European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition

European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition
Sport	Rugby union
Inaugural season	2014–15
Organisers	EPCR Rugby Europe FIR
Number of teams	8 (6 (pools) + 2 (play-off))
Country	Italy  Georgia  Romania  Russia  Spain  Portugal  Germany  Belgium
Website	European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition Website Rugby Europe Website
Related competitions	European Rugby Champions Cup European Rugby Challenge Cup

The European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition is a rugby union competition, organised by European Professional Club Rugby, Rugby Europe and the Federazione Italiana Rugby, for entry into the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

The tournament was first announced in April 2014, at the same time as the announcement of the creation of the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions. The tournament features teams from tier 2 countries, such as Spain, Germany, Belgium, Romania, Georgia, Russia and Portugal, as well as select Italian Eccellenza clubs.

Format

Under the Heads of Agreement announced on 10 April 2014, there are two places available in the European Rugby Challenge Cup through the Qualifying Competition.^[1]

For the 2014-15 season, given the time constraints in filling the competition, this was a reduced competition the form of 2 two-legged play-off matches, with the aggregate winner of each taking one of the two Rugby Europe spots in the draw, and it involved the 2 best teams from Italy's National Championship of Excellence, plus a Romanian and Georgian selection.^[2]

An expanded format was announced on 22 December 2014,^[3] the expanded format includes clubs from Rugby Europe member Unions, Russia, Spain and Portugal alongside representatives from the Italian Eccellenza.

The 6 teams in the Qualifying Competition are split into 2 pools of 3 teams each. Each team will play the other teams in their pool once, before the two pool winners compete in a two-legged play-off against the teams currently competing in the Challenge Cup from the previous Qualifying Competition.

The winners, on aggregate, of these two play-offs will take up the Qualifying Competition places in the Challenge Cup.^[3]

Tournaments

2014

The reduced format for the inaugural Qualifying Competition included two Italian Clubs, a Romanian and a Georgian side. Sides were paired up and competed in two matches, home and away. The winner, on aggregate, of these two games received one of the two places in the 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup.

Pool 1	Pool 2
Rovigo Delta	București Wolves
Tbilisi Caucasians	Calvisano

Rugby Europe 1 Play-off

• Rovigo Delta won the play-off 46 - 39 on aggregate, and qualifies as Rugby Europe 1 for the 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup.

Rugby Europe 2 Play-off

• București Wolves won the play-off 28 - 26 on aggregate, and qualified as Rugby Europe 2 for the 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup.

2015

The expanded competition for entry into the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup features six teams, in two pools of three. Russia is represented in European competition for the first time.^[4] Matches are scheduled for the same weekends as the 2014–15 Challenge Cup, beginning with the 5th Round of the Challenge Cup.

Pool 1	Pool 2
Calvisano	Enisey-STM
Viadana	Centro Desportivo Universitário de Lisboa
El Salvador	Mogliano

Pool 1

Matches
17 January 2015 Calvisano 34 - 3 Viadana 24 January 2015 Viadana 36 - 7 El Salvador 4 April 2015 El Salvador 12 - 62 Calvisano

Advances to Qualifying Play-offs

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Calvisano	2	2	0	0	96	15	+81	13	2	2	0	10
Viadana	2	1	0	1	39	41	-2	6	5	1	0	5
El Salvador	2	0	0	2	19	98	-79	3	15	0	0	0

Qualifying Play-off

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• Calvisano won the play-off 52-24 on aggregate, and will play in the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup.

Pool 2

Matches
17 January 2015 Mogliano 45 - 17 Centro Desportivo Universitário de Lisboa 24 January 2015 Centro Desportivo Universitário de Lisboa 6 - 28 Enisey-STM 4 April 2015 Enisey-STM 19 - 15 Mogliano

Advances to Qualifying Play-offs

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Enisey-STM	2	2	0	0	47	15	+32	5	2	1	0	9
Mogliano	2	1	0	1	60	19	+41	6	4	1	1	6
Centro Desportivo Universitário de Lisboa	2	0	0	2	17	73	-56	3	10	0	0	0

Qualifying Play-off

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• Enisey-STM won the play-off 63-32 on aggregate, and will play in the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup.

2015–16

The Qualifying Competition was once again expanded, this time featuring 8 teams in two pools of four. Each team will play the teams in the other pool once. Belgium and Germany are represented in pan-European Rugby competition for the first time, through Royal Kituro and Heidelberger RK respectively

Advances to Qualifying Play-offs

Pool A	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TB	LB	Pts
Rovigo	4	3	0	1	136	77	59	3	0	15
Heidelberger RK	4	3	0	1	109	71	38	2	1	15
Fiamme Oro	4	3	0	1	74	51	23	0	0	12
Valladolid RAC	4	2	0	2	114	68	46	1	0	9

Pool B	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TB	LB	Pts
Timișoara Saracens	4	4	0	0	126	48	78	3	0	19
GD Direito	4	1	0	3	72	82	-10	0	2	6
Mogliano	4	0	0	4	49	105	-56	1	1	2
Royal Kituro	4	0	0	4	20	198	-170	0	0	0

