2003–04 European Challenge Cup
The 2003–04 European Challenge Cup (known as the Parker Pen Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 8th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second tier club rugby union competition below the Heineken Cup. A total of 28 teams participated, representing seven countries. This was the first year of the competition following the introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales. With the reduction of Welsh teams from nine to five, and with all teams participating in the 2003-04 Heineken Cup, there were no Welsh teams in the 2003–04 Parker Pen Challenge Cup. The competition began when Rotherham hosted Narbonne and Leonessa hosted Montferrand on 5 December 2003 and culminated in the final at the Madejski Stadium in Reading on 22 May 2004. As in the previous season, the competition was organised in a knockout format. Teams played each other on a home and away basis, with the aggregate points winner proceeding to the next round. The final was a single leg. For t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Single-elimination Tournament
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion. Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in American pro sports. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine the lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. In a shootout poker tournament, there are more than two players competing at each table, and sometimes more than one progressing to the next round. Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage, often c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2003–04 European Shield
The 2003–04 European Shield (known as the Parker Pen Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 2nd season of the European Shield, Europe's third-tier club rugby union competition below the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup. A total of 16 teams participated, representing five different countries. This competition was contested between 12 first round losers from the 2003–04 European Challenge Cup plus 4 other Clubs entering directly into the 1st Round. The structure of the competition was a purely knockout format; teams played each other on a home and away basis, with the aggregate points winner proceeding to the next round. The final was a single leg. The competition began on 10 January 2004 and culminated in the final at the Stadio Luigi Zaffanella in Viadana on 21 May 2004. Montpellier secured a victory over Viadana in the final and picked up their first piece of European Club silverware. Teams This competition was contested between 12 first round losers from the 20 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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AS Béziers Hérault
Association Sportive Béziers Hérault ( oc, Associacion Esportiva de Besièrs Erau), often referred to by rugby media simply by its location of Béziers, is a French rugby union club currently playing in the second level of the country's professional rugby system, Pro D2. They earned their most recent promotion as 2011 Fédérale 1 champions, but the club also won 11 Top 14 titles since its establishment in 1911. Béziers was a major force in French rugby throughout the 1970s and 1980s; however, at the end of 2004–05 season they were relegated to Pro D2. After some years playing in French second division, they finished bottom of the table in 2008–09 and were relegated to amateur Fédérale 1, before returning to Pro D2 after their 2011 title. They are based in Béziers in Occitania, and play at Stade Raoul-Barrière (capacity 18,555). The club colors are red and blue. History The club was established in 1911. Their first notable honour was being runners-up in the Coupe de F ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Saracens F
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Petraea and Arabia Deserta. The term's meaning evolved during its history of usage. During the Early Middle Ages, the term came to be associated with the tribes of Arabia. The oldest known source mentioning "Saracens" in relation to Islam dates back to the 7th century, in the Greek-language Christian tract ''Doctrina Jacobi''. Among other major events, the tract discusses the Muslim conquest of the Levant, which occurred after the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate following the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Roman-Catholic church and European Christian leaders used the term during the Middle Ages to refer to Muslims—usually Arabs, Turks, and Iranians. By the 12th century, "Saracen" had become synonymous with "Muslim" in Medieva ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Newcastle Falcons
Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Club and briefly assumed their name until 1887. In 1990, the name was changed to Newcastle Gosforth and the club began to play at Kingston Park stadium in Kingston Park, Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1996, following the start of professionalism the club briefly adopted the name Newcastle Rugby Club before adopting its current name. Newcastle has won 5 major titles. They won the Premiership in 1998 and four domestic cups in 1976, 1977, 2001 and 2004. Newcastle was the only English club of Jonny Wilkinson, where he played from 1997 to 2009, and as well as Wilkinson in 2003 Newcastle saw three players in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final with Mathew Tait starting and Toby Flood appearing from the bench. Mark Wilson played in the 2019 Rugby Wo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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London Irish
