2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup

2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Italy  Romania  Russia  Scotland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	13 October 2016 – 12 May 2017
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Matches played	66
Attendance	483,750 (7,330 per match)
Highest attendance	24,494 Gloucester v Stade Francais (12 May 2017)
Lowest attendance	300 Enisey-ETM v Brive (10 December 2016)
Tries scored	433 (6.56 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Dan Biggar (Ospreys) (78 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Keelan Giles (Ospreys) (7 tries)
Final
Venue	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Champions	Stade Français
Runners-up	Gloucester
← 2015–16 (Previous) (Next) 2017–18 →

The 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the third edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Clubs from six European nations plus one Russian club competed. It was also the 21st season of the Challenge Cup competition in all forms, following on from the now defunct European Challenge Cup.

Montpellier were the reigning champions, having beaten Harlequins in the final of the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup. They did not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup as a result of the win.

The first round of the group stage began on the weekend of 13/14/15/16 October 2016, and the competition ended with the final on 12 May 2017 in Edinburgh.^[1][2]

Stade Français won the final 25–17 against Gloucester.^[3]

Teams[]

20 teams qualified for the 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup; a total of 18 qualified from across the Premiership, Pro12 and Top 14, as a direct result of their domestic league performance, with two coming through a play-off. The expected distribution of teams was:

• England: 6
  • Any teams finishing between 7th-11th position in the Aviva Premiership. (5 Teams)
  • The champion of the Greene King IPA Championship. (1 Team)
• France: 7
  • Any teams finishing between 8th-12th position in the Top 14. (5 Teams)
  • The champion, and the winner of the promotion play-off, from the Pro D2. (2 Teams)
• Ireland, Italy, Scotland & Wales: 5 teams
  • Any teams that did not qualify for the European Rugby Champions Cup, through the Guinness Pro12 — namely the Pro12 bottom 5. (5 teams)

The French Top 14 had its allocation reduced by 1 place after Montpellier won the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup. This is after it was decided that, due to the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there would be no qualification play-off.

• Other European Nations: 2 teams
  • Two teams qualified through the 2015–16 Qualifying Competition, which took place alongside the Challenge Cup and Champions Cup competitions.

The following clubs qualified for the Challenge Cup.

Aviva Premiership	Top 14	Pro12			Qualifying Competition
England	France	Italy	Scotland	Wales	Other
Harlequins Gloucester Bath Worcester Warriors Newcastle Falcons Bristol (Championship winner)	Brive La Rochelle Grenoble Pau Stade Français Lyon (Pro D2 champion) Bayonne (Pro D2 Play-off winner)	Treviso	Edinburgh	Cardiff Blues Ospreys Newport Gwent Dragons	Enisey-STM Timișoara Saracens

Qualifying competition[]

Once again, EPCR expanded the qualifying competition.^[4]

Eight teams were split into two pools of four. Each team played the four teams in the other pool once. The winner of each pool then played a two-legged final against last year's qualifying sides, and the winners, on aggregate, took the two remaining places in the Challenge Cup.

Pool A Play-off[]

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• Enisey-STM qualify with an aggregate score of 70–5

Pool B Play-off[]

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• Timișoara Saracens qualify with an aggregate score of 64–40

Team details[]

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
Bath	Todd Blackadder	Dave Attwood	Recreation Ground	14,500	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (9th)
Bayonne		Jean Monribot	Stade Jean Dauger	16,934	Pro D2 runner-up
Benetton Treviso	Kieran Crowley	Alessandro Zanni	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	6,700	Pro12 bottom 5 (12th)
Bristol	Andy Robinson	Jack Lam	Ashton Gate Stadium	27,000	2015–16 RFU Championship Champion
Brive		Arnaud Méla	Stade Amédée-Domenech	16,000	Top 14 7th-12th (8th)
Cardiff Blues	Danny Wilson	Gethin Jenkins	BT Cardiff Arms Park	12,125	Pro12 bottom 5 (7th)
Edinburgh	Alan Solomons	Grant Gilchrist	Murrayfield Stadium New Myreside[a]	67,144[b] 5,500	Pro12 bottom 5 (9th)
Enisey-STM		Uldis Saulite	Slava Stadium Trud Stadium Sochi Central Stadium	2,500 3,000 10,200	Challenge Cup Qualification Play-off
Gloucester	David Humphreys	Greig Laidlaw	Kingsholm Stadium	16,115	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (8th)
Grenoble	Bernard Jackman	Jonathan Wisniewski	Stade des Alpes	20,068	Top 14 7th-12th (10th)
Harlequins	John Kingston	Danny Care	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (7th)
La Rochelle	Patrice Collazo Xavier Garbajosa	Uini Atonio	Stade Marcel-Deflandre	15,000	Top 14 7th-12th (9th)
Lyon	Pierre Mignoni	Julien Puricelli	Matmut Stadium	11,805	Pro D2 Champion
Newcastle Falcons	Dean Richards	Will Welch	Kingston Park	10,200	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (11th)
Newport Gwent Dragons	Kingsley Jones	T. Rhys Thomas	Rodney Parade	8,800	Pro12 bottom 5 (11th)
Ospreys	Steve Tandy	Alun Wyn Jones	Liberty Stadium Millennium Stadium	20,827 74,500	Pro12 bottom 5 (8th)
Pau	Simon Mannix	Julien Pierre	Stade du Hameau	13,819	Top 14 7th-12th (11th)
Stade Français	Gonzalo Quesada	Sergio Parisse	Stade Jean-Bouin	20,000	Top 14 7th-12th (12th)
Timișoara Saracens		Cătălin Fercu	Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu	32,972	Challenge Cup Qualification Play-off
Worcester Warriors	Carl Hogg	Gerrit-Jan van Velze	Sixways Stadium	12,024	Aviva Premiership 7th-11th (10th)

