The 2012–13 LV Cup (styled as the LV= Cup) is the 42nd season of England's national
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
cup competition, and the eighth to follow the
Anglo-Welsh format.
The competition consists of the four Welsh
Pro12
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...
teams and the 12
English Premiership clubs arranged into pools consisting of three English and one Welsh team. English clubs have been allocated to the pools depending on their finish in the
2011-12 Aviva Premiership. Welsh regions have been allocated to the pools to avoid repeating fixtures from the
Heineken
Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star.
History
On 15 February 1864, ...
and
Amlin Challenge cups where possible. Teams are guaranteed two home and two away pool matches, with teams in Pools 1 and 4 playing each other and teams in Pools 2 and 3 playing each other, with the top team from each pool qualifying for the semi-finals.
The competition will take place during the Autumn Internationals window and during the Six Nations thus allowing teams to develop their squad players.
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...
are defending champions this season after claiming the cup with a 26–14 victory over
Northampton Saints
Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union.
It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...
in the final at
Sixways Stadium
Sixways Stadium is a stadium in Worcester, England. It is currently used for rugby union and association football matches and is the home stadium of Premier 15s side Worcester Warriors Women, football side Worcester Raiders F.C., Worcester Ra ...
in
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engl ...
. It was the seventh victory for Leicester Tigers (a record) in the competition, and the second since the current Anglo-Welsh format was adopted in
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
.
Pool stages
Points system
The points scoring system for the pool stages will be as follows:
*4 points for a win
*2 points for a draw
*1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match (TB)
*1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less (LB)
Pool 1 v Pool 4
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
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Round 4
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Pool 2 v Pool 3
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
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Round 4
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Knock–out stage
Qualification criteria
The top teams from each pool qualify for the knockout stages. The pool winners will be decided by the following criteria:
:1. The pool winner will be the club with the highest number of match points in each pool. The pool winners will be ranked 1 to 4 by reference to the number of match points earned in the pools.
:2. If two or more clubs in the same pool end the pool stage equal on match points, then the order in which they have finished will be determined by:
::i. the greater number of matches won by the club and
::ii. if the number of matches won is equal, the club with the greater total number of tries scored and
::iii. if the total number of tries scored is equal, the club with the greater points difference (points scored for, less points scored against) and
::iv. if the points difference is equal, the club with the fewer number of red cards and
::v. if the number of red cards is the same, by the toss a coin.
Each of the four qualifying clubs shall be ranked as above and shall play each other as follows:
:Semi-final 1 – 1st ranked club v 4th ranked club
:Semi-final 2 – 2nd ranked club v 3rd ranked club
The first club listed in each of the semi-final matches shall be the home club.
Semi-finals
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Final
* Harlequins gain a place in the
2013–14 Heineken Cup
The 2013–14 Heineken Cup was the 19th and final season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby.
The pool stage began on 11 October 2013 and ran through to 17� ...
by winning this competition.
Top scorers
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
See also
*
2012–13 English Premiership (rugby union)
*
2012–13 Pro 12
References
External links
*
* Anglo Welsh Cup on Premiership Rugby website
*
Tables*
Fixtures and resultsAnglo Welsh Cup website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lv Cup
2012–13 in Welsh rugby union
2012–13 English Premiership (rugby union)
2012-13
2012–13 rugby union tournaments for clubs