1977–78 John Player Cup Explained

1977–78 John Player Cup
Previous Year:	1976–77
Next Year:	1978–79

The 1977–78 John Player Cup was the seventh edition of England's premier rugby union club competition at the time. Gloucester won the competition defeating Leicester in the final.^[1] The event was sponsored by John Player cigarettes and the final was held at Twickenham Stadium.^[2]

Draw and results

First round

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Leicester	Hartlepool Rovers	9-3
Gloucester	Lydney	38-6
US Portsmouth	Harlequins	6-19
Liverpool	Sale	18-4
Coventry	Wilmslow	7-6
Bristol	Falmouth	19-6
Richmond	Wasps	9-9*
Walsall	Northampton	8-16
Rosslyn Park	High Wycombe	58-0
Morley	Gosforth	3-12
Esher	London Irish	10-22
Saracens	London Welsh
Exeter	Bath	20-6
Moseley	Blackheath	38-12
Waterloo	Bedford	10-4
Nottingham	Wakefield

Progressed as away team*

Second round

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Leicester	Rosslyn Park	25-16
Gloucester	Gosforth	19-10
Harlequins	London Irish	17-15
Liverpool	London Welsh	13-9
Coventry	Exeter	34-0
Bristol	Moseley	14-0
Wasps	Waterloo	10-9
Northampton	Wakefield	21-4

Quarter-finals

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Harlequins	Liverpool	18-6
Coventry	Bristol	16-13
Gloucester	Wasps	13-3
Leicester	Northampton	20-11

Semi-finals

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Leicester	Coventry	25-16
Gloucester	Harlequins	12-6

Final


	15	Peter Butler
	14	Bob Clewes
	13	Brian Vine
	12	Richard Jardine
	11	Richard Mogg
	10	Christopher Williams
	9	Paul Howell
	8	John Simonett
	7	Vivian Wooley
	6	John Watkins (c)
	5	John Fidler
	4	Stephen Boyle
	3	Mike Burton
	2	Stephen Mills
	1	Gordon Sargent
Replacements:
	16	Ron Etheridge
	17	Dave Pointon
	18	Peter Kingston
	19	Mike Curran
	20	Fred Reed
	21	Eddie Pinkney
Coach:


	O	Dusty Hare
	N	John Duggan
	M	Paul Dodge
	L	Brian Hall (c)
	K	Bob Barker
	J	Bleddyn Jones
	I	Steve Kenney
	G	Dave Forfar
	H	Garry Adey
	F	Steve Johnson
	E	Arthur Hazelrigg
	D	Nick Joyce
	C	Steve Redfern
	B	Peter Wheeler
	A	Ray Needham
Replacements:
	P	Robin Money
	Q	Bill Reichwald
	R	Tim Walley
	S	Angus Collington
	T	John White
	U	Dosser Smith
Coach:
Chalkie White

Notes and References

Book: Jenkins, Vivian. Rothmans Rugby Yearbook. 1979. Brickfield Publications Ltd. 0354-09087-9.
Web site: Times Archives. Oxfordshire Libraries.