1990–91 Pilkington Cup Explained

1990–91 Pilkington Cup
Champions:	Harlequins (2nd title)
Runnersup:	Northampton
Matches:	74
Prevseason:	1989–90
Nextseason:	1991–92

The 1990–91 Pilkington Cup was the 20th edition of England's, premier (at that time) rugby union club competition. Harlequins won the competition, for the second time, defeating Northampton 25 – 13 at Twickenham.^[1] The event was sponsored by Pilkington.^{[2] [3]}

First round

width=250	Home	width=250	Away	width=80	Score
Aspatria	Vale of Lune	3-9
Chesterfield	Northern	9-19
Fylde	Hereford	22-3
Kettering	Hartlepool Rovers	6-18
Lichfield	West Park Bramhope	21-7
Morley	Newark	9-3
Nuneaton	Preston Grasshoppers	16-21
Sheffield	Old Yardleians	22-0
Syston	Roundhay	22-6
Winnington Park	Broughton Park	15-19
West Hartlepool	Bedworth	38-3
Wigan	Harrogate	13-15
Clifton	Basingstoke	31-27
Exeter	Askeans	36-6
Gordon League	Camborne	10-21
High Wycombe	Ealing	28-13
Lewes	Banbury	21-13
London Welsh	Tabard	16-7
North Walsham	Metropolitan Police	13-7
Parkhouse	Lydney	9-10
Reading	Midsomer Norton	31-4
Salisbury	Brixham	26-6
Spartans	Gravesend	21-6
Sudbury	Sutton & Epsom	30-24
Torquay Albion	Old Whitgiftians	12-15

Second round

width=250	Home team	width=250	Away team	width=80	Score
Broughton Park	Lichfield	24-19
Harrogate	Bedford	16-0
Hartlepool Rovers	Northern	20-9
Morley	Rugby	12-40
Gosforth	Fylde	22-9
Preston Grasshoppers	West Hartlepool	3-20
Sheffield	Headingley	13-9
Syston	Waterloo	6-12
Vale of Lune	Coventry	6-22
Wakefield	Sale	20-21
Blackheath	Salisbury	24-3
Clifton	Reading	20-15
Exeter	Camborne	20-10
Lewes	Spartans	6-10
London Welsh	Plymouth Albion	19-12
Lydney	High Wycombe	10-12
North Walsham	London Irish	11-26
Richmond	Sudbury	25-9

Third round

width=250	Home team	width=250	Away team	width=80	Score
Bath	Leicester	0-12
Bristol	Waterloo	18-9
Coventry	Rosslyn Park	7-21
Gloucester	Broughton Park	52-0
Harlequins	Clifton	56-4
Harrogate	Northampton	4-18
High Wycombe	Moseley	10-18
London Irish	Sale	20-16
Newcastle Gosforth	Blackheath	19-10
Nottingham	London Scottish	10-9
Orrell	Spartans	69-13
Richmond	Liverpool St Helens	13-12
Saracens	Hartlepool Rovers	36-0
Rugby	London Welsh	29-3
Sheffield	Exeter	3-0
West Hartlepool	Wasps	3-7

Fourth round

width=250	Home team	width=250	Away team	width=80	Score
Bristol	Moseley	6–9
Gloucester	Harlequins	13–15
Leicester	Wasps	13–15
London Irish	Rugby	22–11
Northampton	Saracens	15–10
Nottingham	Richmond	24–6
Orrell	Newcastle Gosforth	26–9
Rosslyn Park	Sheffield	36–0

Quarter-finals

width=250	Home team	width=250	Away team	width=80	Score
Harlequins	Rosslyn Park	24–12
Northampton	Moseley	10–6
Nottingham	London Irish	48–9
Wasps	Orrell	9–15

Semi-finals

width=250	Home team	width=250	Away team	width=80	Score
Harlequins	Nottingham	22–18 (aet)
Northampton	Orrell	18–10

Final

15 Stuart Thresher 14 Andrew Harriman 13 12 Simon Halliday 11 Everton Davis 10 9 Rob Glenister 8 Richard Langhorn 7 Peter Winterbottom (c) 6 Mick Skinner 5 Paul Ackford 4 Troy Coker 3 2 Brian Moore 1 Jason Leonard Replacements: 16 Nick Kilick 17 Craig Luxton 18 Gavin Thompson 19 Paul Challinor 20 Mark Russell 21 Martin Hobley Coach: Dick Best

15 Ian Hunter 14 Frank Packman 13 John Thame 12 Peter Moss 11 Harvey Thorneycroft 10 John Steele 9 Richard Nancekivell 8 Tim Rodber 7 Phil Pask 6 Paul Alston 5 John Etheridge 4 Colin Hall 3 Gary Pearce (c) 2 John Olver 1 Gavin Baldwin Replacements: 16 David Elkington for Nancekivell 17 Ben Ward for Packman 18 Matthew Ebsworth 19 Peter Roworth 20 Vasey Pocklington 21 David Newman Coach: Paul Bryant, St. Luke's College & Northampton Saints

Notes

Sponsorship

The competition was sponsored by Pilkington who had provided £700,000 over the first three seasons and agreed to a further three years worth £1,000,000.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1991 Pilkington Cup. Rugby Network.
2. Web site: Times Archives. Oxfordshire Libraries.
3. Book: Jones. Stephen. Giffiths. John. Rothmans Rugby Union Yearbook 1991–92. 1991. Queen Anne Press. London. 0 356 20249 6. 147–151.