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2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup
The 2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup was the fourth European Rugby Champions Cup championship (23rd overall), the annual rugby union club competition for teams from the top six nations in European rugby and was the twenty-third season of pan-European professional club rugby competition. The format of the competition began with a play-off qualification round at the end of the preceding season featuring teams from England, France, Ireland and Wales. The winner joined 19 teams already qualified by way of their domestic league position in the pool stage of the competition - a home and away round-robin for five groups of four teams. Following the pool stage, five pool winners, and three highest ranked runners-up, qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition, as the Cup thereafter reverted to a single elimination knockout format. The tournament began on 13 October 2017. The final was won by Leinster on 12 May 2018 at San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Spain. This was Leinst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Round-robin Tournament
A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format 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, wherein participants are eliminated after a certain number of wins or losses. Terminology The term ''round-robin'' is derived from the French term ('ribbon'). Over time, the term became 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 frequently called a ''double round-robin''. The term is rarely used when all participants play one another more than twice, and is never used when one participant plays others an unequal number of times, as is the case in almost all of the major North American professional sports leagues. In the United Kingdom, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2016–17 Pro12
The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with a four-country format. It was the third season to be referred to as the ''Guinness Pro12''. The twelve competing teams were the four Irish teams: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster; two Italian teams: Treviso and Zebre; two Scottish teams: Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors and four Welsh teams: Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets. The first stage involved the 12 teams playing home and away in a league format with the top four sides qualifying for the semi-finals. The semi-finals were one-off matches with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd, with the higher ranked team receiving home advantage. The winners of the semi-finals proceeded to the Pro 12 final which was played at the Aviva Stadium on 27 May 2017. The final was contested by Scarlets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulster Rugby
Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won once. Ulster were the first Irish team and the first team outside England and France to win the European Cup in 1999. 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. Prior to professionalisation, Ulster were a representative amateur team taking part in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship. They have also competed in the now defunct Celtic Cup (2003–05). Their development team, Ulster A, formerly known as the Ulster Rav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Munster Rugby
Munster Rugby () is one of the professional provincial rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU's Munster Branch, which is responsible for rugby union throughout the Irish province of Munster. The team motto is "To the brave and faithful, nothing is impossible." This is derived from the motto of the MacCarthy Mor dynasty, MacCarthy clan – "Forti et Fideli nihil difficile". Their main home ground is Thomond Park, Limerick, though some games are played at Musgrave Park, Cork, Musgrave Park, Cork (city), Cork. History Foundation and early years Munster was officially founded in 1879, at the same time as Leinster Rugby, Leinster and Ulster Rugby, Ulster, with Connacht Rugby, Connacht being founded ten years later in 1889. The first interprovincial matches between Leinster, Ulster and Munster, however, were held in 1875. The foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castres Olympique
Castres Olympique (, ) is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They play at the Stade Pierre-Fabre, which is one of the smallest in Top 14 with a capacity of 12,500. The team wear blue and white kits. The team won five French top-division championships in 1949, 1950, 1993 (in a match decided by an irregular try accorded by the referee), 2013, and 2018 as well as one Coupe de France in 1948. History In 1898 several alumni of Castres' municipal college met in a city centre bar and decided to create a team allowing them to play their favourite sport, rugby union. For the first few years this team was part of a multisport club until 1906. Unhappy with the dominating position cycling had within the club, the members of the rugby section decided to leave and create a club of their own, solely dedicated to their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montpellier Hérault Rugby
Montpellier Hérault Rugby (MHR) (; ) is a French professional rugby union club, based in Montpellier, Occitanie and named after the Hérault department. The club competes in the top level of the French league system, the Top 14. They originally played at Stade Sabathé (capacity 5,000) but moved in 2007 to the Stade Yves-du-Manoir, later known as Altrad Stadium, and since renamed the GGL Stadium. They wear white and blue. History The club was established in 1986 through the merger of two other rugby union clubs, the Stade Montpelliérain and MUC Rugby. In 1993 the club won the Challenge de l'Espérance. In 2003 the club became the champion of France's second division national rugby league, the Pro D2. After finishing second in the league table at the end of the 2002–03 season, Montpellier advanced to the playoffs. They defeated Auch in the semi-finals and Tarbes in the finals to win promotion to the Top 14. The following season the club played for the European Shield, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stade Rochelais
