The 2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup is the seventh edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this was the 25th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition.

The tournament began in December 2020. The final, originally scheduled to be held at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, took place on 21 May 2021 at Twickenham Stadium.

On 11 January 2021 EPCR announced the competition was suspended temporarily due to new restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. A revised format to finish the tournament was announced on 24 February 2021.

Teams Fourteen teams will qualified for the 2020–21 European Challenge Cup from Premiership Rugby, the Pro14 and the Top 14, as a direct result of their domestic league performance having not qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup. Although, the two South African Pro14 teams are not eligible.

The distribution of teams was:

England: four teams Any teams finishing between 9th and 11th position in the Premiership Rugby that do not qualify for the 2020–21 European Champions Cup The champion of the RFU Championship France: six teams Any teams finishing between 9th and 14th position in the Top 14 that do not qualify for the 2020–21 European Champions Cup Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales: four teams Four teams from the Pro14, excluding the South African teams, that do not qualify for the 2020–21 European Champions Cup

RoundPremiershipTop 14Pro14 England France Ireland Italy Scotland WalesPreliminary stage Leicester Tigers London Irish Newcastle Falcons Worcester Warriors Agen Bayonne Brive Castres Pau Stade Français Benetton Zebre Cardiff Blues OspreysKnockout stage Bath Harlequins Northampton Saints Montpellier Connacht Ulster Glasgow Warriors Dragons

Team details Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

Team Coach /Director of Rugby Captain Stadium Capacity Method of qualificationEntering at Preliminary Stage Agen Christophe Laussucq Rémi Vaquin Antoine Erbani Stade Armandie 14,000 Top 14 bottom 6 (13th) Bayonne Yannick Bru Antoine Battut Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 Top 14 bottom 6 (11th) Benetton Kieran Crowley Dewaldt Duvenage Stadio Comunale di Monigo 6,700 Pro14 Conference B (5th) Brive Jeremy Davidson Saïd Hireche Stade Amédée-Domenech 13,979 Top 14 bottom 6 (10th) Cardiff Blues John Mulvihill Ellis Jenkins Cardiff Arms Park 12,125 Pro14 Conference B (6th) Castres Mauricio Reggiardo Mathieu Babillot Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 Top 14 bottom 6 (9th) Leicester Tigers Steve Borthwick Tom Youngs Welford Road Stadium 25,849 Premiership 9th–11th (11th) London Irish Declan Kidney Blair Cowan Paddy Jackson Nick Phipps Matt Rogerson Brentford Community Stadium 17,250 Premiership 9th–11th (10th) Newcastle Falcons Dean Richards Mark Wilson Kingston Park 10,200 RFU Championship champions Ospreys Toby Booth Justin Tipuric Liberty Stadium 20,827 Pro14 Conference A (7th) Pau Nicolas Godignon Frédéric Manca Quentin Lespiaucq-Brettes Stade du Hameau 18,324 Top 14 bottom 6 (12th) Stade Français Laurent Sempéré Julien Arias Yoann Maestri Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 Top 14 bottom 6 (14th) Zebre Michael Bradley Tommaso Castello Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi 5,000 Pro14 Conference A (6th) Worcester Warriors Alan Solomons Ted Hill Sixways Stadium 11,499 Premiership 9th–11th (9th)Entering at Knockout Stage (transferred from Champions Cup) Bath Stuart Hooper Charlie Ewels The Recreation Ground 14,509 Champions Cup Pool A 9th–12th (10th) Connacht Andy Friend Jarrad Butler Galway Sportsgrounds 8,129 Champions Cup Pool B 9th–12th (10th) Dragons Dean Ryan Rhodri Williams Rodney Parade 8,700 Champions Cup Pool A 9th–12th (12th) Glasgow Warriors Danny Wilson Scotstoun Stadium 7,351 Champions Cup Pool B 9th–12th (12th) Harlequins Billy Millard Stephan Lewies Twickenham Stoop 14,800 Champions Cup Pool B 9th–12th (11th) Montpellier Xavier Garbajosa Fulgence Ouedraogo Altrad Stadium 15,697 Champions Cup Pool A 9th–12th (11th) Northampton Saints Chris Boyd Alex Waller Franklin's Gardens 15,200 Champions Cup Pool A 9th–12th (9th) Ulster Dan McFarland Iain Henderson Ravenhill Stadium 18,196 Champions Cup Pool B 9th–12th (9th)

Preliminary stage

Teams were placed into one of the two tiers, with the higher ranked clubs being put in Tier 1. The nature of the tier system meant that no draw was needed this year. Brackets show each team's ranking and their league. e.g. 9 Top 14 indicates the team was the ninth placed team from the Top 14.

