Teams 24 | Matches played 79 | |
Date 11 October 2013 — 23 May 2014 Attendance 93,761 (1,187 per match) |
The 2013–14 British and Irish Cup was the fifth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. Leinster A were the defending champions having won the 2012–13 Final with a 78th minute penalty by Noel Reid to beat Newcastle Falcons 18–17 at their home ground Kingston Park. There has been four different winners and four different losing finalists of the competition in the first four seasons of its existence.
Contents
- Teams
- Welsh qualification
- Cardiff Blues Region
- Dragons Region
- Ospreys Region
- Scarlets Region
- Competition format
- Pool stages
- Qualifiers
- Quarter finals
- Semi finals
- Final
- Geography
- References
The format of the competition has been changed once again, with Welsh participation being reduced to just four teams (down from 12 in the previous season). The Welsh teams were selected based on regional play-offs involving the 2013–14 Premier Division clubs at the start of the season. This process yielded Pontypridd to represent the Cardiff Blues Region, Cross Keys to represent the Dragons Region, Aberavon to represent the Ospreys Region, and Llanelli to represent the Scarlets Region.
Matches in the competition proper were played on the same weekends as the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup. First round matches began on 11 October 2013 and the final was held on 23 May 2014. Leinster A beat Leeds Carnegie 44 – 17 in the final and retained the cup they won in the previous season – the first team to win the cup for a second time.
Teams
The allocation of teams was as follows:
Welsh qualification
Welsh participation was reduced from 12 teams (in the previous season) to just four. The Welsh teams were selected based on regional play-offs involving the 2013–14 Premier Division clubs at the start of the season. Teams gained home advantage depending upon their finishing position at the end of the 2012–13 season. For example, in the Cardiff Blues region, Cardiff RFC (8th in the 2012-13 Welsh Premier Division) traveled to Sardis Road to play Pontypridd RFC (1st). Likewise, Llanelli RFC (3rd) hosted Carmarthen Quins RFC (6th) with the winner (Llanelli) travelling to Llandovery RFC (2nd) to contest the right to represent the Scarlets region.
Cardiff Blues Region
Dragons Region
Ospreys Region
Scarlets Region
Competition format
The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of six pools of four teams playing home and away matches. The top side in each pool, plus the two best runners-up, will progress to the knockout stage. The eight quarter-finalists will be ranked, with teams ranked 1-4 having home advantage. The four winning quarter finalists will progress to the semi-final draw. Matches will take place on the same weekends as the Heineken and Amlin Cups.
Pool stages
The fixture weekends have been announced.
Qualifiers
The six pool winners, and the two best runners-up, proceed to the knock out stages. The ranking criteria of the quarter finalists has been altered slightly from earlier seasons. Previously, the six pool winners were seeded 1-6 and the two runners up as 7 and 8. This meant that the best runners-up were automatically ranked 7 and 8 even if they had a better playing record than some of the teams ranked 1-6. This is no longer the case.
There was a draw for the quarter-final stage, which took place on 27 January 2014. The top four seeds (Leinster A, Leeds Carnegie, Cornish Pirates and Bristol) will have home advantage.
Teams are ranked by
1. Competition Points (4 for a win, 2 for a draw, etc.)2. where Competition Points are equal, greatest number of wins3. where the number of wins are equal, aggregate points difference4. where the aggregate points difference are equal, greatest number of points scoredThere are further criteria that can be applied if necessary.
Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals was carried out on 27 January 2014.
Semi-finals
The draw for the semi-finals was carried out on 27 January 2014.
Final
On 14 April, it was announced that the final will be played at the home of the winner of the Pontypridd / Leinster A semi-final. This will be played on Friday 23 May, at a time to be decided.