2010–11 European Challenge Cup

April 2011 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup Cab munster 007.JPG 220px European challenge cup 2010-11 EnglandFranceIreland rugby unionItalyRomaniaSpain Round-robin and Knockout 7 October 2010 to 20 May 2011 23 67 Julien Caminati (Brive)(97 points) Tom Brady (Sale)Sam Gerber (Bayonne)Nicolas Jeanjean (Brive)Nick Macleod (Sale)Pierre Rabadan (Stade Français)James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester)Henry Trinder (Gloucester)(5 tries) Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff ENG Harlequins 3 FRA Stade Français https://web.archive.org/web/20080506141030/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/ 2009–10 2009–10 European Challenge Cup 2011–12 2011–12 Amlin Challenge Cup The 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 15th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second-tier club rugby union competition, and the second to be sponsored by the British insurance company Amlin. The tournament began on 7 October 2010, with the final played on 20 May 2011 at Cardiff City Stadium, the day before the 2011 Heineken Cup Final in the same city at Millennium Stadium. A total of 23 teams from six countries participated. The competition began with 20 teams; three more teams that began their seasons in the Heineken Cup parachuted into the knockout stage. Cardiff Blues did not defend their title, as by winning the 2009–10 cup, they qualified for the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and did not parachute into the Challenge Cup. Harlequins claimed the title with a 19–18 win over Stade Français, becoming the first team to win the Challenge Cup three times.http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/9488524.stm Harlequins 19-18 Stade Francais 20 May 2011 BBC Sport 24 May 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110521112609/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/9488524.stm 21 May 2011 live The victory also sent Quins into the 2011–12 Heineken Cup. Teams The allocation of teams is as follows: England: 6 teams — all teams from the Aviva Premiership that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup France: 7 teams — all teams from the Top 14 that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup. Normally 8 teams, but Toulouse's win in the 2009–10 Heineken Cup gave France an extra place in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. Italy: 4 teams — the top four teams from the 2009–10 Super 10 (now Top12) that did not move to the Celtic League for 2010–11 Ireland: 1 team — the Irish team that failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup through the Magners League Spain: 1 team — the champion of the previous season's División de Honor Romania: 1 team specially created for the competition England France Ireland Italy Romania SpainGloucester Sale Sharks Harlequins Newcastle Falcons Leeds Carnegie Exeter Chiefs Stade Français Bourgoin Brive Agen Montpellier Bayonne La RochelleConnachtCrociati Parma Cavalieri Prato Petrarca Padova RovigoBucurești OaksEl Salvador Seeding Teams that did not qualify for the 2010–11 Heineken Cup were ordered into four tiers according to the European Rugby Club Ranking. Five pools of four teams were drawn comprising one team from each tier. The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2009–10 season. Tier 1 FRAStade Français (8) ENGGloucester (13) ENGSale Sharks (18) FRABourgoin (20) ENGHarlequins (22) Tier 2ENGNewcastle Falcons (25)FRABrive (28)IRE rugby union Connacht (31)FRAAgen (33)ITACrociati Parma (37) Tier 