2016–17 British and Irish Cup

| lowest attendance = 200 (x3) | tries = | top point scorer = Johnny McPhillipsUlster A 62 | top try scorer = Tom WilliamsScarlets PS 8 | venue = Irish Independent Park | attendance2 = | champions = Munster A | count = 2 | runner-up = Jersey Reds | website = B&I Cup Website | previous year = 2015–16 | previous tournament = 2015–16 British and Irish Cup | next year = 2017–18 | next tournament = 2017–18 British and Irish Cup

The 2016–17 British and Irish Cup was the eighth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. London Welsh were the defending champions having won the 2015–16 final against Yorkshire Carnegie 10–33 at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Leeds on 10 April 2016. There have been six different winners and six different losing finalists in the seven seasons of its existence. The format of the competition is similar to last season with Scottish clubs not competing. For the second consecutive season the four Welsh teams were the reserve sides of the teams competing in the Pro12 competition instead of clubs from the Welsh Premier Division.

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, progress to the knockout stage. The eight quarter-finalists are ranked, with top four teams having home advantage. The four winning quarter-finalists progress to the semi-final draw. Most of the matches are played on the same weekends as the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. First round matches began on 14 October 2016 and the final was held on the 21 April 2017.

Participating teams and locations The allocation of teams is as follows: – twelve clubs from RFU Championship – four Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams – four Welsh regions represented by Premiership Select teams.

Club Country League Stadium Capacity AreaBedford Blues EnglandRFU ChampionshipGoldington Road5,000 (1,700 seats)BedfordCardiff Blues Premiership Select WalesN/ACardiff Arms ParkSardis RoadThe Wern12,1257,8614,500CardiffPontypriddMerthyr TydfilConnacht Eagles IrelandIrish Interprovincial Rugby ChampionshipGalway SportsgroundsDubarry Park9,50010,000GalwayAthloneCornish Pirates EnglandRFU ChampionshipMennaye Field4,000PenzanceDoncaster Knights EnglandRFU ChampionshipCastle Park5,000DoncasterEaling Trailfinders EnglandRFU ChampionshipTrailfinders Sports Ground3,020West Ealing, LondonJersey Reds England RFU ChampionshipSt. Peter4,000Saint PeterLeinster A IrelandIrish Interprovincial Rugby ChampionshipDonnybrook Stadium6,000DublinLondon Irish EnglandRFU ChampionshipMadejski Stadium7,579Reading, BerkshireLondon Scottish EnglandRFU ChampionshipRichmond Athletic Ground4,500 (1,000 seats)Richmond, LondonLondon Welsh EnglandRFU ChampionshipOld Deer Park5,850 (1,000 seats)Richmond, LondonMunster A IrelandIrish Interprovincial Rugby ChampionshipTowns ParkThe ShowgroundsOld ChapelIrish Independent ParkCIT Stadium4001,000N/A8,2001,100MidletonEnnisBandonCorkCorkNewport Gwent Dragons Premiership Select WalesN/APandy ParkCCB Centre3,0001,000CrosskeysYstrad MynachNottingham Rugby EnglandRFU ChampionshipLady Bay Sports Ground3,000NottinghamOspreys Premiership Select WalesN/AThe GnollTalbot Athletic GroundLlynfi Road5,0003,000N/ANeathPort TalbotMaestegRichmond EnglandRFU ChampionshipRichmond Athletic Ground4,500Richmond, LondonRotherham Titans EnglandRFU ChampionshipClifton Lane2,500RotherhamScarlets Premiership Select WalesN/AChurch Bank Playing FieldsCarmarthen ParkParc y Scarlets3,0003,00014,870LlandoveryCarmarthenLlanelliUlster A IrelandIrish Interprovincial Rugby ChampionshipShaw's BridgeEaton ParkKingspan Stadium1,3001,00018,196BelfastBallymenaBelfastYorkshire Carnegie EnglandRFU ChampionshipSandhill Lane StadiumMoor LaneSilver RoydN/AN/A1,950SelbyPontefractScalby

Pool stages + Key to colours     Winner of each pool, advance to quarter-finals.    Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarter-finals.

Pool 1

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Postponed from 21 January due to frozen pitch.

Pool 2 London Welsh entered liquidation on 8 December 2016 and were disqualified from the competition and their results from rounds 1 and 2 annulled.

Round 1

London Welsh expelled from the competition

Round 2

London Welsh expelled from the competition.

Match postponed due to the death of Munster Rugby's head coach Anthony Foley and played on 7 January 2016.

Round 3

Round 4

Round 2 (rescheduled game)

Match postponed from 22 October 2016.

Round 5

Round 6

Pool 3

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Pool 4

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Pool 5

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Knock-out stage The eight qualifiers were seeded according to performance in the pool stage. The four top seeds hosted the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 format. If two teams qualified from the same group they could not be drawn together despite the seeding, therefore, Jersey Reds did not play against Ulster A. The quarter-finals were held over the weekend of 10/11/12 March 2017, the semi-finals were held over the weekend of 31 March and 1 & 2 April 2017 and the final was played on 21/22/23 April 2017.

