2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Ireland  Italy  Scotland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Tournament statistics
Teams	14+8
Matches played	27
Attendance	12,000 (444 per match)
Highest attendance	10,000
Final
Venue	Twickenham Stadium
Attendance	10,000
Champions	Montpellier (2nd title)
Runners-up	Leicester Tigers

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]

Teams

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:

• England: four teams
  • Any teams finishing between 9th and 11th position in the Premiership Rugby that do not qualify for the 2020–21 European Champions Cup
  • The champion of the RFU Championship
• France: six teams
  • Any teams finishing between 9th and 14th position in the Top 14 that do not qualify for the 2020–21 European Champions Cup
• Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales: four teams
  • Four teams from the Pro14, excluding the South African teams, that do not qualify for the 2020–21 European Champions Cup

Round	Premiership	Top 14	Pro14
	England	France	Ireland	Italy	Scotland	Wales
Preliminary stage	Leicester Tigers London Irish Newcastle Falcons Worcester Warriors	Agen Bayonne Brive Castres Pau Stade Français		Benetton Zebre		Cardiff Blues Ospreys
Knockout stage	Bath Harlequins Northampton Saints	Montpellier	Connacht Ulster		Glasgow Warriors	Dragons

Team details

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 Phipps Matt 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[lower-alpha 1]	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	Fraser Brown Ryan 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	Chris Boyd	Lewis Ludlam 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)

Preliminary stage

[[File:

Leicester

London Irish

Worcester

Newcastle

Agen

Pau

Stade Français

Castres

Bayonne

Brive

Zebre

Benetton

Cardiff

Ospreys

Ulster

Connacht

Bath

Northampton

Montpellier

Dragons

Harlequins

Glasgow

Locations

|1300px|alt=Locations of teams of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Red: Competed in pool stage; Green: Entered from Champions Cup.]]

Locations of teams of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Red: Competed in pool stage; Green: Entered from Champions Cup.

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.

Tier 1	Bayonne (11 Top 14)	Benetton (9 Pro14)	Brive (10 Top 14)	Cardiff Blues (10 Pro14)	Castres (9 Top 14)	London Irish (10 Prem)	Worcester Warriors (9 Prem)
Tier 2	Agen (13 Top 14)	Leicester Tigers (11 Prem)	Newcastle Falcons (12 Prem)	Ospreys (12 Pro14)	Pau (12 Top 14)	Stade Français (14 Top 14)	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.^[5]

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
Pau	2	1	0	1	41	46	−5	5	6	0	0	4
Bayonne	2	0	1	1	45	53	−8	5	6	0	0	2
Worcester Warriors	2	0	0	2	49	62	−13	6	7	1	1	2
Brive	2	0	0	2	33	57	−24	2	6	0	1	1
Castres	2	0	0	2	32	65	−33	5	8	0	0	0
Stade Français	2	0	0	2	20	72	−52	3	11	0	0	0

Last 16 rankings

Key to colours

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

Knockout stage

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.^[5]

The draw for the round of 16 and quarter-finals took place on 9 March 2021 in Lausanne, Switzerland.^[7]

Bracket

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Leicester Tigers	48
	Connacht	32
					Leicester Tigers	39
					Newcastle Falcons	15
	Ospreys	24
	Newcastle Falcons	28
									Leicester Tigers	33
									Ulster	24
	Dragons	39
	Northampton Saints	43
					Northampton Saints	27
					Ulster	35
	Harlequins	21
	Ulster	57
													Leicester Tigers	17
													Montpellier	18
	Zebre	27
	Bath	35
					Bath	26
					London Irish	13
	London Irish	41
	Cardiff Blues	35
									Bath	10
									Montpellier	19
	Montpellier	26
	Glasgow Warriors	21
					Montpellier	31
					Benetton	25
	Benetton	29
	Agen	16

Round of 16

Fixtures were announced on 16 March 2021.^[8]

2 April 2021 16:00 CET

Zebre	27–35	Bath
Try: Bruno 2' c, 9' c, 22' c Con: Canna (3/3) 3', 10', 23' Pen: Pescetto (2/3) 67', 71'	Report	Try: Cokanasiga 14' c Stuart 40' c Obano 45' c Watson 61' c du Toit 78' c

Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi Attendance: 0 Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)

