The 1997–98 Tetley's Bitter Cup was the 27th edition of England's top
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 ...
club competition.
Saracens
file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens
''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...
won the competition, for the first time by defeating
Wasps
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
, who lost in the final for the third time.
The first two rounds were unsponsored and by the third round
Tetley's Brewery
Tetley's Brewery (Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd) was an English regional brewery founded in 1822 by Joshua Tetley in Hunslet, now a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire. The beer was originally produced at the Leeds Brewery, which was later renamed the L ...
took over the sponsorship; the previous nine years had been sponsored by
Pilkington
Pilkington is a glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, England. It includes several legal entities in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Japanese company Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG). It was formerly an independent company ...
. The final was held at
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...
.
Draw and results
First round (13 September)
* Cheltenham's 138 – 0 win over Okehampton was a record score for the competition.
Second round (4 October)
Third round (1 November)
Fourth round (3 & 4 January)
Fifth round (24 January)
Quarter-finals (28 February & 1 March)
Semi-finals (28 March)
Final
See also
*
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 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tetley's Bitter Cup
1996-97
1997–98 rugby union tournaments for clubs
1997–98 in English rugby union