| Formerly | RFU Knockout Cup |
|---|---|
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Founded | 2005; 20 years ago (2005) |
| Ceased | 2018; 7 years ago (2018) |
| Replaced by | Premiership Rugby Cup |
| No. of teams | 16 |
| Countries |  England Wales |
| Last champion | Exeter (2nd title) |
| Most titles | Leicester Tigers (3 titles) |
| Broadcasters | BBC Sport (2005–2009) Sky Sports (2009–2015) BT Sport (live, 2016–2018) Channel 5 (highlights, 2016–2018) |
TheAnglo-Welsh Cup (Welsh:Cwpan Eingl-Gymreig), was a cross-borderrugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for theRFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs.
The competition was replaced by thePremiership Rugby Cup, involving only the 12 English Premiership clubs, beginning with the 2018–19 season.[1]
From 1971 to 2005, English clubs played in theRFU 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 was an open tournament to any club that was a member of theRugby Football Union.
Starting in the2005–06 season, thePowergen 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 theWelsh Rugby Union, but featured a new format including only the twelve teams from theGuinness Premiership and the four regional Welsh sides which competed in theCeltic League. Teams from the EnglishRFU Championship and below played in thePowergen 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.[2] By the end of the month, a compromise was reached and the regions were readmitted, with the Welsh sides giving a "substantial financial contribution" and committing to mid-week league fixtures.[3]
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 atTwickenham Stadium. The pools remained 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 withBBC Sport) and a possible boost to matchday income, the Powergen Cup also offered its winner, if they were a Premiership club, qualification to the even more lucrativeHeineken 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.[4]
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 theNewcastle Falcons and theLlanelli Scarlets.[5] Overall, the2005–06 cup drew a 12% attendance boost in the group stages over the previous year's competition.[6]
Powergen withdrew all of its rugby sponsorship after the conclusion of the first competition.[7]EDF Energy took over as title sponsor for the2006–07 tournament, renaming the tournament as theEDF Energy Cup[8] in a deal that ran until 2009.
InsurersLiverpool Victoria became sponsors for the2009–10 competition, rebranding the tournament as theLV= Cup until 2015.[9]
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.[10] Early rounds of the competition now took place on international fixture dates during theAutumn Internationals andSix Nations Championship, with the aim of allowing teams to develop their squad players.[11] It also saw the final move away from Twickenham for the first time, withWorcester'sSixways Stadium hosting in its place.[12] The final would continue to be played at various pre-arranged club grounds in the following years.
There was no competition in the 2015–16 season due to the2015 Rugby World Cup being played in England, which resulted in the late start to the2015–16 English Premiership season.[13]
The competition returned in the 2016–17 season, known simply as theAnglo-Welsh Cup, withBT Sport taking over the live TV rights fromSky Sports and highlights shown onChannel 5.
In the2017–18 Anglo-Welsh Cup, all four of the Welsh regions finished bottom of their pools.[14] In May 2018, theWelsh 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.[15] 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 the English Premiership clubs.[16] The Cup was created to continue to allow younger English Premiership players to compete in more matches at Premiership stadiums.[17]
| Season | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Attendance | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 | London Wasps | 26–10 | Llanelli Scarlets | Twickenham | 57,212 | |
| 2006–07 | Leicester Tigers | 41–35 | Ospreys | Twickenham | 43,312 | [18] |
| 2007–08 | Ospreys | 23–6 | Leicester Tigers | Twickenham | 65,756 | [19] |
| 2008–09 | Cardiff Blues | 50–12 | Gloucester | Twickenham | 54,899 | |
| 2009–10 | Northampton Saints | 30–24 | Gloucester | Sixways Stadium,Worcester | 12,024 | [20] |
| 2010–11 | Gloucester | 34–7 | Newcastle Falcons | Franklin's Gardens,Northampton | 6,848 | [21] |
| 2011–12 | Leicester Tigers | 26–14 | Northampton Saints | Sixways Stadium,Worcester | 11,895 | [22] |
| 2012–13 | Harlequins | 32–14 | Sale Sharks | Sixways Stadium,Worcester | 8,100 | [23] |
| 2013–14 | Exeter Chiefs | 15–8 | Northampton Saints | Sandy Park,Exeter | 10,744 | [24] |
| 2014–15 | Saracens | 23–20 | Exeter Chiefs | Franklin's Gardens,Northampton | 8,865 | [25] |
| 2015–16 | No competition due toRugby World Cup | |||||
| 2016–17 | Leicester Tigers | 16–12 | Exeter Chiefs | Twickenham Stoop,London | 6,834 | [26] |
| 2017–18 | Exeter Chiefs | 28–11 | Bath | Kingsholm Stadium,Gloucester | 8,074 | |
| # | Team | Wins | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester | 3 | 2007,2012,2017 |
| 2 | Exeter | 2 | 2014,2018 |
| 3= | Cardiff | 1 | 2009 |
| 3= | Gloucester | 1 | 2011 |
| 3= | Harlequins | 1 | 2013 |
| 3= | Northampton | 1 | 2010 |
| 3= | Ospreys | 1 | 2008 |
| 3= | Saracens | 1 | 2015 |
| 3= | Wasps | 1 | 2006 |
