2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup

2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Ireland  Italy  Romania  Russia  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	12 October 2018 – 10 May 2019
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Matches played	66
Attendance	510,167 (7,730 per match)
Highest attendance	28,438 Clermont v La Rochelle (Final) 10 May 2019
Lowest attendance	100 Enisei-STM v Bristol Bears 12 January 2019
Tries scored	474 (7.18 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Ihaia West (La Rochelle) (64 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Peter Betham (Clermont) (10 tries)
Final
Venue	St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne
Champions	Clermont (3rd title)
Runners-up	La Rochelle
← 2017–18 (Previous) (Next) 2019–20 →

The 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup is the fifth 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 is the 23rd edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition. Clubs from five of the nations that participate in the Six Nations Championship (Scotland being the only exception), along with club-sides from Romania and Russia, are competing.

The first round of the group stage began on 12 October 2018, and the competition will end with the final on 10 May 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.^[1] This will be the second time the final will be held in England in the era of the current Challenge Cup, and the 12th including finals of the original Challenge Cup.

A total of 20 teams qualified for the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup; 18 qualified from across the Gallagher Premiership, Guinness Pro14 and Top 14, as a direct result of their domestic league performance, with two qualifying through the Continental Shield competition. Subject to the allocation of the 20th place in the 2018–19 Champions Cup as per EPCR rules,^[2] the distribution of teams was:

• England: five teams
  • Any teams finishing between 8th and 11th position in the Gallagher Premiership^[a]
  • The champion of the Greene King IPA Championship
• France: eight teams
  • Any teams finishing between 7th and 12th position in the Top 14
  • The champion from the Pro D2
  • The winner of the promotion-relegation play-off between the team in 13th position in the Top 14 and the runner-up of the Pro D2
• Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales: five teams
  • Any teams, excluding the South African teams, that did not qualify for the Champions Cup, through the Guinness Pro14
  • No team from Scotland ultimately participated, as Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors qualified for the 2018–19 Champions Cup.
• Romania: one team
  • One team qualified through the 2017–18 Continental Shield.
• Russia: one team
  • One team qualified through the 2017–18 Continental Shield.

The following clubs qualified for the Challenge Cup.

Gallagher Premiership	Top 14	Pro14			Continental Shield
England	France	Ireland	Italy	Wales	Russia	Romania
Bristol Bears Harlequins Northampton Saints Sale Sharks Worcester Warriors	Agen Bordeaux Clermont Grenoble La Rochelle Pau Perpignan Stade Français	Connacht	Benetton Zebre	Dragons Ospreys	Enisei-STM	Timișoara Saracens

The qualification tournament was reformatted as a competition in its own right, the European Rugby Continental Shield, in 2017. Eight teams were split into two pools of four to compete in the pool stage of the European Rugby Continental Shield. Each team played the four teams in the other pool once. The winner of each pool then played-off against the runner-up of the other pool. The winners of these two qualifying play-offs played each other in a two-legged play-off for a place in the Challenge Cup.

The two Russian teams who had competed in the 2017–18 tournament played each other in a two-legged qualifying play-off for a place in the Challenge Cup. The winners of the two qualifying play-offs, having both qualified for the Challenge Cup, then played each other in the European Rugby Continental Shield final in May 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Batumi	18–32	Timișoara Saracens	6–11	12–21
Heidelberger RK	51–42	Calvisano	34–29	17–13

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Enisei-STM	74–48	Krasny Yar	47–22	27–26
Timișoara Saracens	41–47	Heidelberger RK	26–20	15–27

12 May 2018 12:00

Enisei-STM	24 – 20	Heidelberger RK

Campos Deportivos de Fadura, Getxo, Biscay

Heidelberger RK were due to become the first German club to take part in either of the two major European rugby union competitions after qualification from the 2017–18 European Rugby Continental Shield. However, they were ruled ineligible by EPC Rugby due to their primary financial backer, Hans-Peter Wild, also being the majority shareholder in Stade Français and therefore being in a position to influence two teams in the competition.^[3]

Timișoara Saracens, who had been eliminated by Heidelberger RK at the Continental Shield semi-final stage (effectively the Challenge Cup play-off) were confirmed as their replacement on 11 June 2018.^[4]

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

Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.

