The 1996–97 European Challenge Cup (also called the 1996–97 European Shield) was the inaugural year of the

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, the second tier

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cup competition below the

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. The tournament was held between October 1996 and January 1997 and was won by

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with an 18–9 victory over

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is the sole subprefecture of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. It lies in the former province of Languedoc, although not in the former region of Lang ...

in the final at the

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, France. Twenty-four teams took part from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Scotland and Wales, divided into four groups of six. Each team played the other teams in the group once, meaning each had five matches with either two or three on their home ground. The quarter–finals saw seven of the eight clubs coming from France, with the only non-French club being

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Teams

The qualifying teams were drawn from seven countries. Generally, these were teams from the top division of domestic rugby that did not qualify to play in the

: * England: 6 teams from the English Premiership * France: 7 teams from the French Championship * Ireland: one team representing one of the four

Provinces of Ireland There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish language, Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Kingdom_of_ ...

* Italy: one team from the

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* Romania: one team from the

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* Scotland: one team representing one of the four geographical districts * Wales: 7 teams from the

Welsh Premier Division The Welsh Premier Division, () known for sponsorship reasons as the Indigo Group Premiership, (''Uwch Gynghrair grŵp indigo'') is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the 1990–91 season. Compet ...

Pool stage

Twenty four teams participated in the pool stage of the competition; they were divided into four pools of six teams each, with each team playing the other teams in their pool once only. Matches took place between 12 October and 2 November 1996 and teams were awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw. The winner and runner-up of each pool progressed to the knockout stage of the tournament.

Pool 1

Pool 2

The Treorchy v Bridgend match was not played.

Pool 3

Pool 4

Qualifiers

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:European Challenge Cup 1996–97 rugby union tournaments for clubs 1996-97 1996–97 in European rugby union 1996–97 in English rugby union 1996–97 in French rugby union 1996–97 in Irish rugby union 1996–97 in Italian rugby union 1996–97 in Romanian rugby union 1996–97 in Scottish rugby union 1996–97 in Welsh rugby union