Seeding[]

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 tier.^[6]

Rank	Top 14	Premiership	Pro 12	Qualifying Competition
1	Brive	Harlequins	Cardiff Blues	Enisey-STM
2	La Rochelle	Gloucester	Ospreys	Timișoara Saracens
3	Grenoble	Bath	Edinburgh
4	Pau	Worcester Warriors	Newport Gwent Dragons
5	Stade Français	Newcastle Falcons	Treviso
6	Lyon	Bristol
7	Bayonne

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

Given the nature of the Qualifying Competition, a competition including developing rugby nations and Italian clubs not competing in the Pro12, Rugby Europe 1 and Rugby Europe 2 were automatically included in Tier 4, despite officially being ranked 1/2 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	Harlequins (1 AP)	Cardiff Blues (1 Pro12)	Brive (1 Top 14)	Ospreys (2 Pro12)	La Rochelle (2 Top 14)
Tier 2	Gloucester (2 AP)	Bath (3 AP)	Edinburgh (3 Pro12)	Grenoble (3 Top 14)	Worcester Warriors (4 AP)
Tier 3	Pau (4 Top 14)	Newport Gwent Dragons (4 Pro12)	Newcastle Falcons (5 AP)	Treviso (5 Pro12)	Stade Français (5 Top 14)
Tier 4	Bristol (6 AP)	Lyon (6 Top 14)	Bayonne (7 Top 14)	Enisey-STM (QC 1)	Timișoara Saracens (QC 2)

The following restrictions applied to the draw:

• The 5 pools each contain four clubs, one from each of the 4 Tiers.
• Each pool is required to have one club from each league, drawn from Tier 1, 2 or 3. A second team will only be added to a pool during the Tier 4 allocation.

Pool stage[]

The draw took place on 29 June 2016, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Teams played each other twice, both at home and away, in the group stage, that began on weekend of 13/14/15/16 October 2016, and continued through to 19/20/21/22 January 2017, before the pool winners and three best runners-up progressed to the quarter finals.

Teams were awarded competition points, based on match result. Teams received 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and 1 defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.^[7]

In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers were 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.

Key to colours

	Winner of each pool, advance to quarter-finals.
	Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarter-finals.
	Cannot advance to the quarter-finals.

Pool 1[]

Team v t	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Gloucester (2)	6	5	0	1	237	110	+127	31	15	5	0	25
La Rochelle (6)	6	5	0	1	203	104	+99	28	11	4	0	24
Benetton Treviso	6	2	0	4	75	182	−107	9	23	0	0	8
Bayonne	6	0	0	6	116	235	−119	14	33	0	1	1

Pool 2[]

Team v t	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Ospreys (1)	6	6	0	0	279	51	+228	42	7	6	0	30
Lyon	6	3	0	3	187	164	+23	26	21	4	0	16
Newcastle Falcons	6	2	0	4	158	180	−22	22	26	2	2	12
Grenoble	6	1	0	5	74	303	−229	8	44	1	0	5

Pool 3[]

Team v t	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Brive (5)	6	5	0	1	175	120	+55	16	13	3	0	23
Newport Gwent Dragons	6	3	0	3	150	140	+10	19	19	2	0	14
Worcester Warriors	6	2	0	4	147	117	+30	22	13	2	3	13
Enisey-STM	6	2	0	4	107	202	–95	13	27	1	0	9

Pool 4[]

Team v t	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Bath (4)	6	5	0	1	214	91	+123	24	10	3	0	23
Cardiff Blues (7)	6	5	0	1	150	115	+35	16	15	2	0	22
Bristol	6	2	0	4	138	181	–43	19	22	2	0	10
Pau	6	0	0	6	97	212	–115	13	25	0	2	2

Pool 5[]

Team v t	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Edinburgh (3)	6	5	0	1	215	122	+93	30	15	3	1	24
Stade Français (8)	6	4	0	2	152	108	+44	20	16	3	1	20
Harlequins	6	3	0	3	230	113	+117	34	14	4	2	18
Timișoara Saracens	6	0	0	6	26	280	–254	2	41	0	0	0

Pool winners and runners-up rankings[]

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	+/−	TF
1	Ospreys	30	+228	42
2	Gloucester	25	+127	31
3	Edinburgh	24	+93	30
4	Bath	23	+123	24
5	Brive	23	+55	21
Seed	Pool Runners-Up	Pts	+/−	TF
6	La Rochelle	24	+99	28
7	Cardiff Blues	22	+35	16
8	Stade Français	20	+44	20
9	Lyon	16	+23	26
10	Newport Gwent Dragons	14	+10	19

Knock-out stage[]

Format[]

The eight qualifiers were ranked according to performance in the pool stages, and compete in the quarter-finals, which was held on the weekend of 30/31 March, 1/2 April 2017. The top four teams hosted the quarter-finals against the lower teams in a 1v8, 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5 format.