Stade Rochelais (), commonly called La Rochelle, is a French professional rugby union club based in La Rochelle, France that competes in the Top 14. Founded in 1898 and wearing yellow and black, the club's first-team plays its home matches at Stade Marcel-Deflandre. Alongside other French club Brive, La Rochelle is one of only two clubs that won the European Rugby Champions Cup (twice in its case; beating Leinster in both 2022 and 2023 finals) without succeeding in winning its domestic championship losing on both occasions against Toulouse in the final: the first time in 2021 and the second in 2023. Owned by several shareholders, including club president and coffee magnate Vincent Merling, the club is renowned for the fervour of its supporters and its continual sold-out home matches. History Originally formed in 1898, Stade Rochelais won three regional Atlantic championships in the early part of the 20th century, qualifying them for the French Championship, where they rea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RC Toulonnais
Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also referred to as Rugby Club Toulon or simply Toulon, is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon and competing in the Top 14. Located on the French Riviera, in the Provence region, the club plays its home games at the 17,500-capacity Stade Mayol. Founded in 1908, Toulon is one of the most important and widely supported rugby clubs in France. Domestically, the club has won a total of four league titles, two Pro D2 titles and two Challenge Yves du Manoir. In international competitions, Toulon is the only one to have won the Heineken Cup/ European Rugby Champions Cup three times in a row, and succeeded in winning the league/European cup double in 2014 too. Toulon has also won the EPCR Challenge Cup in 2023 after reaching the final on four occasions. The club established itself as a major force in domestic and European rugby in the 2010s when Jonny Wilkinson, Mathieu Bastareaud, Bakkies Botha, Matt Giteau and other rugby stars played ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ASM Clermont Auvergne
Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne () is a French professional rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Clermont are two times French champions in 2010 and 2017. The rugby section is a part of a multi-sport club called AS Montferrand (also known as ASM Omnisports), which was founded in 1911 and adopted that name in 1919. Although the rugby section changed its name to the current ASM Clermont Auvergne in 2004, it is still frequently referred to as Montferrand both within and outside France. The team play at the 19,022-seat Stade Marcel-Michelin, also known by its nickname, The Bib Park. Clermont wear yellow and blue, the colours of the French tyre manufacturer Michelin, taken from the colours of Montferrand when the firm was created there in 1889. The city is where Marcel Michelin, the son of the founder of the French tyre manufacturer, decided to implement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2017–18 European Rugby Champions–Challenge Cup Play-offs
The 2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup-Challenge Cup play-off was the third play-off for entry into the top-level competition of European Club rugby union, the European Rugby Champions Cup. Format Following a break to ease fixture congestion caused by the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the three-team play-off held in 2015–16 was expanded, and a four-team format was announced. The play-off comprised 3 matches, contested by one team from the Premiership, one from the Top 14, and two from the Pro14. The two Pro12 teams each played one of the Premiership or Top 14 sides in a single-leg semi-final, held at the home ground of the non-Pro12 side. The winners of these matches then contested a play-off final, with the winner of this match competing in the 2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup. The three losing teams all competed in the 2017–18 European Rugby Challenge Cup. Teams Four teams competed in the play-off, having qualified as either the highest team from each league that d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harlequin F
Harlequin (, , ; , ) is the best-known of the comic servant characters (Zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Zan Ganassa in the late 16th century, was definitively popularized by the Italian actor Tristano Martinelli in Paris in 1584–1585, and became a stock character after Martinelli's death in 1630. The Harlequin is characterised by his checkered costume. His role is that of a light-hearted, nimble, and Tricky slave, astute servant, often acting to thwart the plans of his master, and pursuing his own love interest, Columbina, Columbine, with wit and resourcefulness, often competing with the sterner and melancholic Pierrot. He later develops into a prototype of the romantic hero. Harlequin inherits his physical agility and his trickster qualities, as well as his name, from a mischievous "Devil in Christianity#Early Middle Ages, devil" character ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bath Rugby
Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground, Bath, Recreation Ground in the city centre. Bath Rugby is the joint most successful club in England, having won 21 major trophies. It was particularly successful between 1984 and 1998, when it won 10 Premiership Rugby Cup, Domestic Cups, 6 of it's 7 Premiership Rugby, League titles, and became the first English side to win the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Cup in 1998 Heineken Cup final, 1998. In 2007–08 European Challenge Cup, 2008 and 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup, 2025, Bath also won the EPCR Challenge Cup, European Challenge Cup, the continent's second-tier competition. Bath is one of only three clubs never to have been relegated from the top division of English rugby. Bath finished 2nd in the 2023–24 Premiership Rugby season, los ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
