The 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 15th season of the

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

, Europe's second-tier club

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, and the second to be sponsored by the British insurance company

Amlin MS Amlin Ltd is an insurer operating in the Lloyd's, UK, Continental Europe and Bermudian markets. Specialising in providing insurance cover to commercial enterprises and reinsurance protection to other insurance companies around the world, MS ...

. The tournament began on 7 October 2010, with the final played on 20 May 2011 at

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium () is a stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City and the Wales national football team, Wales national team. Following expansion of the Ninian S ...

, the day before the

2011 Heineken Cup Final The 2011 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, the 16th season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 21 May 2011 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The match was contested by N ...

in the same city at

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

. A total of 23 teams from six countries participated. The competition began with 20 teams; three more teams that began their seasons in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

parachuted into the knockout stage.

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

did not defend their title, as by winning the 2009–10 cup, they qualified for the

2010–11 Heineken Cup The 2010–11 Heineken Cup was the 16th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started with three matches on 8 October 2010 and ended on 21 May 2011 w ...

, and did not parachute into the Challenge Cup. Harlequins claimed the title with a 19–18 win over

Stade Français Stade Français Paris (known commonly as Stade Français, ) is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French ...

, becoming the first team to win the Challenge Cup three times. The victory also sent Quins into the

2011–12 Heineken Cup The 2011–12 Heineken Cup was the 17th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The final was held at Twickenham on Saturday, 19 May 2012, kicking off at ...

Teams

The allocation of teams is as follows: * England: 6 teams — all teams from the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup * France: 7 teams — all teams from the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup. Normally 8 teams, but Toulouse's win in the 2009–10 Heineken Cup gave France an extra place in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. * Italy: 4 teams — the top four teams from the 2009–10 Super 10 (now

Top12 The Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2 ...

) that did not move to the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

for 2010–11 * Ireland: 1 team — the Irish team that failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup through the Magners League * Spain: 1 team — the champion of the previous season's División de Honor * Romania: 1 team specially created for the competition

Seeding

Teams that did not qualify for the

were ordered into four tiers according to the European Rugby Club Ranking. Five pools of four teams were drawn comprising one team from each tier. The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2009–10 season.

Pool stage

The draw for the pool stage took place on 9 June 2010. :

Pool 1

Pool 2

Pool 3

Pool 4

Pool 5

Knockout stage

Seeding

Following the end of the pool stage, the 5 pool winners were seeded alongside the top 3

pool runners-up who failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals. (HC) Means a team has entered the competition from the Heineken Cup

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were decided based on the above seeding. All game times are local. ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals of both the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup took place after the Pool 6 Heinieken Cup match between London Wasps and Toulouse on 23 January 2011. The draw was conducted in the Sky Sports booth by

Ieuan Evans Ieuan Cennydd Evans (born 21 March 1964) is a former rugby union player who played on the wing for Wales and the British and Irish Lions. He is the fourth highest try scorer for Wales behind Shane Williams, George North and Gareth Thomas an ...

and Jean-Pierre Lux, Chairman of ERC, at

Adams Park Adams Park is a Association football, football stadium in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Built in 1990, it is the home ground of the local Wycombe Wanderers F.C., Wycombe Wanderers Football Club in EFL League One, League One, with a c ...

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

. In last season's Challenge Cup, any semi-final that involved a club that started the season in the Challenge Cup and a club that started in the Heineken Cup would be hosted by the club that started in the Challenge Cup. This rule was abandoned for 2010–11; the home club in each semi-final is now determined strictly by the draw. ----

Final

The final of the Amlin Challenge Cup took place at

on 20 May 2011. Harlequins won the trophy for the third time with a 19–18 victory over Stade Francais.

Individual statistics

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:European Challenge Cup 2010–11 rugby union tournaments for clubs 2010–11 in European rugby union 2010–11 in Irish rugby union 2010–11 in English rugby union 2010–11 in French rugby union 2010–11 in Italian rugby union 2010–11 in Romanian rugby union 2010–11 in Spanish rugby union

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...