The semi-finals were played on the weekend of 21/22/23 April 2017. In lieu of the draw that used to determine the semi-final pairing, EPCR announced that a fixed semi-final bracket would be set in advance, and that home advantage would be awarded to a side based on "performances by clubs during the pool stages as well as the achievement of a winning a quarter-final match away from home".

Home advantage was awarded as follows:^[7]

The winners of the semi-finals contested the final at Murrayfield on 12 May 2017.^[2]

Bracket[]

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	3	Edinburgh	22
	6	La Rochelle	32
						3	La Rochelle	14
						2	Gloucester	16
	2	Gloucester	46
	7	Cardiff Blues	26
											2	Gloucester	17
											8	Stade Français	25
	1	Ospreys	21
	8	Stade Français	25
						8	Stade Français	28
						4	Bath	25
	4	Bath	34
	5	Brive	20

Quarter-finals[]

Semi-finals[]

Final[]

FB 15 Tom Marshall RW 14 Charlie Sharples OC 13 Matt Scott  62' IC 12 Mark Atkinson  72' LW 11 Jonny May FH 10 Billy Burns SH 9 Willi Heinz (c) 33' to 43'  43' N8 8 Ben Morgan OF 7 Lewis Ludlow BF 6 Ross Moriarty RL 5 Jeremy Thrush  75' LL 4 Tom Savage  60' TP 3 John Afoa  22' HK 2 Richard Hibbard  73' LP 1 Josh Hohneck  63' Substitutions: HK 16 Darren Dawidiuk  73' PR 17 Yann Thomas  63' PR 18 Paddy McAllister  22' LK 19 Mariano Galarza  60' LK 20 Freddie Clarke  75' SH 21 Greig Laidlaw  43' CE 22 Billy Twelvetrees  62' CE 23 Henry Trinder  72' Coach: David Humphreys

FB 15 Hugo Bonneval RW 14 Waisea Nayacalevu OC 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou IC 12 Jonathan Danty  73' LW 11 Djibril Camara FH 10 Jules Plisson  67' SH 9 Will Genia  70' N8 8 Sergio Parisse (c) OF 7 Jono Ross BF 6 Antoine Burban  59' RL 5 Paul Gabrillagues LL 4 Hugh Pyle  67' TP 3 Rabah Slimani  41' HK 2 Rémi Bonfils  73' LP 1 Heinke van der Merwe  69' Substitutions: HK 16  73' PR 17 Zurabi Zhvania  69' PR 18 Paul Alo-Emile  41' LK 19 Willem Alberts  67' FL 20 Raphaël Lakafia  59' SH 21 Julien Dupuy  70' FH 22 Morné Steyn  67' CE 23 Jérémy Sinzelle  73' Coach: Gonzalo Quesada

Attendances[]

• Does not include final as this is held at a neutral venue.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bath	4	49,570	12,393	13,257	11,677	85%
Bayonne	3	8,703	2,901	5,005	1,498	17%
Benetton Treviso	3	4,100	1,367	1,900	700	25%
Bristol	3	28,988	9,663	13,140	7,559	36%
Brive	3	11,500	3,833	5,000	2,500	24%
Cardiff Blues	3	21,752	7,251	7,569	6,960	60%
Edinburgh	4	20,105	5,026	5,489	4,055	29%
Enisey-ETM	3	2,800	933	1,500	300	18%
Gloucester	4	39,367	9,842	11,206	9,265	61%
Grenoble	3	20,607	6,869	7,003	6,754	42%
Harlequins	3	29,692	9,897	11,820	8,230	67%
La Rochelle	4	56,910	14,228	15,000	13,123	95%
Lyon	3	27,472	9,157	12,080	6,500	77%
Newcastle Falcons	3	10,448	3,483	3,551	3,390	34%
Newport Gwent Dragons	3	11,766	3,922	4,126	3,544	46%
Ospreys	4	33,504	8,376	12,127	6,986	30%
Pau	3	23,635	7,878	9,212	6,050	57%
Stade Francais	4	31,363	7,841	10,175	6,511	39%
Timișoara Saracens	2[a 1]	6,500	3,250	3,500	3,000	10%
Worcester Warriors	3	20,474	6,825	7,209	6,097	57%

See also[]

• 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup

Notes[]

References[]