Dates 10 Oct 2014 – 3 Apr 2015 Venue Castle Park rugby stadium Matches played 67 | Champion Worcester Warriors Teams 20 | |
 | ||
Countries England
Ireland
Wales Tournament format(s) Round-robin and knockout Attendance 111,051 (1,657 per match) Highest Attendance 7,640
Bristol 50–34 Connacht Eagles
(12 October 2014) Lowest Attendance 150
Ulster Ravens 25–12 Aberavon
(13 December 2014) Top point scorer(s) Douglas Flockhart (Doncaster Knights)
89 points | ||
The 2014–15 British and Irish Cup is the sixth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. Leinster A are the defending champions having won the 2013–14 final against Leeds Carnegie 44–17 at Donnybrook on 23 May 2014. There has been four different winners and five different losing finalists of the competition in the five seasons of its existence.
Contents
- Participating teams and locations
- Welsh qualification
- Cardiff Blues Region
- Dragons Region
- Ospreys Region
- Scarlets Region
- Competition format
- Pool 4
- Total season attendances
- Individual statistics
- References
The format of the competition has been changed once again, with the Scottish withdrawing from the competition because of an increase, from four to six, in the number of the group matches before Christmas. Scottish Rugby felt that Scottish teams would not be able to compete fully in both the British and Irish cup and the BT Premiership; the premier competition for clubs in Scotland. The Welsh teams selection is 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 Carmarthen Quins to represent the Scarlets Region.
Matches in the competition proper were played on the same weekends as the European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup. First round matches began on 10 October 2014 and the final was held on 3 April 2015. Worcester Warriors beat Doncaster Knights 35 – 5 in the final held at Castle Park, Doncaster; the home ground of the Knights.
Participating teams and locations
The allocation of teams is as follows:
Welsh qualification
The Welsh teams are selected, based on regional play-offs involving the twelve clubs from the 2013–14 Premier Division and played at the start of the season. Teams gained home advantage depending upon their finishing position at the end of last season.
Cardiff Blues Region
The two constituent clubs of the Cardiff Blues played in a one-off game to determine the region's representative in the Cup.
Dragons Region
The four teams that make up the Newport Gwent Dragons each played in semi-finals, with the winner of each progressing to play off for the opportunity to represent the region.
Ospreys Region
With three teams making up the Ospreys region, Aberavon and Neath faced each other first, with the winner going into the final play-off with Bridgend.
Scarlets Region
Like the Ospreys, the Scarlets region has three constituent clubs, so two teams played each other in a pleminary game for the chance to face the third team in the deciding match.
Competition format
The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of five pools of four teams playing home and away matches. The top side in each pool, plus the three 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 European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup cups.