Team	Coach / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Method of Qualification
Agen	Mauricio Reggiardo Stéphane Prosper		Stade Armandie	14,000	Top 14 8th-12th (11th)
Benetton	Kieran Crowley	Dean Budd	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	6,700	Pro14 (5B)
Bordeaux Bègles	Rory Teague	Clément Maynadier	Stade Chaban-Delmas	34,694	Top 14 8th-12th (10th)
Bristol Bears	Pat Lam	N/A (Leadership Group)[5]	Ashton Gate	27,000	RFU Championship Champion
Clermont	Franck Azéma	Morgan Parra	Stade Marcel-Michelin	19,022	Top 14 8th-12th (9th)
Connacht	Andy Friend	Jarrad Butler	Galway Sportsgrounds	8,129	Pro14 (6A)
Dragons	Bernard Jackman	Cory Hill	Rodney Parade	8,700	Pro14 (6B)
Enisei-STM	Alexander Pervukhin	Uldis Saulite	Krasny Yar Stadium Sochi Central Stadium	3,600 10,200	Continental Shield Champions
Grenoble	Stéphane Glas Dewald Senekal	Antonin Berruyer	Stade des Alpes	20,068	Pro D2 play-off winner
Harlequins	Paul Gustard Billy Millard	James Horwill Chris Robshaw	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	Premiership 8th-11th (10th)
La Rochelle	Xavier Garbajosa Grégory Patat	Victor Vito	Stade Marcel-Deflandre	16,000	Top 14 8th-12th (7th)
Northampton Saints	Chris Boyd	Dylan Hartley Alex Waller	Franklin's Gardens	15,249	Premiership 8th-11th (9th)
Ospreys	Allen Clarke	Justin Tipuric	Liberty Stadium	20,827	Pro14 (5A) [b]
Pau	Simon Mannix	Julien Tomas	Stade du Hameau	18,324	Top 14 8th-12th (8th)
Perpignan	Alain Hyardet Grégory Patat François Gelez	Guillaume Vilaceca	Stade Aimé Giral	14,593	Pro D2 Champion
Sale Sharks	Steve Diamond	Jono Ross	AJ Bell Stadium	12,000	Premiership 8th-11th (8th)
Stade Français	Heyneke Meyer	Sergio Parisse	Stade Jean-Bouin	20,000	Top 14 (12th)
Timișoara Saracens	Chester Williams	Vasile Rus	Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu	32,972	Continental Shield (3rd) [c]
Worcester Warriors	Alan Solomons	GJ van Velze	Sixways Stadium	11,499	Premiership 8th-11th (11th)
Zebre	Michael Bradley	Tommaso Castello	Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi	5,000	Pro14 (7A)

The 20 competing teams were seeded and split into four tiers; seeding was based on performance in their respective domestic leagues. Where promotion and relegation is in effect in a league, the promoted team was seeded last, or (if multiple teams are promoted) by performance in the lower competition.^{[6] [7]}

Rank	Top 14	Premiership	Pro 14	Continental Shield
1	La Rochelle	Sale Sharks	Benetton	Enisei-STM
2	Pau	Northampton Saints	Ospreys	Timișoara Saracens
3	Clermont	Harlequins	Connacht
4	Bordeaux	Worcester Warriors	Zebre
5	Agen	Bristol Bears	Dragons
6	Stade Français
7	Perpignan
8	Grenoble

Teams are taken from a league in order of rank and put into a tier. A draw is used to allocate two second seeds to Tier 1; the remaining team goes into Tier 2. This allocation indirectly determines which fourth-seeded team entered Tier 2, while the others enter Tier 3.

Given the nature of the Continental Shield — a competition including developing rugby nations and Italian clubs not competing in the Pro14 — the two qualifiers from that competition were automatically included in Tier 4 and are seeded equally, despite officially being ranked 1 and 2 from that competition.

The brackets show each team's seeding and their league (for example, 1 Top 14 indicates the team was seeded 1st from the Top 14).

