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 |
The 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup is the fifth edition of the
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.
Teams
A total of 20 teams qualified for the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup; 18 qualified from across the
- 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
- 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
|
|
|
|
| |||
Qualifying competition – European Rugby Continental Shield
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.
Pool play-offs
| Team 1 | Agg.
|
Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Batumi
 |
18–32 | Timișoara Saracens
|
6–11 | 12–21 |
Heidelberger RK 
|
51–42 | Calvisano
|
34–29 | 17–13 |
Qualifying play-offs
| Team 1 | Agg.
|
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 |
Continental Shield Final
Ineligible teams
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]
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.
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 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)
|
Pool stage
Brown: Pool 1; 
Red: Pool 2; 
Orange: Pool 3; 
Yellow: Pool 4; 