Tier 1 Bayonne (11 Top 14) Benetton (9 Pro14) Brive (10 Top 14) Cardiff Blues (10 Pro14) Castres (9 Top 14) London Irish (10 Prem) Worcester Warriors (9 Prem) Tier 2 Agen (13 Top 14) Leicester Tigers (11 Prem) Newcastle Falcons (12 Prem) Ospreys (12 Pro14) Pau (12 Top 14) Stade Français (14 Top 14) Zebre (11 Top 14)

The preliminary stage would consist of a single pool of 14 teams. No team would play a team in the same tier and no club would play another club from the same league. Each team was scheduled to play four matches with the top eight teams advancing to the knockout stage. The top eight teams were due to be joined in the round of 16 by the teams finishing between 5th and 8th in each pool of the 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage.

The revised format announced in February 2021 would see the top 8 teams after 2 pool games advance to the round of 16 along with the eight teams placed between 9th and 12th in each pool of the Champions Cup.

Last 16 rankings

+Key to colours    Top 8 in Challenge Cup    Champions Cup 17th-24th

TeamPWDLPFPADiffTFTATBLBPts London Irish 2 2 0 0 60 25 +35 9 3 2 0 10 Ospreys 2 2 0 0 77 44 +33 9 6 2 0 10 Cardiff Blues 2 2 0 0 61 20 +41 7 2 1 0 9 Leicester Tigers 2 2 0 0 67 37 +30 7 3 1 0 9 Zebre 2 1 1 0 43 41 +2 5 4 0 0 6 Agen 2 1 0 1 36 34 +2 5 5 1 0 5 Benetton 2 1 0 1 44 48 −4 7 7 1 0 5 Newcastle Falcons 2 1 0 1 46 50 −4 5 6 0 0 4 Ulster 2 0 0 2 56 67 −11 7 9 1 2 3 Connacht 2 0 0 2 40 53 −13 5 8 0 1 1 Northampton Saints 2 0 0 2 31 51 −20 3 5 0 1 1 Bath 2 0 0 2 19 51 −32 2 6 0 1 1 Montpellier 2 0 0 2 28 68 −40 3 10 0 0 0 Dragons 2 0 0 2 16 71 −55 2 11 0 0 0 Harlequins 2 0 0 2 14 70 −56 2 9 0 0 0 Glasgow Warriors 2 0 0 2 0 70 −70 0 10 0 0 0

Knockout stage The knockout stage commenced with a round of 16 consisting of the top 8 ranked teams from the preliminary stage and the teams placed between 9th and 12th in each Champions Cup pool. Due to the truncation of the preliminary stage, a draw was used to determine matches in both round of 16 and quarter-finals but no team would face a team from the same league in the round of 16. Teams which won both their matches and were not awarded points due to COVID cancellations would be guaranteed home advantage. Therefore, Leicester Tigers, London Irish and Ospreys received home advantage.

The draw for the round of 16 and quarter-finals took place on 9 March 2021 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Bracket

Round of 16 Fixtures were announced on 16 March 2021.

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals The draw for the semi-finals took place on 11 April 2021 at BT Sport's studios in London.

Final

FB 15 Freddie StewardRW 14 Guy Porter OC 13 Matías MoroniIC 12 Dan KellyLW 11 Nemani Nadolo FH 10 George FordSH 9 Richard Wigglesworth N8 8 Jasper WieseOF 7 Cyle Brink BF 6 Hanro LiebenbergRL 5 Calum Green LL 4 Harry Wells TP 3 Dan Cole HK 2 Tom Youngs (c) LP 1 Ellis Genge Substitutions:HK 16 Charlie Clare PR 17 Luan de Bruin PR 18 Joe Heyes LK 19 Cameron Henderson FL 20 Tommy Reffell SH 21 Ben Youngs FH 22 Zack Henry WG 23 Kini Murimurivalu Coach: Steve Borthwick FB 15 Anthony BouthierRW 14 Arthur Vincent OC 13 Johan GoosenIC 12 Jan Serfontein LW 11 Vincent RattezFH 10 Alex LozowskiSH 9 Benoît Paillaugue N8 8 Alexandre Bécognée OF 7 Yacouba CamaraBF 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo RL 5 Paul Willemse LL 4 Florian Verhaeghe TP 3 Mohamed Haouas HK 2 Guilhem Guirado (c) LP 1 Enzo ForlettaSubstitutions:HK 16 Bismarck du Plessis PR 17 Robert RodgersPR 18 Titi Lamositele LK 19 Tyler Duguid FL 20 Jacques du Plessis SH 21 Cobus Reinach FH 22 Handré Pollard CE 23 Gabriel N'Gandebe Coach: Philippe Saint-André

See also 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup

Notes

References