| 2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup | |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin and knockout |
| Countries: |  France Ireland Italy |
| Teams: | 14+8 |
| Champions: | Montpellier |
| Count: | 2 |
| Runner-Up: | Leicester Tigers |
| Matches: | 27 |
| Attendance: | 12000 |
| Highest Attendance: | 10,000 |
| Venue: | Twickenham Stadium |
| Attendance2: | 10,000 |
| Website: | EPCR Website |
| Previous Tournament: | 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup |
| Previous Year: | 2019–20 |
| Next Tournament: | 2021–22 European Rugby Challenge Cup |
| Next Year: | 2021–22 |
The 2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup is the seventh edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this was the 25th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition.
The tournament began in December 2020.[1] The final, originally scheduled to be held at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille,[2] took place on 21 May 2021 at Twickenham Stadium.[3]
On 11 January 2021 EPCR announced the competition was suspended temporarily due to new restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] A revised format to finish the tournament was announced on 24 February 2021.[5]
Fourteen teams will qualified for the 2020–21 European Challenge Cup from Premiership Rugby, the Pro14 and the Top 14, as a direct result of their domestic league performance having not qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup. Although, the two South African Pro14 teams are not eligible.[6]
The distribution of teams was:
| Round | Premiership | Top 14 | Pro14 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | France | Ireland | Italy | Scotland | Wales | |||||||
| align=center valign=center | Preliminary stage | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
| valign=top |
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| Knockout stage | align=top |
| align=top | align=top | align=top | align=top |
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Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.
| Team | Coach / Director of Rugby | Captain | Stadium | Capacity | Method of qualification | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entering at Preliminary Stage | ||||||
| Agen | Christophe Laussucq Rémi Vaquin | Antoine Erbani | Stade Armandie | 14,000 | Top 14 bottom 6 (13th) | |
| Bayonne | Yannick Bru | Antoine Battut | Stade Jean Dauger | 16,934 | Top 14 bottom 6 (11th) | |
| Benetton |  Kieran Crowley | Dewaldt Duvenage | Stadio Comunale di Monigo | 6,700 | Pro14 Conference B (5th) | |
| Brive | Jeremy Davidson | Saïd Hireche | Stade Amédée-Domenech | 13,979 | Top 14 bottom 6 (10th) | |
| Cardiff Blues |  John Mulvihill | Ellis Jenkins | Cardiff Arms Park | 12,125 | Pro14 Conference B (6th) | |
| Castres |  Mauricio Reggiardo | Mathieu Babillot | Stade Pierre-Fabre | 12,500 | Top 14 bottom 6 (9th) | |
| Leicester Tigers | Steve Borthwick | Tom Youngs | Welford Road Stadium | 25,849 | Premiership 9th–11th (11th) | |
| London Irish | Declan Kidney | Blair Cowan Paddy Jackson Nick PhippsMatt Rogerson | Brentford Community Stadium | 17,250 | Premiership 9th–11th (10th) | |
| Newcastle Falcons | Dean Richards | Mark Wilson | Kingston Park | 10,200 | RFU Championship champions | |
| Ospreys | Toby Booth | Justin Tipuric | Liberty Stadium | 20,827 | Pro14 Conference A (7th) | |
| Pau | Nicolas Godignon Frédéric Manca | Quentin Lespiaucq-Brettes | Stade du Hameau | 18,324 | Top 14 bottom 6 (12th) | |
| Stade Français | Laurent Sempéré Julien Arias | Yoann Maestri | Stade Jean-Bouin | 20,000 | Top 14 bottom 6 (14th) | |
| Zebre | Michael Bradley | Tommaso Castello | Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi | 5,000 | Pro14 Conference A (6th) | |
| Worcester Warriors | Alan Solomons | Ted Hill | Sixways Stadium | 11,499 | Premiership 9th–11th (9th) | |
| Entering at Knockout Stage (transferred from Champions Cup) | ||||||
| Bath | Stuart Hooper | Charlie Ewels | The Recreation Ground | 14,509 | Champions Cup Pool A 9th–12th (10th) | |
| Connacht | Andy Friend | Jarrad Butler | Galway Sportsgrounds | 8,129 | Champions Cup Pool B 9th–12th (10th) | |
| Dragons | Dean Ryan | Rhodri Williams | Rodney Parade | 8,700 | Champions Cup Pool A 9th–12th (12th) | |
| Glasgow Warriors | Danny Wilson | Scotstoun Stadium | 7,351 | Champions Cup Pool B 9th–12th (12th) | ||
| Harlequins | Billy Millard | Stephan Lewies | Twickenham Stoop | 14,800 | Champions Cup Pool B 9th–12th (11th) | |
| Montpellier | Xavier Garbajosa | Fulgence Ouedraogo | Altrad Stadium | 15,697 | Champions Cup Pool A 9th–12th (11th) | |
| Northampton Saints | Alex Waller | Franklin's Gardens | 15,200 | Champions Cup Pool A 9th–12th (9th) | ||
| Ulster | Dan McFarland | Iain Henderson | Ravenhill Stadium | 18,196 | Champions Cup Pool B 9th–12th (9th) | |
See main article: 2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup preliminary stage. Teams were placed into one of the two tiers, with the higher ranked clubs being put in Tier 1. The nature of the tier system meant that no draw was needed this year. Brackets show each team's ranking and their league. e.g. 9 Top 14 indicates the team was the ninth placed team from the Top 14.
| width=5% | Tier 1 | width=14% | Bayonne (11 Top 14) | width=14% | Benetton (9 Pro14) | width=14% | Brive (10 Top 14) | width=14% | Cardiff Blues (10 Pro14) | width=13% | Castres (9 Top 14) | width=13% | London Irish (10 Prem) | width=13% | Worcester Warriors (9 Prem) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=5% | Tier 2 | width=14% | Agen (13 Top 14) | width=14% | Leicester Tigers (11 Prem) | width=14% | Newcastle Falcons (12 Prem) | width=14% | Ospreys (12 Pro14) | width=13% | Pau (12 Top 14) | width=13% | Stade Français (14 Top 14) | width=13% | Zebre (11 Top 14) |
The preliminary stage would consist of a single pool of 14 teams. No team would play a team in the same tier and no club would play another club from the same league. Each team was scheduled to play four matches with the top eight teams advancing to the knockout stage. The top eight teams were due to be joined in the round of 16 by the teams finishing between 5th and 8th in each pool of the 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage.
The revised format announced in February 2021 would see the top 8 teams after 2 pool games advance to the round of 16 along with the eight teams placed between 9th and 12th in each pool of the Champions Cup.
| Top 8 in Challenge Cup | Champions Cup 17th-24th |
| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London Irish | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 25 | +35 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |
| Ospreys | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 77 | 44 | +33 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |
| Cardiff Blues | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 20 | +41 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| Leicester Tigers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 37 | +30 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| Zebre | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 41 | +2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Agen | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 34 | +2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| Benetton | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 44 | 48 | −4 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| Newcastle Falcons | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 46 | 50 | −4 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Ulster | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 56 | 67 | −11 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Connacht | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 40 | 53 | −13 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Northampton Saints | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 31 | 51 | −20 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Bath | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 51 | −32 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Montpellier | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 68 | −40 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Dragons | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 71 | −55 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Harlequins | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 70 | −56 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Glasgow Warriors | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 70 | −70 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The knockout stage commenced with a round of 16 consisting of the top 8 ranked teams from the preliminary stage and the teams placed between 9th and 12th in each Champions Cup pool. Due to the truncation of the preliminary stage, a draw was used to determine matches in both round of 16 and quarter-finals but no team would face a team from the same league in the round of 16. Teams which won both their matches and were not awarded points due to COVID cancellations would be guaranteed home advantage. Therefore, Leicester Tigers, London Irish and Ospreys received home advantage.
The draw for the round of 16 and quarter-finals took place on 9 March 2021 in Lausanne, Switzerland.[7]
Fixtures were announced on 16 March 2021.[8]
The draw for the semi-finals took place on 11 April 2021 at BT Sport's studios in London.
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