2011–12 British and Irish Cup explained

2011–12 British and Irish Cup
Countries:	Ireland
Tournament Format:	Round-robin and knockout
Date:	September 2011 - April 2012
Teams:	24
Matches:	55
Top Point Scorer:	(80 points)^[1]
Top Try Scorer:	(6 tries)^[2]
Venue:	Musgrave Park, Cork
Attendance2:	2,500
Champions:	Munster A
Count:	1
Runner-Up:	Cross Keys
Previous Year:	2010–11
Previous Tournament:	2010–11 British and Irish Cup
Next Year:	2012–13
Next Tournament:	2012–13 British and Irish Cup

The 2011–12 British and Irish Cup was the 3rd season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on Wednesday 21 September 2011 and the final was held on Friday 27 April 2012.^[3]

Defending champions Bristol had a very poor campaign and were unable to make it out of the pool stages. Munster A lifted the cup, comfortably defeating Cross Keys 31–12 in the final. They became the first Irish side to claim the title, and the third different side to win in the competition's three-year history.

Teams

The allocation of teams is as follows:

– 12 clubs from RFU Championship
– 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams.
– 3 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership.
– 6 top clubs from the Welsh Premier Division.

width=20%	England	width=20%	Ireland	width=20%	Scotland	width=20%	Wales
Bedford Blues Bristol Cornish Pirates Doncaster Esher Leeds Carnegie London Welsh London Scottish Moseley Nottingham Plymouth Albion Rotherham	Leinster A Munster A Ulster Ravens	Ayr Currie Melrose	Aberavon Cross Keys Llanelli Neath Pontypridd Swansea

Competition format

The pool stage saw a change in format and consisted of six pools of four teams playing cross-pool matches, giving each team two home and two away matches. Matches between English teams were played mid-week. Pool matches took place from 21 September to 18 December. The top team from each pool qualified for the quarter-finals, together with the two runners–up with the best records.

Pool 1 teams Ayr, Cornish Pirates, Moseley and Neath, played the teams in Pool 2 Bristol Rugby, Cross Keys, Plymouth Albion and Munster
Pool 3 teams Aberavon, Bedford Blues, Leinster and London Scottish, played the teams in Pool 4: Esher Rugby, Llanelli, London Welsh and Melrose
Pool 5: Currie, Doncaster, Rotherham and Pontypridd, played the teams in Pool 6: Leeds Carnegie, Nottingham Rugby, Swansea and Ulster Ravens^[4] ^[5]

Pool stages

Pool 1 v Pool 2

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Pool 3 v Pool 4

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Pool 5 v Pool 6

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Knock–out stages

Qualifiers

The six pool winners and the two best runners up proceeded to the knock out stages. The best four qualifiers (pool winners) had home advantage in the quarter finals.

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

Top scorers

Top points scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Points
1			80
2			67
3			64
4			58
5			55
6			49
7			46
8			43
9			35
10			34

Top try scorers

Rank	Player	Tries
1		6
2		5
3		4
	Pontypridd
	Cornish Pirates

Geography

width=20%	Team	width=20%	Stadium	width=20%	Capacity	width=40%	City/Area/Country
Aberavon	Talbot Athletic Ground	3,000	Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
Ayr	Millbrae	Unknown	Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	4,684	Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol, England
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	3,500	Penzance, Cornwall, England
Cross Keys	Pandy Park	Unknown	Crosskeys, Caerphilly County Borough, Wales
Currie	Malleny Park	Unknown	Balerno, Edinburgh, Scotland
Doncaster	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Esher	Molesey Road	Unknown	Esher, England
Leeds Carnegie	Headingley Stadium	21,062	Headingley, Leeds, England
Leinster A	Donnybrook	7,000	Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Llanelli	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales
London Scottish	Richmond Athletic Ground	1,000 seat stand	Richmond, London, England
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	London, England
Melrose	The Greenyards	Unknown	Melrose, Scottish Borders, Scotland
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+ (650 seated)	Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Munster A	Musgrave Park	8,300	Cork, County Cork, Ireland
Neath	The Gnoll	7,500	Neath, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
Nottingham	Meadow Lane	19,588	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	6,500	Plymouth, Devon, England
Pontypridd	Sardis Road	7,861	Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales
Rotherham	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England
Swansea	St Helens	4,500	Swansea, Wales
Ulster A	Ravenhill	12,125	Belfast, Ulster, Northern Ireland

External links

Unofficial British and Irish Cup website - latest news, teams etc

Notes and References

Web site: British & Irish Cup Top Point Scorers. 16 July 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120521075717/http://rugbyroundup.com/league.php?league_id=117#leagueInfo. 21 May 2012. dead.
Web site: British & Irish Cup Top Try Scorers. 16 July 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120521075717/http://rugbyroundup.com/league.php?league_id=117#leagueInfo. 21 May 2012. dead.
The Cornishman 23 June 2011.
Web site: Welsh clubs discover British and Irish Cup opponents . WalesOnline . 20 June 2011 . 26 May 2014.
Web site: British Irish Cup - Cornish Pirates . 2011-07-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111018030014/http://cornish-pirates.com/rugby/fixtures-and-results/british-irish-cup/ . 2011-10-18 .