2 April 2021 17:30 BST

London Irish	41–35	Cardiff Blues
Try: Loader 30' c Hassell-Collins (2) 49' c, 74' c Hepetema 71' c Rona 79' c Con: Jackson (5/5) 31', 49', 72', 76', 80' Pen: Jackson (2/3) 13', 39'	Report	Try: Dacey 16' c Adams 20' c Harries 57' m L. Williams 64' c Con: Evans (3/4) 17', 20', 65' Pen: Evans (2/3) 27', 46' Drop: Evans 77'

Brentford Community Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

2 April 2021 21:00 CET

Montpellier	26–21	Glasgow Warriors
Try: Guirado 38' c Bouthier 43' c Con: Lozowski (2/2) 40', 44' Pen: Lozowski (4/6) 14', 24', 58', 71'	Report	Pen: Hastings (5/5) 1', 16', 27', 55', 62' Thompson (2/2) 70', 73'

GGL Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Karl Dickson (England)

3 April 2021 16:00 CET

Benetton	29–16	Agen
Try: Duvenage 20' m Ioane 45' m Brex 62' m Padovani 73' m Pen: Garbisi (3/3) 12', 29', 39'	Report	Try: Hayes 1' c Con: Verdu (1/1) 2' Pen: Verdu (3/3) 18', 50', 55'

Stadio Comunale di Monigo Attendance: 0 Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)

3 April 2021 15:00 BST

Ospreys	24–28	Newcastle Falcons
Try: K. Williams 8' c D. Evans 12' c Botha 70' c Con: Price (3/3) 9', 13', 71' Pen: Price (1/1) 56'	Report	Try: Davison 33' c Penalty try 38' Robinson 41' c McGuigan 64' m van der Walt 66' c Con: Connon (3/4) 34', 42', 67'

Liberty Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France)

3 April 2021 17:30 BST

Dragons	39–43	Northampton Saints
Try: Hewitt (2) 11' c, 33' m Screech 26' c S. Davies 50' c Brown 60' c Con: S. Davies (4/5) 12', 26', 51', 60' Pen: S. Davies (2/2) 6', 43'	Report	Try: Naiyaravoro (2) 36' c, 73' c Sleightholme 41' c Mitchell 54' c Harrison 62' m Collins 74' c Con: Grayson (5/6) 37', 41, 55', 73' 75' Pen: Grayson (1/1) 24'

Rodney Parade Attendance: 0 Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)

3 April 2021 20:00 BST

Leicester Tigers	48–32	Connacht
Try: Clare (2) 11' m, 65' c Porter 14' c Moroni 27' m Henry 31' c Wells 73' c Wiese 78' c Con: Henry (2/4) 15', 32' McPhillips (3/3) 66', 74', 79' Pen: McPhillips (1/1) 57'	Report	Try: Marmion 6' m E. Masterson 43' c Wootton 56' c Boyle 71' c Con: Carty (2/3) 44', 59' C. Fitzgerald (1/1) 71' Pen: Carty (2/3) 23', 40+5'

Mattioli Woods Welford Road Attendance: 0 Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)[lower-alpha 2]

4 April 2021 20:00 BST

Harlequins	21–57	Ulster
Try: Lawday 31' c Kenningham 64' c Els 77' c Con: Herron (3/3) 32', 64', 78'	Report	Try: McCloskey 7' c Herring (2) 21' c, 55' c Reidy (2) 26' c, 69' c Lowry 33' m Burns 59' c Mathewson 65' c Con: Cooney (5/6) 8', 23', 27', 57', 60' Madigan (2/2) 66', 70' Pen: Cooney (1/1) 12'

Twickenham Stoop Attendance: 0 Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Quarter-finals

9 April 2021 20:00 BST

Bath	26–13	London Irish
Try: McNally 8' c Stuart (2) 23' c, 31' m Mercer 67' c Con: Spencer (3/4) 9', 24', 68'	Report	Try: Creevy 5' c Con: Jackson (1/1) 6' Pen: Jackson (2/2) 40', 63'

Recreation Ground Attendance: 0 Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)

10 April 2021 12:30 BST

Leicester Tigers	39–15	Newcastle Falcons
Try: Potter (2) 4' m, 80' c Penalty try (2) 13', 75' Moroni 46' c Con: McPhillips (1/2) 47' Ford (1/1) 80+1' Pen: McPhillips (1/1) 17' Ford (1/1) 56'	Report	Try: Wacokecoke 32' m Penny 48' c Con: Connon (1/2) 50' Pen: Connon (1/1) 9'

Mattioli Woods Welford Road Attendance: 0 Referee: Romain Poite (France)

10 April 2021 20:00 BST

Northampton Saints	27–35	Ulster
Try: Mitchell 4' c Freeman (2) 32' m, 34' c Sleightholme 58' m Con: Francis (2/4) 6', 35' Pen: Francis (1/1) 16'	Report	Try: Penalty try 11' Herring 24' c M. Moore 46' c Cooney 61' c Stockdale 72' c Con: Cooney (4/4) 25', 47', 62', 73'

Franklin's Gardens Attendance: 0 Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)

10 April 2021 21:00 CET

Montpellier	31–25	Benetton
Try: Paillaugue (2) 11' m, 54' c Willemse 36' c Con: Paillaugue (2/3) 37', 55' Pen: Paillaugue (3/3) 4', 29', 60' Drop: Bouthier 24'	Report	Try: Garbisi 45' c Con: Garbisi (1/1) 46' Pen: Garbisi (5/6) 1', 6', 14', 27', 31' Allan (1/1) 65'

GGL Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Karl Dickson (England)

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals took place on 11 April 2021 at BT Sport's studios in London.^[2]

30 April 2021 20:00 BST

Leicester Tigers	33–24	Ulster
Try: Wiese 44' c Genge 52' c Porter 73' c Con: Ford (3/3) 44', 54', 75' Pen: Ford (3/4) 6', 19', 49' Drop: Ford 58'	Report	Try: Henderson 15' c Burns 21' c Timoney 67' c Con: Cooney (2/2) 16', 22' Lowry (1/1) 68' Pen: Cooney (1/1) 9'

Mattioli Woods Welford Road Attendance: 0 Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)

1 May 2021 20:00 BST

Bath	10–19	Montpellier
Try: Dunn 2' c Con: B. Spencer (1/1) 3' Pen: B. Spencer (1/2) 26'	Report	Try: Camara 22' c Con: Paillaugue (1/1) 23' Pen: Paillaugue (3/5) 19', 31', 36' Pollard (1/1) 79'

Recreation Ground Attendance: 0 Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Final

21 May 2021 20:00

Leicester Tigers	17–18	Montpellier
Try: Wells 32' c Wiese 46' c Con: Ford (2/2) 34', 47' Pen: Ford (1/2) 8'	Report	Try: Rattez 13' c Goosen 57' m Con: Paillaugue (1/2) 14' Pen: Paillaugue (2/3) 16', 50'

Twickenham Stadium Attendance: 10,000[lower-alpha 3] Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

FB 15 Freddie Steward RW 14 Guy Porter  19' OC 13 Matías Moroni IC 12 Dan Kelly LW 11 Nemani Nadolo  68' FH 10 George Ford SH 9 Richard Wigglesworth  45' N8 8 Jasper Wiese OF 7 Cyle Brink  29' BF 6 Hanro Liebenberg RL 5 Calum Green  77' LL 4 Harry Wells  60' TP 3 Dan Cole  52' HK 2 Tom Youngs (c)  52' LP 1 Ellis Genge  65' Substitutions: HK 16 Charlie Clare  52' PR 17 Luan de Bruin  65' PR 18 Joe Heyes  52' LK 19 Cameron Henderson  77' FL 20 Tommy Reffell  29' SH 21 Ben Youngs  45' FH 22 Zack Henry  68' WG 23 Kini Murimurivalu  19' Coach: Steve Borthwick

FB 15 Anthony Bouthier RW 14 Arthur Vincent  43' OC 13 Johan Goosen IC 12 Jan Serfontein  63' LW 11 Vincent Rattez FH 10 Alex Lozowski SH 9 Benoît Paillaugue  62' N8 8 Alexandre Bécognée 29' to 40'  52'  55' OF 7 Yacouba Camara BF 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo  25' RL 5 Paul Willemse  77' LL 4 Florian Verhaeghe  67' TP 3 Mohamed Haouas  65' HK 2 Guilhem Guirado (c) 44' to 54'  65' LP 1 Enzo Forletta Substitutions: HK 16 Bismarck du Plessis  52'  55'  65' PR 17 Robert Rodgers PR 18 Titi Lamositele  65' LK 19 Tyler Duguid  77' FL 20 Jacques du Plessis  25' SH 21 Cobus Reinach  62' FH 22 Handré Pollard  63' CE 23 Gabriel N'Gandebe  43' Coach: Philippe Saint-André

See also

• 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup

Notes

References