2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup

2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup
Tournament details
Countries  England
 France
 Ireland
 Italy
 Scotland
 Wales
Tournament format(s) Round-robin and Knockout
Date 14 October 2016 – 13 May 2017
Tournament statistics
Teams 20
Matches played 19
Highest Attendance 26,500
Munster v Glasgow Warriors
22 October 2016
Attendance 239,999 (12,632 per match)
Lowest Attendance 3,000
Zebre v Connacht
23 October 2016
Tries scored 53 (2.79 per match)
Top point scorer(s) Owen Farrell (Saracens)
(16 points)
Top try scorer(s)

Sean Cronin (Leinster
Wesley Fofana (Clermont
Rob Miller (Wasps
Federico Ruzza (Zebre)

Leonardo Sarto (Glasgow Warriors)
Joe Simpson (Wasps
D. T. H. van der Merwe (Scarlets
(2 tries)
Final
Venue BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Official website http://www.epcrugby.com
2015–16 (Previous) (Next) 2017–18 →

The 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup is the third European Rugby Champions Cup championship, the annual rugby union club competition for teams from the top six nations in European rugby. The competition replaced the Heineken Cup, which was Europe's top-tier competition for rugby clubs for the first nineteen years of professional European rugby union.[1]

English side Saracens are the reigning champions, having beaten Racing 92 of France in the 2016 final in Lyon.

The opening round of the tournament will take place on the weekend of 14/15/16 October 2016. The final will take place on the 13 May 2017, at BT Murrayfield in Edinburgh.[2][3]

Teams

Twenty clubs from the three major European domestic and regional leagues will compete in the Champions Cup. Nineteen of these will qualify directly as a result of their league performance.

The distribution of teams is:

Due to the 2015 Rugby World Cup, it was decided that the play-off system that had previously decided the final team would be suspended, and that this year the winner of the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup would automatically qualify for the tournament. In the event this team had already qualified, the team's domestic league would be allocated an extra qualifying place.[4]

The following teams qualified for the 2016–17 tournament.

Aviva Premiership Top 14 Pro 12
England England France France Ireland Ireland Italy Italy Scotland Scotland Wales Wales

This is the first time all four Irish provinces have qualified for Europe's top club competition on their own merits, as Connacht's two previous appearances in the former Heineken Cup had been as a result of Leinster winning that cup the previous season.

Team details

Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.

Team Coach /
Director of Rugby
Captain Stadium Capacity Method of Qualification
France Bordeaux Bègles France Raphaël Ibañez New Zealand Hugh Chalmers Stade Chaban-Delmas 34,694 Top 14 top 7 (7th)
France Castres France Christophe Urios Uruguay Rodrigo Capo Ortega Stade Pierre-Antoine 11,500 Top 14 top 7 (6th) (QF)
France Clermont France Franck Azéma France Damien Chouly Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin 18,030 Top 14 top 7 (1st) (SF)
Ireland Connacht Samoa Pat Lam Ireland John Muldoon Galway Sportsgrounds 8,100 Pro12 top 7 (2nd) (CH)
England Exeter Chiefs England Rob Baxter England Jack Yeandle Sandy Park 12,600 Aviva Premiership top 6 (2nd) (RU)
Scotland Glasgow Warriors Scotland Gregor Townsend Scotland Jonny Gray Scotstoun Stadium 10,000 Pro 12 top Scottish team (3rd) (SF)
England Leicester Tigers England Richard Cockerill England Tom Youngs Welford Road 25,800 Aviva Premiership top 6 (4th) (SF)
Ireland Leinster Ireland Leo Cullen Fiji Isa Nacewa RDS Arena 18,500 Pro 12 top Irish team (1st) (RU)
France Montpellier South Africa Jake White France Fulgence Ouedraogo Altrad Stadium 14,700 Challenge Cup winner, Top 14 top 7 (3rd) (SF)
Ireland Munster South Africa Rassie Erasmus Ireland Peter O'Mahony Thomond Park 25,600 Pro12 top 7 (6th)
England Northampton Saints England Jim Mallinder England Tom Wood Franklin's Gardens 15,500 Aviva Premiership top 6 (5th)
France Racing 92 France Laurent Labit
France Laurent Travers
France Dimitri Szarzewski Stade Yves-du-Manoir 14,400 Top 14 top 7 (4th) (CH)
England Sale Sharks England Steve Diamond England Josh Beaumont AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Aviva Premiership top 6 (6th)
England Saracens Ireland Mark McCall England Brad Barritt Allianz Park 10,000 Aviva Premiership top 6 (1st) (CH)
Wales Scarlets New Zealand Wayne Pivac Wales Ken Owens Parc y Scarlets 14,870 Pro 12 top Welsh team (5th)
France Toulon Italy Diego Domínguez South Africa Juan Smith Stade Mayol 15,820 Top 14 top 7 (2nd) (RU)
France Toulouse France Ugo Mola France Thierry Dusautoir Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Top 14 top 7 (5th) (QF)
Ireland Ulster Australia Les Kiss Ireland Andrew Trimble Kingspan Stadium 18,196 Pro12 top 7 (4th) (SF)
England Wasps Wales Dai Young England Joe Launchbury Ricoh Arena 32,609 Aviva Premiership top 6 (3rd) (SF)
Italy Zebre Italy Gianluca Guidi Italy George Biagi Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi 5,000 Pro 12 top Italian team (11th)

