1979–80 John Player Cup Explained

1979–80 John Player Cup
Champions:	Leicester Tigers
Count:	2
Previous Year:	1978–79
Next Year:	1980–81

The 1979–80 John Player Cup was the ninth edition of England's premier rugby union club competition at the time. Leicester won the competition for the second consecutive year defeating London Irish in the final. The attendance of 27,000 was a record.^[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
Northampton	Nottingham	0-3
Harlequins	Esher	23-6
Bournemouth	Bristol	6-35
Hartlepool Rovers	Gosforth	6-10
Wigton	Moseley	3-7
Leicester	Orrell	16-7
London Scottish	Matson	25-9
Bedford	Wasps	6-3
Liverpool	Waterloo	13-6
Bath	Marlow	30-6
London Irish	Maidstone	29-9
Lichfield	Morley	3-8
Fylde	Coventry	3-19
Richmond	Gloucester	6-6*
Weston-super-Mare	London Welsh	3-13
Rosslyn Park	Exeter	24-7

Progressed as away team*

Second round

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Moseley	Leicester	7-17
London Irish	Morley	15-9
Nottingham	Harlequins	6-23
Bristol	Gosforth	3-14
London Scottish	Bedford	14-9
Liverpool	Bath	12-19
Coventry	Gloucester	9-10
London Welsh	Rosslyn Park	15-16

Quarter-finals

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Leicester	London Scottish	22-0
Bath	London Irish	3-6
Harlequins	Gosforth	9-3
Gloucester	Rosslyn Park	3-6

Semi-finals

width=250	Team one	width=250	Team two	width=50	Score
Harlequins	Leicester	9-16
Rosslyn Park	London Irish	6-6*

Progressed as away team*

Final


	O	Dusty Hare
	N	Tim Barnwell
	M	Clive Woodward
	L	Paul Dodge
	K	Terry Burwell
	J	Les Cusworth
	I	Steve Kenney
	G	Garry Adey
	H	Ian "Dosser" Smith
	F	Steve Johnson
	E	Nigel Gillingham
	D	Nick Joyce
	C	Steve Redfern
	B	Peter Wheeler (c)
	A	Robin Cowling
Replacements:
	P	Angus Collington
	Q	Mark Duffelen
	R	Brian Hall
	S	Andy Key
	T	Mick Merriman
	U	Ray Needham
Coach:
Chalkie White


	15	Duncan Leopold
	14	Roger McKibbin
	13	Alastair McKibbin
	12	Paul O'Donnell
	11	Clive Meanwell
	10	Hugh Condon
	9	Barry Murphy
	8	Kevin Short
	7	John O'Driscoll (c)
	6	Jim Sheehan
	5	Mike Smythe
	4	Walter Jones
	3	Les White
	2	Guy Beringer
	1	Alex Newberry
Replacements:
	16	David McCracken for Smythe (43m)
Coach:

Notes and References

Book: Jenkins, Vivian. Rothmans Rugby Yearbook. 1980. Brickfield Publications Ltd. 0362-02018-3.
Web site: Times Archives. Oxfordshire Libraries.