The 1998–99 Tetley's Bitter Cup was the 28th edition of England's rugby union club competition. Wasps won the competition defeating Newcastle Falcons in the final. The event was sponsored by Tetley's Brewery and the final was held at Twickenham Stadium.
Draw and results First round (19 September) Home Away ScoreAspatria Bedford Athletic 17-32Banbury Scunthorpe 5-27Barkers Butts Macclesfield 17-24Bromsgrove Sedgley Park 10-34Cheshunt Morpeth 33-26Clevedon Barking 7-32Clifton Esher 3-60Doncaster Walsall 30-19Guildford & Godalming Bridgwater 18-28Hinckley Nuneaton 20-24Hull Ionians Egremont 59-0Kendal Broadstreet 13-12Launceston North Walsham 32-18Malvern Sandal 14-52Metropolitan Police Cheltenham 34-8New Brighton Lichfield 33-8Norwich Winchester 15-23Penzance & Newlyn Cambridge 32-13Plymouth Redruth 32-18Preston Grasshoppers Kenilworth 43-6Ruislip Old Colleians 9-43Spartans Havant 10-24Swanage & Wareham Abbey 33-7Tabard Wimbledon 26-23Torquay Athletic Maidenhead 15-29Tynedale Winnington Park 47-10Westcombe Park Bracknell 14-21Weston-super-Mare Ipswich 34-26Whitchurch Aspull 32-10
Second round (17 October) Home Away ScoreBridgwater Rosslyn Park 15-49Esher Tabard 41-3Henley Hawks Havant 100-19Hull Ionians Macclesfield 13-3Kendal Liverpool 20-7Lydney Camberley 44-34Maidenhead Launceston 22-21Metropolitan Police Winchester 25-14New Brighton Nuneaton 25-10Newbury Cheshunt 37-13Nottingham Preston Grasshoppers 50-3Old Colleians Swanage & Wareham 23-32Otley Morley 18-20Plymouth Barking 13-18Reading Penzance & Newlyn 21-5Sandal Doncaster 6-3Scunthorpe Harrogate 0-29Sedgley Park Manchester 20-17Tynedale Stourbridge 22-30Weston-super-Mare Bracknell 15-42Wharfedale Birmingham & Solihull 27-5Whitchurch Bedford Athletic 23-15
Third round (14 November) Home Away ScoreBlackheath Sedgley Park 21-22Bracknell Metropolitan Police 13-6Bristol Sandal 55-0Coventry Worcester 26-36Esher Harrogate 42-17Exeter Whitchurch 81-11Hull Ionians Newbury 7-31Lydney Stourbridge 44-5Morley Maidenhead 39-25Moseley Fylde 22-15Nottingham Wharfedale 27-17Reading Orrell 12-23Rosslyn Park Henley Hawks 12-16Rotherham London Welsh 8-6Rugby Leeds 7-68Swanage & Wareham Barking 6-36Wakefield Kendal 8-16Waterloo New Brighton 34-23
Fourth round (11 January) Home Away ScoreBedford Henley Hawks 22-29Bristol London Irish 19-43Gloucester Worcester 31-17Harlequins Esher 46-10Kendal London Scottish 20-25Leicester Barking 65-6Morley Saracens 8-76Moseley Lydney 23-25Newcastle Falcons Bath 25-22Nottingham Exeter 8-24Rotherham Leeds 24-27Richmond Newbury 46-12Sale Northampton 31-47Sedgley Park Wasps 3-53Waterloo Orrell 16-11 aetWest Hartlepool Bracknell 34-14
Fifth round (30 January) Team One Team Two ScoreGloucester Henley Hawks 31–9Leicester Leeds Tykes 49–0London Scottish Harlequins 33–37Lydney Saracens 0–40Northampton London Irish 6–21Richmond Exeter 37–10Wasps Waterloo 27–10West Hartlepool Newcastle Falcons 21–32
Quarter-finals (27 February) Home Away Score Gloucester Harlequins 15–13Newcastle Falcons Saracens 15–0Richmond Leicester 15-–3Wasps London Irish 19–3
Semi-finals (3 & 4 April) Home Away ScoreRichmond Newcastle Falcons 3–20Wasps Gloucester 35–21
Final
15 Gareth Rees 14 Josh Lewsey 13 Fraser Waters 12 Mark Denney 11 Paul Sampson 10 Alex King 9 Andy Gomarsall 8 Peter Scrivener 7 Joe Worsley 6 Lawrence Dallaglio 5 Simon Shaw 4 Mark Weedon (c) 3 Will Green 2 Trevor Leota 1 Darren MolloyReplacements: 16 Mike Friday 17 Kenny Logan 18 Rob Henderson 19 Dinos Alexopoulos 20 Joe Beardshaw 21 Paul Volley 22 Adam BlackCoach: Rob Smith 15 Stuart Legg 14 Jim Naylor 13 Martin Shaw 12 Tom May 11 Va'aiga Tuigamala 10 Jonny Wilkinson 9 Gary Armstrong (c) 8 Ross Beattie 7 Richard Arnold 6 Peter Walton 5 Doddie Weir 4 Gareth Archer 3 Marius Hurter 2 Ross Nesdale 1 George GrahamReplacements: 16 Hall Charlton 17 Peter Massey 18 Tony Underwood 19 Richard Horton 20 Ian Peel 21 Hugh Vyvyan 22 Jimmy CartmellCoach: Steve Bates
References