasterJersey EnglandRFU ChampionshipSt. Peter5,000Saint PeterLeinster A IrelandInter-Provincial ChampionshipDonnybrook Stadium6,000DublinLondon Scottish EnglandRFU ChampionshipRichmond Athletic Ground4,500 (1,000 seats)LondonMoseley EnglandRFU ChampionshipBillesley Common3,000+BirminghamMunster A IrelandInter-Provincial ChampionshipMusgrave ParkClonmel Rugby ClubTemple Hill9,251 1,000CorkClonmelCorkNottingham Rugby EnglandRFU ChampionshipMeadow LaneLady Bay Sports Ground19,5882,000 (est)NottinghamPlymouth Albion EnglandRFU ChampionshipThe Brickfields8,500PlymouthPontypridd WalesWelsh Premier DivisionSardis Road7,861PontypriddRotherham Titans EnglandRFU ChampionshipClifton Lane2,500RotherhamUlster Ravens IrelandInter-Provincial ChampionshipKingspan StadiumDeramore Park18,1961,000+BelfastWorcester Warriors EnglandRFU ChampionshipSixways Stadium12,024WorcesterYorkshire Carnegie EnglandRFU ChampionshipHeadingley Rugby StadiumSilver RoydBrantingham ParkLaund Hill20,2501,9501,5002,000LeedsScalbyBrantinghamHuddersfield

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.

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 preliminary game for the chance to face the third team in the deciding match.

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.

Pool stages

Pool 1

Pool 2

Pool 3

Pool 4

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. Pirates are considering an appeal. Pirates' appeal failed to overturn the decision.

Pool 5

Knock-out stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Total season attendances

Does not include Welsh qualification matches.

ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Aberavon 3 1,530 510 830 250 17% Bedford Blues 3 6,645 2,215 2,425 2,002 44% Bristol Rugby 4 21,475 5,369 7,640 3,467 25% Carmarthen Quins 3 800 267 400 200 5% Connacht Eagles 2 459 230 250 209 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 36%

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.

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 Douglas Flockhart Doncaster Knights 8 89 2 Tiff Eden Worcester Warriors 6 75 3 Tom Barrett Rotherham Titans 6 70 4 Simon Humberstone Pontypridd 7 68 5 Cathal Marsh Leinster A 6 66 6 Rory Scannell Munster A 7 65 7 James Pritchard Bedford Blues 4 52 8 Aaron Penberthy Jersey 6 47 9 Ross Byrne Leinster A 3 45 9 Kieran Hallett Cornish Pirates 3 45

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Cian Kelleher Leinster A 8 9 2 Jonah Holmes Yorkshire Carnegie 4 7 3 Sam Coghlan-Murray Leinster A 8 7 4 Paul Jarvis Doncaster Knights 9 7 5 Oliver Robinson Bristol 3 6 6 Jack Preece Rotherham Titans 7 6 7 Sam Betty Worcester Warriors 3 5 8 Michael Keating Rotherham Titans 5 5 9 Patrick Tapley Bedford Blues 5 5 10 Liam Belcher Pontypridd 6 5

Notes

References

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

2014–15 British and Irish Cup

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