2019–20 RFU Championship Cup explained

2019 - 20 RFU Championship Cup
Tournament Format:Round-robin and knockout
Date:20 September 2019 — 23 February 2020
Teams:12
Matches:40
Highest Attendance:3,818
Newcastle Falcons v Hartpury
29 November 2019
Lowest Attendance:247
Ampthill v Ealing Trailfinders
7 December 2019
Top Point Scorer: Craig Willis
(Ealing Trailfinders)
57 points
Top Try Scorer: Alex O'Meara
(Cornish Pirates)
8 tries
Previous Year:2018–19
Next Year:2021–22

The 2019 - 20 RFU Championship Cup was the second season of the annual rugby union Championship Cup competition for second tier, professional English clubs playing in the RFU Championship.[1]

The competition ended without a winner after the quarter-final stage due to the premature end of the RFU Championship season due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom.

Competition format

The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of three pool of four teams each playing home and away matches. Pool matches ran from September through to December, on weekends when there is no RFU Championship league fixtures. In the inaugural season, the RFU had set out the pools in a regional format to encourage derby games, but this year's competition format was more loosely structured.

The top two sides in each pool, plus the two best third placed teams, progressed to the knockout stage, with the best ranked sides getting home advantage in the quarter-finals. The semi-finals and final were cancelled.[1]

Participating teams and locations

TeamGroundCapacityCity/Area
Dillingham Park 3,000 Ampthill, Bedfordshire
5,000 (1,700 seats)
4,000 (2,200 seats) Penzance, Cornwall
4,000 (3,000 seats)
5,000 (1,650 seats) Doncaster, South Yorkshire
4,000 (2,200 seats)
Gillman's Ground 2,000 Hartpury, Gloucestershire
4,000 Saint Peter, Jersey
4,500 (1,000 seats) Richmond, London, London
10,500 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Lady Bay Sports Ground 3,500

The Sycamores 		N/A Bramhope, West Yorkshire

Pool stage

Pool 1

<--

-->

width=20% style="border:0px"Pool 1width=20% style="border:0px" align=right
ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTries ForTries AgainstTry BonusLosing BonusPoints
1 Ealing Trailfinders (Q) 6 6 0 0 282 107 175 40 14 4 0 28
2 Coventry (Q) 6 4 0 2 210 150 60 30 21 3 1 20
3 6 2 0 4 112 204 -92 16 31 2 1 11
4 6 0 0 6 98 242 -144 12 32 1 1 2
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Total number of tries scored
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Difference between points for and against
  5. Fewest red cards
  6. Coin toss

[2]

Green background means the club has qualified for the quarter-finals as either pool winner or best runner-up.
Blue background means the club has qualified for the quarter-finals as runner up or one of two best 3rd placed sides.
Updated: 14 December 2019
Source: Web site: Championship Cup 2019-20 . englandrugby.com.

Round 1

[3] ----

Round 2

[4] ----

Round 3

[5] ----

Round 4

[6] ----

Round 5

[7] ----

Round 6

[8]

Pool 2

<--

-->

width=20% style="border:0px"Pool 2width=20% style="border:0px" align=right
ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTries ForTries AgainstTry BonusLosing BonusPoints
1 Newcastle Falcons (Q) 6 6 0 0 261 53 208 39 7 5 0 29
2 Jersey Reds (Q) 6 3 0 3 124 141 -17 14 17 4 1 17
3 Doncaster Knights (Q) 6 2 0 4 131 212 -81 19 30 3 0 11
4 6 1 0 5 116 227 -111 14 35 1 0 5
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Total number of tries scored
  3. Difference between points for and against
  4. Total number of points for
  5. Fewest red cards
  6. Coin toss
Green background means the club has qualified for the quarter-finals as either pool winner or best runner-up.
Blue background means the club has qualified for the quarter-finals as runner up or one of two best 3rd placed sides.
Updated: 14 December 2019
Source: Web site: Championship Cup 2019-20 . englandrugby.com.

Round 1

[3] ----

Round 2

[4] ----

Round 3

[5] ----

Round 4

[6] ----

Round 5

[7] ----

Round 6

[8]

Pool 3

<--

-->

width=20% style="border:0px"Pool 3width=20% style="border:0px" align=right
ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTries ForTries AgainstTry BonusLosing BonusPoints
1 Nottingham (Q) 6 4 0 2 227 89 138 34 12 4 1 21
2 Cornish Pirates (Q) 6 4 0 2 213 79 134 29 11 4 1 21
3 London Scottish (Q) 6 4 0 2 168 121 47 27 17 3 0 19
4 6 0 0 6 19 338 -319 3 53 0 0 0
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Total number of tries scored
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Difference between points for and against
  5. Fewest red cards
  6. Coin toss
Green background means the club has qualified for the quarter-finals as either pool winner or best runner-up.
Blue background means the club has qualified for the quarter-finals as runner up or one of two best 3rd placed sides.
Updated: 14 December 2019
Source: Web site: Championship Cup 2019-20 . englandrugby.com.