Seeding

The 20 competing teams are seeded and split into four tiers, each containing 5 teams.

For the purpose of creating the tiers, clubs are ranked based on their domestic league performances and on their qualification for the knockout phases of their championships, so a losing quarter-finalist in the Top 14 would be seeded below a losing semi-finalist, even if they finished above them in the regular season.[5]

Rank Top 14 Premiership Pro 12
1 France Racing 92 England Saracens Ireland Connacht
2 France Toulon England Exeter Chiefs Ireland Leinster
3 France Clermont England Wasps Scotland Glasgow Warriors
4 France Montpellier England Leicester Tigers Ireland Ulster
5 France Toulouse England Northampton Saints Wales Scarlets
6 France Castres England Sale Sharks Ireland Munster
7 France Bordeaux Bègles Italy Zebre

Based on these seedings, teams are placed into one of the four tiers, with the top seed clubs being put in Tier 1. The nature of the tier system means that a draw is needed to allocate two of the three second seed clubs to Tier 1. Exeter Chiefs and Leinster were drawn into Tier 1, meaning the remaining side - Toulon went into Tier 2. As a result of this draw, Montpellier also entered Tier 2, as the fourth seed from the league of the second seed placed in Tier 2. The other two fourth rankes sides fell into Tier 3.[6]

The tiers are shown below. Brackets show each team's seeding and their league (for example, 1 Top 14 indicates the team was seeded 1st from the Top 14).

Tier 1 England Saracens (1 AP) Ireland Connacht (1 Pro12) France Racing 92 (1 Top 14) England Exeter Chiefs (2 AP) Ireland Leinster (2 Pro12)
Tier 2 France Toulon (2 Top 14) England Wasps (3 AP) Scotland Glasgow Warriors (3 Pro12) France Clermont (3 Top 14) France Montpellier (4 Top 14)
Tier 3 England Leicester Tigers (4 AP) Ireland Ulster (4 Pro12) England Northampton Saints (5 AP) Wales Scarlets (5 Pro12) France Toulouse (5 Top 14)
Tier 4 England Sale Sharks (6 AP) Ireland Munster (6 Pro12) France Castres (6 Top 14) Italy Zebre (7 Pro12) France Bordeaux Bègles (7 Top 14)

The following restrictions will apply to the draw:[6]

Pool stage

The draw took place on 29th June 2016, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Teams will play each other twice, both at home and away, in the group stage, that will begin on weekend of 14/15/16 October 2016, and continue through to 20/21/22 January 2017, before the pool winners and three best runners-up progressed to the quarter finals.

Teams will be awarded competition points, based on match result. Teams receive 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and 1 defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.[7]

In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers will be used, as directed by EPCR:

  1. Where teams have played each other
    1. The club with the greater number of competition points from only matches involving tied teams.
    2. If equal, the club with the best aggregate points difference from those matches.
    3. If equal, the club that scored the most tries in those matches.
  2. Where teams remain tied and/or have not played each other in the competition (i.e. are from different pools)
    1. The club with the best aggregate points difference from the pool stage.
    2. If equal, the club that scored the most tries in the pool stage.
    3. If equal, the club with the fewest players suspended in the pool stage.
    4. If equal, the drawing of lots will determine a club's ranking.
Key to colours
     Winner of each pool, advance to quarter-finals.
     Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarter-finals.
     Cannot advance to the quarter-finals.

