The 2012–13 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 17th 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. A total of 23 teams participated — 20 in the pool stage, plus three teams parachuting into the knockout stages from 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 ...

. The original 20 teams represented six countries. The pool stage began in

Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (; Gascon dialect, Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a communes of France, commune and capital of the Landes (department), Landes Departments of France, department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Population Milit ...

on 11 October 2012, with

Stade Montois Stade Montois Rugby is a French rugby union team that currently is playing in Pro D2, the second level of the country's professional league system. They were founded in 1908 and play in yellow and black. They are based in Mont-de-Marsan, the c ...

hosting

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

. It ended on 19 January 2013 when

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 ...

hosted competition newcomers

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

, followed by the knockout stages culminating in the final at the

RDS Arena RDS Arena is a multi-purpose sports stadium, owned by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland. The arena was developed to host equestrian events, primarily the annual Dublin Horse Show, which wa ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 17 May 2013. The defending Challenge Cup champions, France's

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Iparralde, Basque city of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

, did not initially have a chance to defend their crown because they earned an automatic berth in the Heineken Cup. However, having finish 2nd in their pool, and failing to reach the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup, they were one of three teams parachuted into the Challenge Cup knockout stages. They were knocked out of the competition by

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

at the semi-final stage. Leinster went on to win the competition, defeating Stade Français 34–13 in the final.

Teams

Gernika Rugby Taldea represented Spain despite finishing just 5th in the División de Honor.

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

won the División de Honor, and the championship playoff, but turned down the opportunity to play in the Challenge Cup due to economic factors. As runners up in the championship playoff, Gernika qualified in their place.

Seeding

Teams that did not qualify for the

2012–13 Heineken Cup The 2012–13 Heineken Cup was the 18th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The tournament began with two pool matches on 12 October 2012 and ended with t ...

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 2011–12 season.

Pool stage

: Points breakdown: :4 points for a win :2 points for a draw :1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match (TB) :1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less (LB) Source
www.ercrugby.com

Pool 1

Pool 2

*Per the Competition Rules, Perpignan and Worcester were level on the first tiebreaker of head-to-head competition points (5–5); Perpignan topped the pool on the second tiebreaker of head-to-head try count (3–1).

Pool 3

Pool 4

Pool 5

* The result of the Grenoble / London Welsh match on 7 December 2012 was 20–9 to Grenoble, but London Welsh were retroactively awarded a 28–0 victory and five match points, after Grenoble admitted fielding an ineligible player,

Lotu Taukeiaho Lotu may refer to: People * Brigitta Lotu-Iiga (born 1968), New Zealand rugby union player * Lotu Filipine (born 1980), rugby union football player * Lotu Fuli, politician * Lotu Inisi (born 1999), Tongan rugby union player * Sam Lotu-Iiga, poli ...

, during the match.

Seeding for knockout stage

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

pool runners-up who failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals – designated (HC). Teams are ranked by total number of Competition Points earned (4 for a win, 2 for a draw, etc.) in the pool stages. If this does not separate the teams, qualification/ranking will be based on: :(a) the number of tries scored in all Pool matches. :(b) aggregate points difference from all Pool matches. :(c) the Club with the fewest players sent off and / or suspended in all Pool matches. :(d) toss of a coin.

Knockout stage

All kickoff times are local to the match location.

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

* Under European Rugby Cup rules, the winner of the Challenge Cup was automatically entered into the following season's Heineken Cup. If the Challenge Cup winner had already domestically qualified, the Cup winner's berth passed to another team from its country. As Leinster qualified for the 2013–14 Heineken Cup through their performance in the

Pro 12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

qualified for the Heineken Cup.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:European Challenge Cup 2012–13 rugby union tournaments for clubs 2012–13 in European rugby union 2012–13 in Irish rugby union 2012–13 in English rugby union 2012–13 in French rugby union 2012–13 in Italian rugby union 2012–13 in Romanian rugby union 2012–13 in Spanish rugby union 2012–13 in Welsh rugby union

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...