Countries England
Wales Matches played 35 | Teams 16 | |
Tournament format(s) Round-robin and knockout Date 15 October 2011 – 18 March 2012 Attendance 273,097 (7,803 per match) | ||
The 2011–12 LV Cup (styled as the LV= Cup) was the 41st season of England's national rugby union cup competition, and the seventh to follow the Anglo-Welsh format.
Contents
The competition consisted of the four Welsh Pro 12 teams and the 12 English Premiership clubs arranged into pools consisting of three English and one Welsh team. Teams were 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, with the top team from each pool qualifying for the semi finals. The competition took place during the autumn soon after the World Cup and on international fixture dates during the Six Nations, thus allowing teams to develop their squad players.
The defending champions were Gloucester, who this season failed to progress from the pool stage.
Points system
The points scoring system for the pool stages will be as follows:
Pool 1 v Pool 4
Tables
Round 4
This match was postponed due to a frozen pitch at Rodney Parade. The LV= Organising Committee subsequently awarded the match to Saracens by 20 points to nil (a bonus point win). Dragons were also fined £10,000 (suspended) for their failure under LV= Cup Regulation 6.7 (that the pitch was unplayable and no suitable alternative arrangements were in place). Dragons appealed this decision and their appeal was upheld. The decision was quashed, with the match instead being recorded as a 0–0 draw and the suspended fine reduced from £10,000 to £5,000.
Pool 2 v Pool 3
Tables
Qualification criteria
The top teams from each pool qualify for the knockout stages. The pool winners will be decided by the following criteria:
1. The pool winner will be the club with the highest number of match points in each pool. The pool winners will be ranked 1 to 4 by reference to the number of match points earned in the pools. 2. If two or more clubs in the same pool end the pool stage equal on match points, then the order in which they have finished will be determined by:Each of the four qualifying clubs shall be ranked as above and shall play each other as follows:
Semi-final 1 - 1st ranked club v 4th ranked club Semi-final 2 - 2nd ranked club v 3rd ranked clubThe first club listed in each of the semi-final matches shall be the home club.
Semi-finals
Fixtures