The 2010–11
British and Irish Cup
The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009� ...
was the 2nd season of the annual
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 ...
competition for second tier,
semi-professional
Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...
clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on Friday 15 October 2010 and the final was held on Saturday 7 May 2011.
Defending champions
Cornish Pirates
The Cornish Pirates () are a professional rugby union team who play in the RFU Championship, Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. The Cornish Pirates team are the 'First XV' o ...
were unable to make it out of the pool stages.
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
lifted the cup, narrowly defeating
Bedford Blues
Bedford Blues are a semi-professional rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in the RFU Championship.
History
Foundation and 19th century
Bedford RUFC was founded in 1886 after an amalgamation between Bedford Rove ...
17–14 in the first all-English final.
Teams
The allocation of teams was as follows:
* – 12 teams from
RFU Championship
The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...
* – 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams.
* – 3 Scottish sides, top clubs from the
Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
.
* – 6 top clubs from the
Principality Premiership
The Welsh Premier Division, () known for sponsorship reasons as the Admiral 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.
2025–26 se ...
.
Competition format
The teams were divided into four pools of six, playing over five weekends during the
Autumn International and
Six Nations windows. The four pool winners and runners-up contested a knock-out stage, with quarter-finals on 5 or 6 March, semi-finals on 23 March and the final on 7 May.
Pool stages
Pool A
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
Pool B
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
Pool C
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
Pool D
----
----
----
*This fixture would double up as a cup and
2010–11 RFU Championship
The 2010–11 RFU Championship was the 2nd season (of the professionalised format) of the second division of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between August 2010 and May 2011. New teams to the division included Worcester Warr ...
game after the cup game was initially postponed.
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
Knock-out stages
Qualifiers
The four pool winners and the four runners up proceeded to the knock out stages. The best four qualifiers (pool winners) had home advantage in the quarter-finals.
Quarter-finals
----
----
----
----
Semi-finals
----
----
Final
Top scorers
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
Geography
References
External links
Unofficial British and Irish Cup website - latest news, teams etc Results from the BBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:British and Irish Cup
British and Irish Cup
2010–11 rugby union tournaments for clubs
2010–11 RFU Championship
2010–11 in Irish rugby union
2010–11 in Welsh rugby union
2010–11 in Scottish rugby union
2010–11 in British rugby union