The 2022–23 Premiership Rugby Cup is the 50th season of England's national rugby union cup competition and the fourth under the new Premiership Rugby Cup format following the disbanding of the Anglo-Welsh Cup at the end of the 2017–18 season due to the withdrawal of the Welsh Pro14 regions. Although there are no stipulations on player selection, the cup will be seen by many clubs as a development competition, and games will take place during the Autumn internationals and during the Six Nations.
Worcester Warriors entered the competition as reigning champions, becoming the third winners of the Premiership Cup when they defeated London Irish by virtue of scoring more tries in a 25–25 draw at the Brentford Community Stadium in the 2021–22 final.
Competition format The competition consists of the thirteen Premiership Rugby teams arranged in three pools. Pool 1 will consist of five teams whilst pools B and C will consist of four. Each team will play each team in their pool once only and, in the case of pools 2 and 3, also play an additional inter pool match. There will be five rounds of matches meaning each team will receive one bye. The top team in each pool, plus the best overall runner-up, will progress to the semi-finals, with the highest ranked teams having home advantage. The winners of the semi-finals will then meet at the final in May 2023 to be held at the home ground of the highest ranked remaining team.
Teams
Club Director of Rugby/Head coach Captain Kit supplier Stadium Capacity City/Area Bath Macron The Recreation Ground 14,509 Bath Bristol Bears Umbro Ashton Gate 27,000 Bristol Exeter Chiefs Jack Yeandle Samurai Sportswear Sandy Park 13,593 Exeter Gloucester Oxen Sports Kingsholm Stadium 16,115 Gloucester Harlequins Castore Twickenham Stoop 14,800 Twickenham, Greater London Leicester Tigers Samurai Sportswear Mattioli Woods Welford Road 25,849 Leicester London Irish Declan Kidney Matt Rogerson BLK Gtech Community Stadium 17,250 Brentford, Greater London Newcastle Falcons Dave Walder Will Welch Macron Kingston Park 10,200 Newcastle upon Tyne Northampton Saints Phil Dowson Macron cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens 15,200 Northampton Sale Sharks Macron AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester Saracens Castore StoneX Stadium 10,500 Hendon, Greater London Wasps Hummel Coventry Building Society Arena 32,609 Coventry Worcester Warriors O'Neills Sixways Stadium 11,499 Worcester
Pools
Pool 1 Pool 1ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints differenceTries forTries againstTry bonusLosing bonusPoints 1 Exeter Chiefs 4 4 0 0 138 63 63 19 12 3 0 19 2 Gloucester 4 3 0 1 149 32 49 22 16 4 0 16 3 Bristol Bears 4 2 0 2 123 92 31 20 14 4 1 13 4 Bath 4 0 0 3 44 83 -65 6 16 0 1 1If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Total number of tries scored Green background means the club has qualified for the semi-finals as pool winner.Blue background means the club has qualified for the semi-finals as the best pool runner-up. Updated: 5 January 2023Note that each team plays 4 games.
Pool 2 Pool 2ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints differenceTries forTries againstTry bonusLosing bonusPoints 1 Sale Sharks 4 3 0 1 113 102 11 16 15 2 0 14 2 Leicester Tigers 4 2 0 2 133 82 51 20 10 3 2 13 3 Newcastle Falcons 4 1 0 3 102 126 -24 13 18 2 1 7If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Total number of tries scored Green background means the club has qualified for the semi-finals as pool winner.Blue background means the club has qualified for the semi-finals as the best pool runner-up. Updated: 5 January 2023Note that each team plays 4 games; 3 pool games plus a derby game against a team in another pool.
Pool 3 Pool 3ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints differenceTries forTries againstTry bonusLosing bonusPoints 1 London Irish 4 4 0 0 127 85 42 19 13 4 0 20 2 Northampton Saints 4 3 0 1 164 119 45 24 19 4 1 17 3 Harlequins 4 1 0 3 114 150 -36 18 22 3 1 8 4 Saracens 4 0 0 4 99 186 -87 16 29 3 0 3If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Total number of tries scored Green background means the club has qualified for the semi-finals as pool winner.Blue background means the club has qualified for the semi-finals as the best pool runner-up. Updated: 5 January 2023Note that each team plays 4 games; 3 pool games plus a derby game against a team in another pool.
Fixtures
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Notes:
The matches in Round 6 were not part of the initial schedule of the competition, and were instead added to the fixture list to ensure that each team played the same number of matches following Worcester Warriors and Wasps being unable to complete their allotted fixtures.
Semi-final
Final
FW 15 James Stokes W 14 Matt Williams C 13 Will Joseph C 12 Tom Hitchcock W 11 Michael Dykes FH 10 Jacob Atkins SH 9 Hugh O'Sullivan N8 8 So'otala Fa'aso'o F 7 Josh Basham F 6 Jack Cooke (c) L 5 Chunya Munga L 4 Josh Caulfield P 3 Lovejoy Chawatama H 2 Ignacio Ruiz P 1 Facundo Gigena Substitutions: F Juan M. González C Eddie Poolman C Harnes H Caolan Englefield P Tarek Haffar H Matt Cornish P Ciaran Parker L Ed Scragg Head Coach: Les Kiss
FW 15 Tom Wyatt W 14 Dan John C 13 Seán O'Brien C 12 Tom Hendrickson W 11 Rory O'Loughlin FH 10 Iwan Jenkins SH 9 Tom Cairns N8 8 Rus Tuima F 7 Aidon Davis F 6 Christ Tshiunza L 5 Jack Dunne L 4 Mike Williams P 3 Patrick Schickerling H 2 Jack Innard P 1 Danny Southworth Substitutions: P Josh Iosefa-Scott H Iestyn Harris L Jannes Kirsten C Ollie Devoto FB Joe Simmonds H Will Becconsall P James Kenny Head Coach: Ali Hepher
See also Premiership Rugby Anglo-Welsh Cup 2022–23 RFU Championship Cup English rugby union system List of English rugby union teams Rugby union in England
Notes
References