Round 1

[3] ----

Round 2

[4] ----

Round 3

[5] ----

Round 4

[6] ----

Round 5

----

Round 6

[8]

Knock-out stage

The eight qualifiers are seeded according to performance in the pool stage - with the 3 pool winners making the top 3 seeds along with the best runner up as seed number 4, and the next two runners up and two best 3rd place teams making up the other 4 seeds. The top 4 seeds host the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5 format. However, if two teams qualify from the same pool they can not be drawn together.

Teams are ranked by:

1 – competition points (4 for a win, 2 for a draw)

2 – where competition points are equal, greatest number of wins

3 – where the number of wins are equal, greatest number of tries scored

4 – where the number of tries are equal, greatest number of points scored

4 – where the number of points scored are equal, aggregate points difference

6 – where the aggregate points differences are equal, least red cards

7 – if red cards are equal, then ranking will be decided by the toss of a coin[2]

RankPool leaders/best runner-upPtsWinsTFPFDiff
1 29 6 39 261 208
2 28 6 40 282 175
3 21 4 34 227 138
4 21 4 29 213 134
RankPool runners-up/top two 3rd placePtsWinsTFPFDiff
5 20 4 30 210 60
6 19 4 27 168 47
7 17 3 14 124 -17
8 11 2 19 131 -81
9 11 2 16 112 -92

Quarter-finals

[9]

Attendances

ClubHome
matches		TotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity
Ampthill 3 3,211 1,070 2,151 247 36%
Bedford Blues 3 7,432 2,477 3,287 1,915 50%
Cornish Pirates 4 4,336 1,084 1,299 843 27%
Coventry 3 6,174 2,058 2,067 2,042 51%
Doncaster Knights 3 3,071 1,024 1,468 730 20%
Ealing Trailfinders 4 2,474 619 788 526 15%
Hartpury 3 2,424 808 847 762 40%
Jersey Reds 3 3,031 1,010 1,203 805 25%
London Scottish 3 1,787 596 707 502 13%
Newcastle Falcons 4 12,969 3,242 3,818 2,003 32%
Nottingham 4 2,978 745 871 563 21%
Yorkshire Carnegie 3 1,148 383 450 248

Individual statistics

Top points scorers

Rank Player Team Appearances Points
1 7 57
2 6 52
3 7 43
4 7 41
5 4 40
6 7 38
7 5 35
8 5 33
9 6 32
10 4 31
4 31
4 31
9
7 30
7 25
[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Top try scorers

Rank Player Team Appearances Tries
1 4 8
2 5 7
3 5 5
5 5
6 5
7 5
7 5
4 4 4
5 4
5 4
5 4
6 4
6 4
6 4
7 4
7 4
5 3 3
3 3
4 3
4 3
4 3
4 3
4 3
5 3
6 3
7 3
[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Season records

Team

Largest home win — 83 points83 – 0 Nottingham at home to Yorkshire Carnegie on 20 September 2019
  • Largest away win — 50 points50 – 0 Nottingham away to Yorkshire Carnegie on 14 December 2019
  • Most points scored — 83 points83 – 0 Nottingham at home to Yorkshire Carnegie on 20 September 2019
  • Most tries in a match — 13Nottingham at home to Yorkshire Carnegie on 20 September 2019
  • Most conversions in a match — 10Ealing Trailfinders at home to Bedford Blues on 30 November 2019
  • Most penalties in a match — 5Hartpury at home to Doncaster Knights on 14 December 2019
  • Most drop goals in a match — 0

    • [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

    Player

    Most points in a match — 25 Craig Willis for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Bedford Blues on 30 November 2019
  • Most tries in a match — 4 Alex O'Meara for Cornish Pirates away to Nottingham on 4 October 2019
  • Most conversions in a match — 10 Craig Willis for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Bedford Blues on 30 November 2019
  • Most penalties in a match — 5 Josh Bragman for Hartpury at home to Doncaster Knights on 14 December 2019
  • Most drop goals in a match — 0

    • [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

    Attendances

    Highest — 3,818Newcastle Falcons at home to Hartpury on 29 November 2019
  • Lowest — 247Ampthill at home to Ealing Trailfinders on 7 December 2019
  • Highest average attendance — 3,242 Newcastle Falcons
  • Lowest average attendance — 383 Yorkshire Carnegie

    • [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

    See also

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Championship Cup competition announced . RFU . 2018-06-22 . 2018-06-24.
    2. Web site: Championship Cup Regulations 2018-19. England Rugby. 15 November 2018. 16 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181116085425/https://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Document/General/General/01/33/10/15/ChampionshipCupRegulations2018-19_English.pdf. dead.
    3. News: Championship Cup. The RugbyPaper. 575. 22 September 2019. 28–29 & 38.
    4. News: Championship Cup. The RugbyPaper. 576. 29 September 2019. 28–29 & 38.
    5. News: Championship Cup. The RugbyPaper. 577. 6 October 2019. 28–29 & 38.
    6. News: Championship Cup. The RugbyPaper. 585. 1 December 2019. 28–29 & 38.
    7. News: Championship Cup. The RugbyPaper. 586. 8 December 2019. 26–27 & 38.
    8. News: Championship Cup. The RugbyPaper. 587. 14 December 2019. 26–27 & 38.
    9. News: Championship Cup. The RugbyPaper. 597. 23 February 2020. 30–31 & 39.

    This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2019–20 RFU Championship Cup".

    Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.