2010–11 British and Irish Cup

The 2010–11 British and Irish Cup was the 2nd season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on Friday 15 October 2010 and the final was held on Saturday 7 May 2011. Defending champions Cornish Pirates were unable to make it out of the pool stages. Bristol lifted the cup, narrowly defeating Bedford Blues 17–14 in the first all-English final. == Teams == The allocation of teams was as follows: – 12 teams from RFU Championship – 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams. – 3 Scottish sides, top clubs from the Scottish Premiership. – 6 top clubs from the Principality Premiership. == Competition format == The teams were divided into four pools of six, playing over five weekends during the Autumn International and Six Nations windows. The four pool winners and runners-up contested a knock-out stage, with quarter-finals on 5 or 6 March, semi-finals on 23 March and the final on 7 May. == Pool stages == === Pool A === === Pool B === === Pool C === === Pool D === This fixture would double up as a cup and 2010–11 RFU Championship game after the cup game was initially postponed. == Knock-out stages == === Qualifiers === The four pool winners and the four runners up proceeded to the knock out stages. The best four qualifiers (pool winners) had home advantage in the quarter-finals. === Quarter-finals === === Semi-finals === === Final === == Top scorers == == Geography == == References == == External links == Unofficial British and Irish Cup website - latest news, teams etc Results from the BBC Archived 2011-02-08 at the Wayback Machine