Tier 1	Sale Sharks (1 Prem)	Benetton (1 Pro14)	La Rochelle (1 Top 14)	Pau (2 Top 14)	Northampton Saints (2 Prem)
Tier 2	Ospreys (2 Pro14)	Harlequins (3 Prem)	Connacht (3 Pro14)	Clermont (3 Top 14)	Zebre (4 Pro14)
Tier 3	Worcester Warriors (4 Prem)	Bordeaux (4 Top 14)	Bristol Bears (5 Prem)	Dragons (5 Pro14)	Agen (5 Top 14)
Tier 4	Stade Français (6 Top 14)	Perpignan (7 Top 14)	Grenoble (8 Top 14)	Enisei-STM (CS 1)	Timișoara Saracens (CS 2)

[[File:

Bristol

Harlequins

Northampton

Sale

Worcester

Agen

Bordeaux

Clermont

Grenoble

La Rochelle

Pau

Perpignan

Stade Français

Connacht

Benetton

Zebre

Dragons

Ospreys

Timișoara Saracens

Enisei-STM
(not on map)

|750px|alt=Locations of teams of the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup group stage in Europe.
Brown: Pool 1; Red: Pool 2; Orange: Pool 3; Yellow: Pool 4; Green: Pool 5.]]

[[:File:

Bristol

Harlequins

Northampton

Sale

Worcester

Agen

Bordeaux

Clermont

Grenoble

La Rochelle

Pau

Perpignan

Stade Français

Connacht

Benetton

Zebre

Dragons

Ospreys

Timișoara Saracens

Enisei-STM
(not on map)

| ]]

Locations of teams of the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup group stage in Europe.
Brown: Pool 1; Red: Pool 2; Orange: Pool 3; Yellow: Pool 4; Green: Pool 5.

The draw took place on 20 June 2018 in the Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Teams in the same pool play each other twice, both at home and away in the group stage started in October 2018, and continues through to January 2019. The pool winners and three best runners-up progressed to the quarter-finals.

Teams are awarded competition points, based on match result. Teams receive four points for a win, two points for a draw, one attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and one defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.^[8]

In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers will be used, as directed by EPCR:

1. Where teams have played each other
   1. The club with the greater number of competition points from only matches involving tied teams.
   2. If equal, the club with the best aggregate points difference from those matches.
   3. If equal, the club that scored the most tries in those matches.
2. Where teams remain tied and/or have not played each other in the competition (i.e. are from different pools)
   1. The club with the best aggregate points difference from the pool stage.
   2. If equal, the club that scored the most tries in the pool stage.
   3. If equal, the club with the fewest players suspended in the pool stage.
   4. If equal, the drawing of lots will determine a club's ranking.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Clermont (1)	6	6	0	0	304	117	+187	44	16	6	0	30
2	Northampton Saints (8)	6	4	0	2	282	127	+155	51	18	5	0	21
3	Dragons	6	2	0	4	179	201	−22	26	29	2	0	10
4	Timișoara Saracens	6	0	0	6	49	369	−320	6	51	0	0	0

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Worcester Warriors (4)	6	5	0	1	150	125	+25	19	16	2	0	22
2	Ospreys	6	2	0	4	141	105	+36	18	12	2	3	13
3	Pau	6	3	0	3	89	127	−38	12	16	1	0	13
4	Stade Français	6	2	0	4	140	163	−23	16	21	2	2	12

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Sale Sharks (3)	6	4	0	2	196	108	+88	27	12	4	2	22
2	Connacht (6)	6	5	0	1	146	120	+26	19	14	2	0	22
3	Bordeaux Bègles	6	2	1	3	137	171	−34	17	23	1	1	12
4	Perpignan	6	0	1	5	117	197	−80	13	27	0	1	3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	La Rochelle (2)	6	5	0	1	238	104	+134	32	15	4	0	24
2	Bristol Bears (7)	6	4	0	2	267	108	+159	42	13	4	1	21
3	Zebre	6	3	0	3	153	142	+11	21	18	2	0	14
4	Enisei-STM	6	0	0	6	103	407	−304	14	63	1	0	1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Harlequins (5)	6	4	0	2	179	113	+66	23	13	3	2	21
2	Benetton	6	4	0	2	171	106	+65	23	12	3	1	20
3	Grenoble	6	2	0	4	92	159	−67	11	21	0	1	9
4	Agen	6	2	0	4	112	176	−64	15	26	0	1	9