London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While playing in the Championship in 2016–17 and 2018–19, it also played in the British and Irish Cup and RFU Championship Cup. The club played home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, Berkshire, for twenty years, before moving for the 2020–21 season to the Gtech Community Stadium in Brentford, West London. The club was founded in 1898 following the creation of London Scottish and London Welsh for the same reason, allowing Irishmen the chance to play rugby with fellow countrymen in the English Capital. London Irish won its first major trophy in 2002, the Powergen Cup (now the Premiership Rugby Cup), and reached the 2009 English Premiership final, narrowly losing 10–9 to Leicester Tigers at Twickenham Stadium. In the 2007–0 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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División De Honor De Rugby
The División de Honor de Rugby is Spain's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The División de Honor de Rugby Championship is organised by the Federación Española de Rugby (Spanish Rugby Federation) and currently consists of 12 teams. The last-placed team in the competition is relegated at the end of the season to the División de Honor B, Spain`s second level of men's rugby union. The team finishing 11th enters a relegation/promotion playoff with the runner-up from the Division de Honor B playoffs. Format The División de Honor season takes place between September and March, with every team playing each other home and away for a total of 22 matches. Points are awarded according to the following: *4 points for a win *2 points for a draw *1 bonus point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match *1 bonus point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer The six teams with the highest number of points at the end of 22 rounds of ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Top12
The Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2019–2020 season, following the Italian federation's decision to name Peroni as the official partner of the Top10 competition. The leading teams qualify to play against teams from the other leading rugby union nations in Europe in the European Challenge Cup. Aironi and Benetton Treviso began competing in the league now known as Pro14 in the 2010–11 season, and took both Italian places in the Heineken Cup. Owing to financial problems, the FIR revoked Aironi's professional licence after the 2011–12 season; that team was replaced in Pro12 by the FIR-operated Zebre. From 2014 to 2015, one of the two Italian Pro12 sides competes in the Heineken Cup's replacement, the European Rugby Champions Cup; the other plays in the European Rugby Challen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2003–04 Celtic League
The 2003–04 Celtic League was the third Pro14, Celtic League season, and the first following the Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales, formation of the five regional rugby sides in Wales. The Celtic League, having previously been played as a pool stage followed by knockout rounds was restructured into a typical league system, based on home and away games only. The league was won by the Llanelli Scarlets, with all the other Welsh regions finishing in the top 6. Following this season, the Celtic Warriors were bought-out and disbanded by the Welsh Rugby Union, and in subsequent years, only four Welsh sides have competed. Teams Table Fixtures Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9 Round 10 Round 11 Round 12 Round 13 Round 14 Round 15 Round 16 Round 17 Round 18 Round 19 Round 20 Round 21 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2003–04 Top 16 Season
The 2003-04 Top 16 season was the top level of French club rugby in 2003-05. The competition was played by 16 teams. In the first stage, two pools of 8 played. The first 4 of each pool were admitted to the "top 8" to play for the title, the other 4 to a relegation tournament. First round (3 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 point for a loss) Pool A Pool B Relegation Pool The teams total sum of the points obtained in the first round and the points obtained in the matches played with the 4 teams from the other group (home and away). Top 8 Two Pool of 4 teams. The first two of each pool were qualified for semifinals. Them and the third also qualified for 2004–05 Heineken Cup Pool A Pool B Semifinals ---- ---- Final See also * 2003-04 Rugby Pro D2 * 2003-04 Heineken Cup External links LNR.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:2003-04 Top 16 season Top 14 seasons France France (), officially the French Re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2003–04 Heineken Cup
The 2003–04 Heineken Cup was the ninth season for which European teams competed for the Heineken Cup. Competing teams, from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ..., were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The winners of the pools, together with the two best runners-up, qualified for the knock-out stage. This was the first competition in the series to employ the bonus point system for classifying teams. In prior competitions, teams earned two points for a win and one for a draw. Starting with the 2003–04 competition, teams earned points in the pool matches under the following scenarios: * Four points for a win * Two points for a draw * One bonus point fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |