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2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup
The 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup was the 10th edition of the EPCR Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 28th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition. The tournament commenced in December 2023, and concluded with the final on 24 May 2024 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England. In the final, Sharks beat Gloucester to win the cup for the first time. This is the second year that teams from South Africa can qualify, following the second United Rugby Championship season. Two teams have been invited from outside the three main European professional leagues; The Black Lion from Tbilisi, Georgia are current holders of the Rugby Europe Super Cup, the third-tier competition in European rugby administered by Rugby Europe, and Cheetahs the current holders of the Currie Cup, South Africa's second tier and most historic nation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Round-robin Tournament
A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indiv ... in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Merriam Co), p.1980. A round-robin contrasts with an elimination tournament, in which participants/teams are eliminated after a certain number of losses. Terminology The term ''round-robin'' is derived from the French term ''ruban'', meaning "ribbon". Over a long period of time, the term was Folk etymology, corrupted and idiomized to ''robin''. In a ''single round-robin'' schedule, each participant plays every other participant once. If each participant plays all others twice, this is freque ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Black Lion
The Black Lion (Georgian: ''Shavi Lomi'') is a professional Georgian rugby union team based in Tbilisi that competes annually in the Rugby Europe Super Cup Eastern Conference competition along with Romanian Wolves and Tel Aviv Heat and fellow Georgian team Batumi RC. They also compete in the Currie Cup First Division in South Africa. Name The name of the franchise has several inspirations. The players of the national team are sometimes nicknamed the lions, in reference to an (unofficial) anthem of the national team, which says: "freedom is the property of the lions". Also this is similar to the Georgian Rugby Union's slogan, "Freedom is a lion's destiny". The second inspiration comes from Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani, one of whose most famous works is the painting ''Black Lion''. The club logo is a reinterpretation of the lion's face. History The franchise was created in 2021 to participate in the Rugby Europe Super Cup. It is owned by the Georgian Federation, which emplo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Bristol Bears
Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 1888; between 1921 and 2014, home matches were played at the Memorial Ground, since when they have been played at Ashton Gate Stadium in the south-west of the city. The current head coach is Pat Lam who was appointed in 2017. In the 2021-22 Premiership Rugby season Bristol finished 10th entitling them to compete in the 2022-23 European Rugby Challenge Cup. In 2018, the club rebranded as Bristol Bears; between 2001 and 2005 the club were known as Bristol Shoguns due to a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi. Bristol won the 1983 John Player Cup and have also won England's second division four times, most recently in 2017–18. In 2019-2020, Bristol won The European Challenge Cup for the first time. History Formation and early history ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2023–24 Premiership Rugby
The 2023–24 Premiership Rugby is the 37th season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the sixth to be sponsored by Gallagher. The competition is being broadcast by TNT Sports for the eleventh and final year of their current broadcast deal, with six league season games and the final also simulcast free-to-air by ITV. Highlights of each weekend's games are to be shown on ITV, with extended highlights on TNT Sports. The reigning champions entering the season are Saracens, who claimed their 6th league title after winning the 2023 final. No team was promoted from the 2022–23 RFU Championship, as the champions were not able to satisfy the eligibility criteria required to enter the league. Rule changes The 2023–24 season is set to be the final year under the current Premiership competition structure, before a planned 're-launch' taking place ahead of the 2024–25 season. As a result, the moratorium on relegation to the RFU Championship will c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Professional Club Rugby
European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) is the governing body and organiser of the two major European rugby union club tournaments: the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. A third tournament, the European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition was introduced as a qualification competition for clubs from minor nations to enter the Challenge Cup. EPCR shared control of this tournament with Rugby Europe, the international federation for rugby union in Europe, and with the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR). The tournament was discontinued after the 2018–19 season. The organisation was established in 2014 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and is now headquartered in Lausanne. Switzerland was chosen so as not to have the headquarters in any of the six participating countries. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top 14
The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism of LNR. There is promotion and relegation between the Top 14 and the next level down, the Rugby Pro D2. The fourteen best rugby teams in France participate in the competition, hence the name Top 14. The competition was previously known as the Top 16. The league is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe (along with the English Premiership and the United Rugby Championship, which brings together top clubs from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy and South Africa), from which the most successful European teams go forward to compete in the European Rugby Champions Cup, the pan-European championship which replaced the Heineken Cup after the 2013–14 season. The first ever final took place in 1892, between two Paris-based sides, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Premiership Rugby
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the top division of the English rugby union system. Premiership clubs qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The winner of the second division, the RFU Championship is promoted to the Premiership and until 2020, the team finishing at the bottom of the Premiership each season was relegated to the Championship. The competition is regarded as one of the three top-level professional leagues in the Northern and Western Hemispheres, along with the Top 14 in France, and the cross-border United Rugby Championship for teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and South Africa. The competition has been played since 1987, and has evolved into the current Premiership sys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup
The 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup is the tenth season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) for teams from the top five nations in European rugby and South Africa. It was the 29th season of pan-European professional club rugby competition. This was the second time the tournament features the top teams from South Africa, following the second United Rugby Championship season. The tournament commenced in May 2024. The final was held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Tottenham, England on 25 May 2024, and won by Toulouse for the sixth time, defeating Leinster 31-22. Teams Twenty-four clubs from the three major European domestic and regional leagues qualified to compete in the 2023–24 edition of the Champions Cup. The distribution of teams is: * England: eight clubs ** The top eight clubs from Premiership Rugby * France: eight clubs ** The top eight clubs from the Top 14 * Ireland, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connacht Rugby
Connacht Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Connachta) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht Branch, which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU, and is responsible for rugby union throughout the geographical Irish province of Connacht. Connacht plays its home games at the Galway Sportsgrounds, which holds 8,100 spectators. Connacht play in a predominantly green jersey, shorts and socks. The Connacht Rugby crest is a modified version of the provincial flag of Connacht and consists of a dimidiated eagle and an arm wielding a sword. With the province containing just over 8% of the total Irish population, Connacht has a much smaller base of rugby union players to choose from than the other three provinces. This player base is also affected by the relative popularity of Gaelic Athletic Association sports such as hurling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulster Rugby
Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Ulster Branch, which is one of the four primary branches of the IRFU and is responsible for rugby union throughout the geographical Irish province of Ulster, comprising Northern Ireland ( Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone) and three counties in the Republic of Ireland which are Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan. History Foundation (1868–1879) A number of clubs were operating in Ulster prior to the foundation of the Irish Rugby Football Union and the Ulster branch. The Belfast-based Northern Ireland F.C., founded in 1868, was the earliest club to operate in the province. Clubs from this era still in existence include Dungannon and Queen's University. The first Irish inter-provincial game took place in 1875 between Ulster and Leinster, with Ulster b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Currie Cup
The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franchises also compete in the United Rugby Championship competition, including for the 'South African Shield'. for the highest placed South African team. Steeped in history and tradition, the Currie Cup dates back to 1891. The tournament is regarded as the cornerstone of South Africa's rugby heritage, and the coveted gold trophy remains the most prestigious prize in South African domestic rugby. History The Currie Cup is one of the oldest rugby competitions, with the first games played in 1889 but it was only in 1892 that it became officially known as the Currie Cup. The competition had its humble beginnings as an inter-province competition in 1884, but when the South African Rugby Board was f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
