The Anglo-Welsh Cup ( Welsh : Cwpan Eingl-Gymreig ), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup , which featured only English clubs.
26-572: The competition was replaced by the Premiership Rugby Cup , involving only the 12 English Premiership clubs, beginning with the 2018–19 season. From 1971 to 2005, English clubs played in the RFU Knockout Cup . At its formation, it was the highest honour that a club could win, as there were no nationally organised leagues until merit leagues were introduced in 1984, followed by the full national league pyramid in 1987. It
52-531: The 2009–10 competition , rebranding the tournament as the LV= Cup until 2015. The structure of the competition was altered at this time. It continued to consist of four pools, each consisting of three English and one Welsh team. However, the new format saw teams guaranteed two home and two away pool matches, with teams in Pools 1 and 4 playing each other and teams in Pools 2 and 3 playing each other. Early rounds of
78-548: The 2014–15 RFU Championship after a top flight absence of one year. They replaced London Welsh who were relegated after one year in the top flight. The 2015 edition of the Singha Premiership Rugby Sevens was held in August. Once again, the four Welsh Regions contested a group, alongside the twelve Premiership clubs, which were split into three groups. The top two sides from each group contested
104-790: The Celtic League . Teams from the English RFU Championship and below played in the Powergen National Trophy . The Welsh clubs' inclusion initially caused them to be expelled from the Celtic League in June 2005. Scottish and Irish officials were angered that the Welsh regions had apparently consented to Powergen Cup fixtures on the same weekend as league matches. By the end of the month, a compromise
130-564: The Llanelli Scarlets . Overall, the 2005–06 cup drew a 12% attendance boost in the group stages over the previous year's competition. Powergen withdrew all of its rugby sponsorship after the conclusion of the first competition. EDF Energy took over as title sponsor for the 2006–07 tournament , renaming the tournament as the EDF Energy Cup in a deal that ran until 2009. Insurers Liverpool Victoria became sponsors for
156-423: The 29th season of the top flight English domestic rugby union competition and the sixth one to be sponsored by Aviva . The reigning champions entering the season were Saracens , who had claimed their second title after defeating Bath in the 2015 final . Worcester Warriors had been promoted as champions from the 2014–15 RFU Championship at the first attempt. The competition was broadcast by BT Sport for
182-689: The English Premiership clubs. The Cup was created to continue to allow younger English Premiership players to compete in more matches at Premiership stadiums. Premiership Rugby Cup The Premiership Rugby Cup is an English rugby union knockout cup competition for teams in Premiership Rugby and from the 2023–24 season the RFU Championship . It was created in 2018 to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup after
208-626: The English top flight, then announced that the Anglo-Welsh Cup would be replaced by the Premiership Rugby Cup, which would be solely for the English Premiership clubs. The new Premiership Cup was created to re-establish the significance of the domestic cup competition and support development of younger English Premiership players by providing a platform to compete in more matches at Premiership stadia. The 2020–21 tournament
234-682: The Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015 . It was further rescheduled from 13 April 2016, after Sale Sharks were eliminated from the European Rugby Challenge Cup . As in previous seasons, the top four teams in the Premiership table, following the conclusion of the regular season, contest the play-off semi-finals in a 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd format, with the higher ranking team having home advantage. The two winners of
260-505: The Premiership's salary cap regulations: In addition to the above, a standard cap provision applicable only in Rugby World Cup years, gave each club a £35,000 cap credit (up from £30,000 in the last World Cup season of 2011–12) for each member of the senior squad who participated in the tournament. Twelve teams compete in the league – the top eleven teams from the previous season and Worcester Warriors who were promoted from
286-502: The Welsh regions finished bottom of their pools. In May 2018, the Welsh Rugby Union announced that they were going to be setting up a Welsh under-23s competition for their regions and would thus be unable to commit to Anglo-Welsh Cup games. On 10 May, Premiership Rugby Limited, which organises the English top flight, then announced that the Anglo-Welsh Cup would be replaced by the Premiership Rugby Cup, which would be solely for
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#1732800796890312-505: The best runner-up entered the semi-finals with home advantage given to the team with the better record in the pool stage and the final would be held at the home of the highest ranked club. The winning club received £500,000. After a year's hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the competition returned for 2021–22 season. The thirteen premiership rugby teams were split into one pool of five teams and two pools of four teams. Each team played
338-497: The competition now took place on international fixture dates during the Autumn Internationals and Six Nations Championship , with the aim of allowing teams to develop their squad players. It also saw the final move away from Twickenham for the first time, with Worcester's Sixways Stadium hosting in its place. The final would continue to be played at various pre-arranged club grounds in the following years. There