Teams are ranked by: 1 – competition points (4 for a win, 2 for a draw) 2 – where competition points are equal, greatest number of wins 3 – where the number of wins are equal, aggregate points difference 4 – where the aggregate points difference are equal, greatest number of points scored

SeedPool winnersPtsWinsPts diff1 London Irish 25 5 572 Jersey Reds 23 5 873 Ealing Trailfinders 23 4 714 Scarlets Premiership Select 22 4 495 Munster A 19 4 66SeedPool Runners–upPtsWinsPts diff6 Cornish Pirates 20 4 897 Ulster A 20 4 298 Yorkshire Carnegie 20 4 269 Leinster A 16 3 12310 Rotherham Titans 5 1 −25

Quarter-finals The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 23 January 2017, with the matches to be played on the weekend of 10–13 March 2017.

Semi-finals

Final

Attendances ClubHomematchesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Bedford Blues 3 5,799 1,933 2,218 1,707 39% Cardiff Premiership Select 3 2,085 695 973 325 11% Connacht Eagles 3 1,314 438 695 200 5% Cornish Pirates 3 3,951 1,317 1,426 1,120 33% Doncaster Knights 2 2,181 1,091 1,207 974 22% Ealing Trailfinders 4 1,979 495 650 428 16% Jersey Reds 4 5,623 1,406 1,551 1,151 35% Leinster A 3 2,641 880 1,018 673 14% London Irish 5 10,898 2,180 3,109 1,394 9% London Scottish 3 2,253 751 947 400 17% London Welsh 1 728 728 728 728 12% Munster A 6 4,152 692 983 350 42% Newport Gwent Dragons Premiership Select 3 1,167 389 652 200 34% Nottingham Rugby 3 3,242 1,081 1,367 791 36% Ospreys Premiership Select 3 2,914 971 1,500 542 24% Richmond 3 1,393 464 512 396 10% Rotherham Titans 2 1,454 727 750 704 29% Scarlets Premiership Select 3 850 283 350 250 7% Ulster A 3 6,314 2,105 4,813 200 47% Yorkshire Carnegie 3 1,885 628 834 428 43%

Individual statistics Points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 Johnny McPhillips Ulster A 6 62 2 Billy McBryde Scarlets PS 7 56 3 Warren Seals Yorkshire Carnegie 7 52 4 Arwel Robson Newport-Gwent Dragons PS 6 51 5 Simon Katz Jersey Reds 6 50 6 Myles Dorrian Bedford Blues 6 45 7 Laurence May Cornish Pirates 6 43 8 David Johnston Munster A 8 42 9 Tom Daly Leinster A 4 40 Tom Williams Scarlets PS 6 40

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Tom Williams Scarlets PS 6 8 2 Alex Walker Ealing Trailfinders 4 6 3 Barney Nightingale Newport-Gwent Dragons PS 5 6 4 Jay Baker Ospreys PS 3 5 5 Rob O'Donnell Yorkshire Carnegie 3 5 6 Tom Daly Leinster A 4 5 7 Morgan Allen Scarlets PS 6 5 Nick Haining Jersey Reds 6 5 Jimmy O'Brien Leinster A 6 5 Keiran Williams Ospreys PS 6 5 8 Alex O'Meara Cornish Pirates 7 5

Season records

Team Largest home win — 77 points 84 – 7 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Largest away win — 49 points 68 – 19 Leinster A away to Richmond on 15 October 2016 Most points scored — 84 points 84 – 7 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Most tries in a match — 12 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Most conversions in a match — 10 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Most penalties in a match — 5 Rotherham Titans at home to Doncaster Knights on 15 October 2016 Most drop goals in a match — 1 Richmond away to Leinster on 20 January 2017

Player Most points in a match — 26 Rory Clegg for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Most tries in a match — 4 Rob O'Donnell for Yorkshire Carnegie at home to Bedford Blues on 23 October 2016 Most conversions in a match — 10 Rory Clegg for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Most penalties in a match — 5 Lloyd Evans for Rotherham Titans at home to Doncaster Knights on 15 October 2016 Most drop goals in a match — 1 Freddy Gabbitass for Richmond away to Leinster on 20 January 2017

Attendances Highest — 4,813 Ulster A at home to London Scottish on 13 January 2017 Lowest — 200 (x3) Ulster A at home to Jersey Reds on 14 October 2016 Connacht Eagles at home to Cornish Pirates on 16 October 2016 Newport Gwent Dragons Premiership Select at home to Ealing Trailfinders on 22 October 2016 Highest Average Attendance — 2,180 (London Irish)

Lowest Average Attendance — 283 Scarlets Premiership Select)

References

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