The 2011–12
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 3rd 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 Wednesday 21 September 2011 and the final was held on Friday 27 April 2012.
[The Cornishman 23 June 2011.]
Defending champions
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 ...
had a very poor campaign and were unable to make it out of the pool stages.
Munster A lifted the cup, comfortably defeating
Cross Keys 31–12 in the final. They became the first
Irish side to claim the title, and the third different side to win in the competition's three-year history.
Teams
The allocation of teams is as follows:
* – 12 clubs from
RFU Championship
* – 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams.
* – 3 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
Welsh Premier Division.
Competition format
The pool stage saw a change in format and consisted of six pools of four teams playing cross-pool matches, giving each team two home and two away matches. Matches between English teams were played mid-week. Pool matches took place from 21 September to 18 December. The top team from each pool qualified for the quarter-finals, together with the two runners–up with the best records.
* Pool 1 teams Ayr, Cornish Pirates, Moseley and Neath, played the teams in Pool 2 Bristol Rugby, Cross Keys, Plymouth Albion and Munster
* Pool 3 teams Aberavon, Bedford Blues, Leinster and London Scottish, played the teams in Pool 4: Esher Rugby, Llanelli, London Welsh and Melrose
* Pool 5: Currie, Doncaster, Rotherham and Pontypridd, played the teams in Pool 6: Leeds Carnegie, Nottingham Rugby, Swansea and Ulster Ravens
Pool stages
Pool 1 v Pool 2
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Pool 3 v Pool 4
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Pool 5 v Pool 6
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Knock–out stages
Qualifiers
The six pool winners and the two best runners up proceeded to the knock out stages. The best four qualifiers (pool winners) had home advantage in the quarter finals.
Quarter-finals
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Semi-finals
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Final
Top scorers
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
Geography
References
External links
Unofficial British and Irish Cup website - latest news, teams etc
{{DEFAULTSORT:British and Irish Cup
British and Irish Cup
2011–12 rugby union tournaments for clubs
2011–12 RFU Championship
2011–12 in Irish rugby union
2011–12 in Welsh rugby union
2011–12 in Scottish rugby union
2011–12 in British rugby union