Pool 1

Team
P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
Ireland Munster 1 1 0 0 38 17 +21 5 2 1 0 5
Scotland Glasgow Warriors 2 1 0 1 59 51 +8 7 6 1 0 5
England Leicester Tigers 2 1 0 1 40 59 –19 3 7 0 0 4
France Racing 92 1 0 0 1 17 27 –10 2 2 0 0 0

Pool 2

Team
P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
Ireland Connacht 2 2 0 0 75 28 +47 11 3 1 0 9
England Wasps 2 1 1 0 102 34 +68 14 4 1 0 7
France Toulouse 2 0 1 1 41 43 –2 4 5 0 1 3
Italy Zebre 2 0 0 2 21 134 −113 3 20 0 0 0

Pool 3

Team
P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
England Saracens 2 2 0 0 75 49 +26 8 4 1 0 9
France Toulon 2 1 0 1 38 36 +2 4 4 0 0 4
Wales Scarlets 2 1 0 1 54 55 –1 5 6 0 0 4
England Sale Sharks 2 0 0 2 16 43 –27 2 5 0 0 0

Pool 4

Team
P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
Ireland Leinster 2 1 0 1 49 37 +12 6 5 1 1 6
France Castres 2 1 0 1 56 40 +16 7 6 1 0 5
France Montpellier 2 1 0 1 36 32 +4 4 2 0 1 5
England Northampton Saints 2 1 0 1 23 55 –32 2 6 0 0 4

Pool 5

Team
P W D L PF PA Diff TF TA TB LB Pts
France Clermont 2 2 0 0 84 41 +43 11 6 2 0 10
France Bordeaux Bègles 2 1 0 1 61 62 –1 8 7 1 0 5
Ireland Ulster 2 1 0 1 32 46 –14 2 3 0 0 4
England Exeter Chiefs 2 0 0 2 26 54 –28 1 6 0 1 1

Seeding and runners-up

Updated to 23 October 2016, post Leicester Tigers v Racing 92

Seed Pool Winners Pts TF +/−
1 France Clermont 10 11 +43
2 Ireland Connacht 9 11 +47
3 England Saracens 9 8 +26
4 Ireland Leinster 6 6 +12
5 Ireland Munster* 5 5 +21
Seed Pool Runners–up Pts TF +/−
6 England Wasps 7 14 +68
7 France Bordeaux Bègles 5 8 -1
8 France Castres 5 7 +16
9 Scotland Glasgow Warriors 5 7 +8
10 France Toulon 4 4 +2

Munster have 1 game in hand.*

Knock-out stage

The eight qualifiers are ranked according to their performance in the pool stage and compete in the quarter-finals which will be held on the weekend of 31 March, 1/2 April 2017. The four top teams will host the quarter-finals against the four lower teams in a 1v8, 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5 format.

The semi-finals will played on the weekend of 22/23 April 2017. In lieu of the draw that used to determine the semi-final pairing, EPCR announced that a fixed semi-final bracket would be set in advance, and that the home team would be designated based on "performances by clubs during the pool stages as well as the achievement of a winning a quarter-final match away from home". Semi-final matches must be played at a neutral ground in the designated home team's country.

Home country advantage will be awarded as follows:[7]

Winner of QF Semi-Final 1
(Home v Away)
1 4 1 v 4
1 5 5 v 1
8 4 8 v 4
8 5 5 v 8

Winner of QF Semi-Final 2
(Home v Away)
3 2 2 v 3
3 7 7 v 3
6 2 6 v 2
6 7 6 v 7

The winners of the semi-finals will contest the final, at BT Murrayfield, on 13 May 2017.[3]

Attendances

Club Home
Games
Total Average Highest Lowest % Capacity
France Bordeaux Bègles 1 21,132 21,132 21,132 21,132
France Castres 1 8,405 8,405 8,405 8,405
France Clermont 1 17,965 17,965 17,965 17,965
Ireland Connacht 1 8,091 8,091 8,091 8,091
England Exeter Chiefs 1 9,879 9,879 9,879 9,879
Scotland Glasgow Warriors 1 7,351 7,351 7,351 7,351
England Leicester Tigers 1 19,048 19,048 19,048 19,048
Ireland Leinster 1 13,890 13,890 13,890 13,890
France Montpellier 1 10,679 10,679 10,679 10,679
Ireland Munster 1 25,600 25,600 25,600 25,600
England Northampton Saints 1 14,099 14,099 14,099 14,099
France Racing 92 0 0 0 0 0
England Sale Sharks 1 9,402 9,402 9,402 9,402
England Saracens 1 9,084 9,084 9,084 9,084
Wales Scarlets 1 6,521 6,521 6,521 6,521
France Toulon 1 14,103 14,103 14,103 14,103
France Toulouse 1 14,206 14,206 14,206 14,206
Ireland Ulster 1 16,843 16,843 16,843 16,843
England Wasps 1 10,701 10,701 10,701 10,701
Italy Zebre 1 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000

[8]

See also

References

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