Fixtures

Matches

14 November 2015 14:00 Royal Kituro 6 – 24 Fiamme Oro Fiamme Oro Complexe Wahis, Schaerbeek Attendance: 550 Referee: Cristophe Ridley (England) 14 November 2015 15:00 (BP) Rovigo 29 – 19 GD Direito Report Stadio Mario Battaglini Attendance: 800 Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)[5] 21 November 2015 16:00 Valladolid RAC 18 – 36 Timișoara Saracens (BP) Valladolid RAC Campos de Pepe Rojo Referee: Elia Rizzo (Italy) 21 November 2015 15:00 (BP) GD Direito 21 – 24 Heidelberger RK Heidelberger RK Campo de Monsanto Referee: Iñigo Atorrasagasti (Spain) 21 November 2015 15:00 Royal Kituro P – P Rovigo Complexe Wahis, Schaerbeek In the wake of the Paris attacks, Brussels was placed on a Level 4 Alert. In agreement with EPCR, FBRB and the municipal authorities, this game was postponed.[6] 21 November 2015 15:00 Fiamme Oro 19 – 0 Mogliano Report Stadio Gelsomini Attendance: 250 Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland) 12 December 2015 13:30 (BP) Timișoara Saracens 45 – 13 Rovigo Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu Referee: Sean Gallagher (Ireland) 12 December 2015 15:00 Fiamme Oro 17 – 10 GD Direito (BP) Stadio Gelsomini Referee: Iñigo Atorrasagasti (Spain) 12 December 2015 15:00 (2 BPs) Mogliano 26 – 32 Heidelberger RK (BP) Stadio Maurizio Quaggia Referee: Graeme Wells (Scotland) 12 December 2015 16:00 (BP) Valladolid RAC 62 – 0 Royal Kituro Valladolid RAC Campos de Pepe Rojo Referee: Elia Rizzo (Italy) 19 December 2015 13:30 (BP) Timișoara Saracens 35 – 14 Fiamme Oro Fiamme Oro Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu Referee: Philippe Brousset (France) 19 December 2015 14:00 (BP) Heidelberger RK 50 – 14 Royal Kituro Heidelberger RK Heidelberger RK, Heidleberg Attendance: 800 Referee: Vlad Iordachescu (Romania) 19 December 2015 15:00 Mogliano 10 – 22 Valladolid RAC Report Stadio Maurizio Quaggia Attendance: 500 Referee: Craig Evans (Wales) 9 January 2016 15:00 GD Direito 22 – 12 Valladolid RAC Valladolid RAC Estádio Nacional, Jamor Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland) 16 January 2016 14:00 (BP) Heidelberger RK 3 – 10 Timișoara Saracens Heidelberger RK Timișoara Heidelberger RK, Heidleberg 16 January 2016 15:00 (BP) Rovigo 32 – 13 Mogliano Mogliano Stadio Mario Battaglini Attendance: 1,100 Referee: Elia Rizzo (Italy) 23 January 2016 15:00 Royal Kituro 0 – 62 Rovigo Complexe Wahis, Schaerbeek

Qualifying Play-offs

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• On aggregate, Enisey-STM (Aggregate score: 70-5) and Timișoara Saracens (Aggregate score: 64-40) qualify for the 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup.

2016–17

The format of the Qualifying Competition remains the same as the previous season. As before, two places in the next year's Challenge Cup will be available for teams in the Qualifying Competition.

This season's competition features clubs which have qualified from the domestic leagues of Rugby Europe member unions, Russia, Spain, Germany and Belgium, as well as four representatives from the Italian Eccellenza.

The eight participating clubs will compete in two pools with each club in Pool A playing once against each club in Pool B.

The two pool winners will then play off against Timisoara Saracens of Romania and Russia's Enisei-STM on a home and away basis to decide which two clubs will qualify for the 2017/18 Challenge Cup.

In addition, the two qualifiers will play a final match as part of EPCR's 2017 Edinburgh Finals weekend.

The Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition is organised by EPCR in conjunction with Rugby Europe and the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR).

Advances to Qualifying Play-offs

Pool A	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TB	LB	Pts
Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk	2	2	0	0	80	29	51	2	0	10
Calvisano	2	2	0	0	82	38	44	1	0	9
Petrarca	2	2	0	0	55	35	20	1	0	9
Dendermondse RC	1	0	0	1	8	57	-49	0	0	0

Pool B	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TB	LB	Pts
El Salvador	2	1	0	1	62	40	22	1	0	5
Mogliano	2	0	0	2	46	79	-33	2	0	2
Rovigo	2	0	0	2	32	46	-14	0	1	1
Heidelberger RK	1	0	0	1	19	60	-41	0	0	0

Fixtures

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Qualifying Play-offs

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Qualifiers final

In addition, the two qualifiers will play a final match as part of EPCR's 2017 Edinburgh Finals weekend.

Compilation Qualifying Play-offs

Key to colours

	Winner qualified to The European Challenge Cup.
	Winner continue in The European Challenge Cup.
	Winner advance to The European Challenge Cup.

Inaugural Qualifying Competition
Season	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Winners	Score	Runners-up	qualified for
2013–14	Rovigo Delta	46 - 39	Tbilisi Caucasians	București Wolves	28 - 26	Calvisano	2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup
The expanded Qualifying Competition
Season	From Challenge	Score	From Qualifying	From Challenge	Score	From Qualifying	qualified for
2014–15	Rovigo Delta	24 - 52	Calvisano	CSM Baia Mare	32 - 63	Enisey-STM	2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup
2015–16	Calvisano	40 - 64	Timișoara	Enisey-STM	70 - 5	Rovigo	2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup
2016–17	Timișoara	0 - 0		Enisey-STM	0 - 0		2017–18 European Rugby Challenge Cup

See also

• European Rugby Challenge Cup
• Rugby Europe

References