364-545: The even more lucrative Heineken Cup competition. As base compensation, all 16 Powergen clubs were guaranteed £250,000 each, with a prize fund of up to £200,000 available to semi-finalists. Interest in the Powergen Cup was high during the first two rounds. Over 100,000 spectators attended matches, while the television audience peaked at 1.2 million on BBC2 for the match between the Newcastle Falcons and
390-549: The leagues began and the first time since the 1993–94 Premiership Rugby season. The competition began slightly later than normal, due to the 2015 Rugby World Cup taking place in England and in a slight change to usual, the London Double Header at Twickenham , the twelfth instance since its inception in 2004, was played in round 5 instead of round 1. This season was the first of several significant changes to
416-463: The other teams in their pool and also played an additional inter pool match if required. For 2023–24 the twelve teams from the RFU Championship joined the ten teams from the Premiership. The first stage of the competition took place over five consecutive weekends during the Rugby World Cup . 2015%E2%80%9316 English Premiership (rugby union) The 2015–16 Aviva Premiership was
442-482: The same for the following season, with home and away fixtures reversed and the club relegated from the Premiership's place taken by the club promoted from the Championship. In addition to increased TV revenue (the revised Powergen Cup had a new broadcasting agreement with BBC Sport ) and a possible boost to matchday income, the Powergen Cup also offered its winner, if they were a Premiership club, qualification to
468-581: The semi-finals then meet in the Premiership Final at Twickenham on 28 May 2016. Man of the Match: [REDACTED] Alex Goode (Saracens) Assistant referees: JP Doyle Luke Pearce Television Match Official: Sean Davey Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality. Source: Source: The following received Player of
494-574: The series final at the Twickenham Stoop on 28 August. The series was won by Welsh region Newport Gwent Dragons who beat Premiership side Wasps in the final. Fixtures for the season were announced by Premiership Rugby at 11am on 3 July 2015. Unlike previous seasons, the London Double Header would not take place in round 1 because Twickenham Stadium was being used for the 2015 Rugby World Cup , but would instead take place during round 5, on 28 November 2015. One game during this season
520-407: The third successive season. Highlights of each weekend's games were shown on ITV4 . Saracens won their third title after defeating Exeter Chiefs in the final at Twickenham having also topped the regular season table. London Irish were relegated after being unable to win their penultimate game of the season. It was the second time that London Irish have been relegated from the top flight since
546-599: The withdrawal of the Welsh regions . The Premiership Rugby Cup was created to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup which had been running since 2005 when the Welsh regions joined the then English-only Powergen Cup . In the 2017–18 Anglo-Welsh Cup , all four of the Welsh regions finished bottom of their pools. In May 2018, the Welsh Rugby Union announced that they were going to be setting up a Welsh under-23s competition for their regions and would thus be unable to commit to Anglo-Welsh Cup games. Premiership Rugby Limited, which organises
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#1732800796890572-766: Was an open tournament to any club that was a member of the Rugby Football Union . Starting in the 2005–06 season , the Powergen Anglo-Welsh Cup was formed as a successor tournament to the Knockout Cup. It continued to be organised by the RFU, in co-operation with the Welsh Rugby Union , but featured a new format including only the twelve teams from the Guinness Premiership and the four regional Welsh sides which competed in
598-484: Was cancelled due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic . The format for the competition until 2019–20 consisted of the twelve Premiership teams grouped into three pools of four with at least one club having one local derby match in their groups. The matches were typically held over either the Autumn International or Rugby World Cup and Six Nations Championship weekends. The three pool winners and
624-416: Was no competition in the 2015–16 season due to the 2015 Rugby World Cup being played in England, which resulted in the late start to the 2015–16 English Premiership season . The competition returned in the 2016–17 season, known simply as the Anglo-Welsh Cup , with BT Sport taking over the live TV rights from Sky Sports and highlights shown on Channel 5 . In the 2017–18 Anglo-Welsh Cup , all four of
650-632: Was played on foreign soil, in the United States . The London Irish v Saracens match – played in Round 16 on 12 March 2016 – took place at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey . This match – originally scheduled to be held during Round 9, on 8 January 2016 – was postponed due to a European Rugby Champions Cup fixture rearrangement that occurred as a result of
676-442: Was reached and the regions were readmitted, with the Welsh sides giving a "substantial financial contribution" and committing to mid-week league fixtures. In place of the knock-out format, the 16 sides were placed in four pools with three English clubs and one Welsh region in each. The pool stages for this initial format featured one game against each team, followed by semi-finals and a final at Twickenham Stadium . The pools remained
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