The 2019–20 Premiership Rugby Cup was the 48th season of England's national
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
cup competition and the second under the new
Premiership Rugby Cup
The Premiership Rugby Cup is an English rugby union knockout cup competition for teams in Premiership Rugby. It was created in 2018 to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup after the withdrawal of the Welsh regions.
History
The Premiership Rugby Cup was ...
format following the disbanding of the
Anglo-Welsh Cup
The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...
at the end of the 2017–18 season due to the withdrawal of the Welsh
Pro14
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...
regions. Although there were no stipulations on player selection, the cup was seen by many clubs as a development competition, and games took place during the
2019 Rugby World Cup
The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...
and during the
Six Nations.
Northampton Saints
Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...
entered the competition as reigning champions, becoming the first winners of the Premiership Cup when they defeated
Saracens
file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...
23 – 9 in the final at
Franklin's Gardens
Franklin's Gardens (currently known for sponsorship purposes as cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens) is a purpose-built rugby stadium in Northampton, England. It is the home stadium of Northampton Saints. The stadium holds 15,249 people. The fou ...
during the 2019–20 season.
Competition format
The competition consisted of the twelve
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 ...
teams arranged in three pools of four clubs each, with each team playing three games against teams in their pool, as well as a 'derby' game against a team in another pool. The top team in each pool, plus the best overall runner up, progressed to the semi-finals, with the highest ranked teams having home advantage. The winners of the semi-finals then met in the final delayed from March to September 2020, held at the home ground of the highest ranked remaining team.
Teams and locations
Pool stage
The pool stage began on 20 September 2019 and ran for four consecutive weeks. Fixtures were announced by Premiership Rugby on 17 July 2019.
Pool 1
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
Pool 2
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
Pool 3
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
Round 4 (derby games)
After three pool games, each team played a 'derby' game against a team in another pool, with results counting towards the final standings in each pool.
Knock-out stage
The four qualifiers were seeded according to performance in the pool stage. The top 2 seeds hosted the semi-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 4, 2v 3 format. Note, if two teams qualified from the same pool, they could still be drawn together in the semi-finals. Semi-finals were held over a two-week period in early February followed by the final originally scheduled for mid-March but postponed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams are ranked by:
:1 – competition points (4 for a win, 2 for a draw)
:2 – where competition points are equal, greatest number of wins
:3 – where the number of wins are equal, aggregate points difference
:4 – where the aggregate points difference are equal, greatest number of points scored
:5 – where the greatest number of points are equal, greatest number of tries scored
Semi-finals
Final
Attendances
Individual statistics
* Points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
Season records
Team
;Largest home win — 34 points
57 – 23 Worcester Warriors at home to Leicester Tigers on 21 September 2019
;Largest away win — 27 points
49 – 22 Harlequins away to Exeter Chiefs on 31 January 2020
;Most points scored — 57
57 – 23 Worcester Warriors at home to Leicester Tigers on 21 September 2019
;Most tries in a match — 8
Worcester Warriors at home to Leicester Tigers on 21 September 2019
;Most conversions in a match — 6 (2)
Worcester Warriors at home to Leicester Tigers on 21 September 2019
Exeter Chiefs at home to Bristol Bears on 12 October 2019
;Most penalties in a match — 4
Saracens away to Wasps on 21 September 2019
;Most drop goals in a match — 1
Leicester Tigers away to Bath on 5 October 2019
Player
;Most points in a match — 23
Ben Spencer for Saracens at home to Harlequins on 12 October 2019
;Most tries in a match — 3 (4)
Scott Steele
Randall Scott Steele (born February 26, 1958) is an American competitive sailor, World Champion (Windsurfer) and Olympic Silver Medalist (Yachting/Sailing/Windglider)
Career
At the 1984 Summer Olympics, Steele finished in 2nd place in the men's ...
for London Irish away to Gloucester on 21 September 2019
Tom Howe for Worcester Warriors at home to Exeter Chiefs on 4 October 2019
Nick Tompkins
Nick Tompkins (born 16 February 1995) is a rugby union player who plays at centre for English Premiership club Saracens and the Wales national team.
Tompkins came through the academy at Saracens. Born in Sidcup, England, Tompkins qualifies fo ...
for Saracens away to Northampton Saints on 6 October 2019
Marcus Watson for Wasps at home to Worcester Warriors on 12 October 2019
;Most conversions in a match — 5 (3)
Marcus Smith for Harlequins at home to Gloucester on 5 October 2019
Tiff Eden for Bristol Bears at home to London Irish on 6 October 2019
Joe Simmonds for Exeter Chiefs at home to Bristol Bears on 12 October 2019
;Most penalties in a match — 4
Tom Whiteley for Saracens away to Wasps on 21 September 2019
;Most drop goals in a match — 1
Tom Hardwick
Thomas Vivien Colin Hardwick (born 24 March 1999) is an English professional rugby union player, currently unattached the last club he played for was SC Albi, who play in France's third national division of rugby union. He previously played 32 ...
for Leicester Tigers away to Bath on 5 October 2019
Attendances
;Highest — 16,160
Leicester Tigers at home to Northampton Saints on 12 October 2019
;Lowest — 2,558
London Irish at home to Sale Sharks on 12 October 2019
Notes
See also
*
2019–20 Premiership Rugby
The 2019–20 Gallagher Premiership was the 33rd season of the top flight English domestic rugby union competition and the second one to be sponsored by Gallagher. The reigning champions entering the season were Saracens, who had claimed their fif ...
*
Anglo-Welsh Cup
The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...
*
2019–20 RFU Championship Cup
The 2019–20 RFU Championship Cup was the second season of the annual rugby union Championship Cup competition for second tier, professional English clubs playing in the RFU Championship.
The competition ended without a winner after the qua ...
*
English rugby union system
Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system.
Women's Rugby union in England cons ...
*
List of English rugby union teams
The English rugby union league pyramid is topped by the Premiership. Below this are the Championship and National Leagues 1 to 3. Below this, the structure is split geographically into four regions: Midlands, North, London and South East, and South ...
*
Rugby union in England
Rugby union in England is one of the leading professional and recreational team sports. In 1871 the Rugby Football Union, the governing body for rugby union in England, was formed by 21 rugby clubs, and the first international match, which involv ...
References
External links
Premiership Rugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Premiership Rugby Cup
Rugby union competitions in England
Premiership Rugby Cup
2019–20 rugby union tournaments for clubs