3ENGLeeds Carnegie (38)FRAMontpellier (39)FRABayonneITAPetrarca Padova ITARovigo Tier 4FRALa RochelleITACavalieri PratoENGExeter Chiefs ROMBucurești OaksESPEl Salvador Pool stage 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup pool stage The draw for the pool stage took place on 9 June 2010. {| class="wikitable" |+ Key to colours |- |bgcolor="#ccffcc"|     |Winner of each pool advances to quarterfinals.Seed # in parentheses. |} Pool 1 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPtsENG Harlequins (4) 6 5 0 1 21 6 +15 189 84 +105 3 1 24IRE rugby union Connacht 6 3 0 3 19 8 +11 173 99 +74 1 2 15FRA Bayonne 6 3 0 3 19 12 +7 163 116 +47 2 1 15ITA Cavalieri Prato 6 1 0 5 8 41 −33 77 303 −226 0 0 4 Pool 2 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPtsFRA Brive (2) 6 6 0 0 34 3 +31 257 54 +203 3 0 27ENG Sale Sharks 6 4 0 2 39 4 +35 279 58 +221 4 1 21ITA Petrarca Padova 6 1 0 5 10 26 −16 88 213 −125 1 1 6ESP El Salvador 6 1 0 5 6 56 −50 69 368 −299 0 0 4 Pool 3 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPtsFRA Montpellier (8) 6 5 0 1 10 11 −1 147 101 +46 1 0 21ENG Exeter Chiefs 6 3 0 3 16 10 +6 154 113 +41 1 3 16FRA Bourgoin 6 2 0 4 10 12 −2 119 130 −11 2 1 11ENG Newcastle Falcons 6 2 0 4 7 10 −3 66 142 −76 0 1 9 Pool 4 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPtsFRA Stade Français (1) 6 6 0 0 29 7 +22 216 73 +143 5 0 29ENG Leeds Carnegie 6 4 0 2 24 6 +18 173 88 +85 3 0 19ROM București Oaks 6 1 0 5 4 17 −13 74 148 −74 0 1 5ITA Crociati Parma 6 1 0 5 3 30 −27 70 224 −154 0 1 5 Pool 5 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPtsFRA La Rochelle (3) 6 5 0 1 26 10 +16 197 91 +106 3 1 24ENG Gloucester 6 4 0 2 35 7 +28 255 77 +178 3 2 21FRA Agen 6 3 0 3 21 18 +3 167 158 +9 2 1 15ITA Rugby Rovigo 6 0 0 6 6 53 −47 55 348 −293 0 0 0 Knockout stage Seeding Following the end of the pool stage, the 5 pool winners were seeded alongside the top 3 2010–11 Heineken Cup pool runners-up who failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals. (HC) Means a team has entered the competition from the Heineken Cup SeedTeam1 FRA Stade Français2 FRA Brive3 FRA La Rochelle4 ENG Harlequins5 (HC) ENG London Wasps6 (HC) FRA Clermont7 (HC) IRE rugby union Munster8 FRA Montpellier Quarter-finals The quarter-finals were decided based on the above seeding. All game times are local. 7 April 2011 20.45 La Rochelle FRA 13–23 Report FRA Clermont Goosen 63' c Goosen (1/1) Goosen (2/4) 7', 17' Rougerie 13' cMurimurivalu 71' c James (2/2) James (3/6) 3', 28', 76' Stade Marcel-Deflandre, La Rochelle 8,500 George Clancy (Ireland) 8 April 2011 20.45 Stade Français FRA 32–28 Report FRA Montpellier Southwell 26' cRabadan 30' mPenalty try 53' cBurban 59' c Dupuy (1/2)Beauxis (2/2) Beauxis (2) 50', 67' Chkhaidze 9' c Paillaugue (1/1) Paillaugue (3) 7', 12' 21'Lagarde (4) 35', 48', 61', 63' Stade Charléty, Paris 7,000 Alan Lewis (Ireland) 8 April 2011 19.45 Harlequins ENG 32–22 Report ENG London Wasps Care 1' c Fa'asavalu 4' c Evans (2/2) Evans (5/5) 28', 35', 40', 46', 59' Evans 76' Jewell 11' c Lindsay 51' c Haughton 71' m Walder (2/3) Walder 24' Twickenham Stoop, London 8,565 Christophe Berdos (France) 9 April 2011 14.00 Brive FRA 37–42 Report Ireland rugby union Munster Uys 17' c Estebanez 20' c Palisson 70' c Perry 80' c Belie (4/4) 17',20',80',70' Belie 10',36',45' Howlett (2) 1' c, 22' cEarls (2) 4' c, 46' cStringer 50' c O'Gara (4/5) O'Gara (3/3) 53', 66', 68' Stade Amédée-Domenech, Brive-la-Gaillarde 8,500 Dave Pearson (England) Semi-finals The draw for the semi-finals of both the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup took place after the Pool 6 Heinieken Cup match between London Wasps and Toulouse on 23 January 2011. The draw was conducted in the Sky Sports booth by Ieuan Evans and Jean-Pierre Lux, Chairman of ERC, at Adams Park, High Wycombe. In last season's Challenge Cup, any semi-final that involved a club that started the season in the Challenge Cup and a club that started in the Heineken Cup would be hosted by the club that started in the Challenge Cup. This rule was abandoned for 2010–11; the home club in each semi-final is now determined strictly by the draw. 29 April 2011 20:45 Stade Français FRA 29–25 Report FRA Clermont Arias 21' cBoussès 65' c Beauxis (2/2) Beauxis (5/7) 12', 27', 32', 36', 56' Pisi 16' cRussell 48' cCudmore 76' m Parra (2/3) Parra (2/5) 14', 46' Stade Charléty, Paris 6,712 Nigel Owens (Wales) 30 April 2011 13:00 Munster Ireland rugby union 12–20 Report ENG Harlequins Jones 40' c Howlett 78' m O'Gara (1/2) Robson 9' c Care 34' c Evans (1/1) Care (1/1) Clegg (2/2) 49', 59' Thomond Park, Limerick 24,907 Romain Poite (France) Final The final of the Amlin Challenge Cup took place at Cardiff City Stadium on 20 May 2011. Harlequins won the trophy for the third time with a 19–18 victory over Stade Francais.http://www.espnscrum.com/amlin-2010-11/rugby/story/140146.html Quins claim Challenge Cup glory 20 May 2011 espnscrum 24 May 2011https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/8527372/Harlequins-19-Stade-Francais-18.html Harlequins 19 Stade Francais 18 20 May 2011 Daily Telegraph 24 May 2011 20 May 2011 19.45 Harlequins ENG 19–18 Report FRA Stade Français Camacho 76' c Evans (1/1) Evans (4/5) 6', 16', 27', 66' Beauxis (4/5) 12', 32', 46', 57' Bastareaud (1/1) 47'Rodríguez (1/2) 72' Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff 12,236 George Clancy (Ireland) Individual statistics Top points scorers Player Team PointsFRA Julien Caminati FRA Brive 97NZL Nick Evans ENG Harlequins 94IRE rugby union Ian Keatley IRE rugby union Connacht 71FRA Raphaël Lagarde FRA Montpellier 65ENG Freddie Burns ENG Gloucester 64WAL Nick Macleod ENG Sale Sharks 58FRA Lionel Beauxis FRA Stade Français 53ENG Rob Miller ENG Sale Sharks 48ENG Ryan Davis ENG Exeter Chiefs 47RSA Greg Goosen FRA La Rochelle 47Amlin Challenge Cup: Points Scorers http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/statistics/player_records_points.php#rd871 European Rugby Cup 2011-05-20 https://web.archive.org/web/20101223212228/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/statistics/player_records_points.php#rd871 2010-12-23 dead Top try scorers Player Team TriesENG Tom Brady ENG Sale Sharks 5RSA Sam Gerber FRA Bayonne 5FRA Nicolas Jeanjean FRA Brive 5WAL Nick Macleod ENG Sale Sharks 5FRA Pierre Rabadan FRA Stade Français 5ENG James Simpson-Daniel ENG Gloucester 5ENG Henry Trinder ENG Gloucester 5FRA Julien Caminati FRA Brive 4FRA Jonathan Elgoyhen FRA Brive 4SAM Henry Fa'afili ENG Leeds 4Amlin Challenge Cup: Try Scorers http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/statistics/player_records_tries.php#rd882 European Rugby Cup 2011-05-20 https://web.archive.org/web/20101227014227/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/statistics/player_records_tries.php#rd882 2010-12-27 dead References Category:2010–11 rugby union tournaments for clubs Category:2010–11 in European rugby union Category:2010–11 in Irish rugby union Category:2010–11 in English rugby union Category:2010–11 in French rugby union Category:2010–11 in Italian rugby union Category:2010–11 in Romanian rugby union Category:2010–11 in Spanish rugby union 2009