Rank	Pool Leaders	Pts	Diff	TF
1	Clermont	30	187	44
2	La Rochelle	24	134	32
3	Sale Sharks	22	88	27
4	Worcester Warriors	22	25	19
5	Harlequins	21	66	23
Rank	Pool Runners–up	Pts	Diff	TF
6	Connacht	22	26	19
7	Bristol Bears	21	159	42
8	Northampton Saints	21	155	42
9	Benetton	20	65	23
10	Ospreys	13	36	18

The eight qualifiers are ranked according to their performance in the pool stage and compete in the quarter-finals which will be held on the weekend of 28–31 March 2019. The four top teams will host the quarter-finals against the four lower teams in a 1v8, 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5 format.

The semi-finals will be played on the weekend of 19–21 April 2019. As in recent seasons, a fixed semi-final bracket is set in advance. However, beginning this season the higher-seeded team will host each semi-final regardless of whether they won their quarter-final at home or on the road.^[9]

The winners of the semi-finals will contest the final, at St James' Park, on 10 May 2019.

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Clermont	61
	8	Northampton Saints	38
						1	Clermont	32
						5	Harlequins	27
	4	Worcester Warriors	16
	5	Harlequins	18
											1	Clermont	36
											2	La Rochelle	16
	2	La Rochelle	39
	7	Bristol Bears	15
						2	La Rochelle	24
						3	Sale Sharks	20
	3	Sale Sharks	20
	6	Connacht	10

29 March 2019 19:45 GMT UTC+0

Sale Sharks (3)	20–10	(6) Connacht
Try: McGuigan 9' c Solomona 14' c Con: MacGinty (2/2) 10', 16' Pen: MacGinty (2/2) 28', 33'	Report[10]	Try: Godwin 67' c Con: Leader (1/1) 68' Pen: Carty (1/2) 7' Leader (0/1)

AJ Bell Stadium Attendance: 4,649 Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR)

30 March 2019 20:15 GMT UTC+0

Worcester Warriors (4)	16–18	(5) Harlequins
Try: Heem 23' m Howe 46' m Con: Weir (0/2) Pen: Weir (2/3) 60', 74'	Report[11]	Try: Murley 16' m Tapuai 67' c Con: Smith (0/1) Catrakilis (1/1) 69' Pen: Smith (1/1) 36' Catrakilis (1/1) 75'

Sixways Stadium Attendance: 6,349 Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (FFR)

31 March 2019 13:45 CEST UTC+2

La Rochelle (2)	39–15	(7) Bristol Bears
Try: Alldritt 12' c Penalty try 20' Doumayrou 26' c Liebenberg 40' m Rattez 71' c Con: West (2/3) 13', 27' Lamb (1/1) 72' Pen: West (2/2) 7', 52'	Report[12]	Try: Luatua 35' c O'Conor 79' m Con: Madigan (1/1) 36' Sheedy (0/1) Pen: Madigan (1/1) 17'

Stade Marcel-Deflandre Attendance: 15,000 Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)

31 March 2019 19:00 CEST UTC+2

Clermont (1)	61–38	(8) Northampton Saints
Try: Betham (3) 19' m, 48' m, 76' c Penaud (3) 25' c, 57' c, 75' c Penalty try 27' Nanai-Williams 71' c Con: Parra (1/3) 26' Laidlaw (4/4) 58', 72', 76', 77' Pen: Parra (2/2) 1', 43' Laidlaw (1/1) 69'	Report[13]	Try: Tuala 55' c Burrell 61' c Mitchell 63' c Hutchinson 65' c Moon 78' c Con: Hutchinson (5/5) 56', 61', 63', 66', 79' Pen: Biggar (1/1) 9'

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 15,399 Referee: George Clancy (IRFU)

20 April 2019 18:30 CEST UTC+2

La Rochelle (2)	24–20	(3) Sale Sharks
Try: Penalty try 23' Murimurivalu 25' c Alldritt 50' c Con: West (2/2) 27', 52' Pen: West (1/2) 16'	Report[14]	Try: Penalty try 13' Ashton 33' c Con: MacGinty (1/1) 34' Pen: MacGinty (2/3) 20', 68'

Stade Marcel-Deflandre Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)

20 April 2019 21:00 CEST UTC+2

Clermont (1)	32–27	(5) Harlequins
Try: Lee 31' c Penaud 35' c Con: Parra (2/2) 33', 36' Pen: Parra (4/4) 28', 40'+3, 47', 54' Drop: Lopez (2/2) 9', 25'	Report[15]	Try: Brown 38' m Robshaw 57' c Lang 65' c Dombrandt 79' m Con: Smith (2/4) 58', 66' Pen: Smith (1/1) 12'

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 17,923 Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)

10 May 2019 19:45 BST UTC+1

Clermont (1)	36–16	(2) La Rochelle
Try: Penaud 30' c Lee 60' c Fofana 72' c Con: Laidlaw (3/3) 31', 61', 72' Pen: Parra (1/1) 13' Laidlaw (4/4) 23', 52', 57', 80'	Report[16]	Try: Atonio 65' Con: West (1/1) 66' Pen: West (3/4) 25', 35', 48'

St James' Park Attendance: 28,438 Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

• Does not include the attendance at the final as it takes place at a neutral venue.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Agen	3	7,297	2,432	3,187	2,020	17%
Benetton	3	9,980	3,327	4,600	2,480	50%
Bordeaux Bègles	3	41,628	13,876	17,129	11,899	40%
Bristol Bears	3	25,424	8,475	8,852	7,983	31%
Clermont	5	80,761	16,152	17,923	15,399	85%
Connacht	3	16,118	5,373	6,229	4,878	66%
Dragons	3	13,506	4,502	4,600	4,306	52%
Enisei-ETM	3	3,300	1,100	2,700	100	27%
Grenoble	3	22,597	7,532	7,897	6,970	38%
Harlequins	3	25,609	8,536	9,532	6,838	58%
La Rochelle	5	76,000	15,200	16,000	15,000	95%
Northampton Saints	3	34,088	11,363	11,739	10,637	75%
Ospreys	3	18,149	6,050	6,184	5,893	29%
Pau	3	20,403	6,801	9,730	4,524	37%
Perpignan	3	16,870	5,623	8,038	3,666	39%
Sale Sharks	4	16,306	4,077	4,649	3,049	34%
Stade Francais	3	17,670	5,890	6,880	4,250	29%
Timișoara Saracens[d]	2	3,000	1,500	2,000	1,000	5%
Worcester Warriors	4	26,923	6,731	6,978	6,349	59%
Zebre	3	6,100	2,033	2,800	1,500	41%

^[18]

• 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 [edit] Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 Ihaia West La Rochelle 8 64 2 Carlo Canna Zebre 6 59 Marcus Smith Harlequins 8 59 3 Callum Sheedy Bristol Bears 7 57 4 Greig Laidlaw Clermont 7 56 5 Peter Betham Clermont 8 50 6 Maxime Lafage La Rochelle 5 49 7 Faf de Klerk Sale Sharks 7 45 8 Chris Ashton Sale Sharks 6 40 9 Patricio Fernandez Clermont 5 39 [19]

Top try scorers [edit] Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Peter Betham Clermont 8 10 2 Chris Ashton Sale Sharks 6 8 3 Alex Mitchell Northampton Saints 7 7 4 Andy Uren Bristol Bears 6 6 Tom Pincus Bristol Bears 7 6 5 Ollie Sleightholme Northampton Saints 2 5 Ryan Edwards Bristol Bears 3 5 Iliesa Ratuva Tavuyara Benetton 4 5 Peceli Yato Clermont 5 5 Kyle Godwin Connacht 6 5 Tom Howe Worcester Warriors 6 5 Damian Penaud Clermont 6 5 Apisai Naqalevu Clermont 7 5 Grégory Alldritt La Rochelle 8 5 [19]

• 2018–19 European Rugby Champions Cup
• 2018–19 European Rugby Continental Shield