The 2013–14 LV Cup (styled as the LV= Cup) is the 43rd season of England's national
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 ...
cup competition, and the ninth to follow the
Anglo-Welsh
Welsh writing in English, (previously Anglo-Welsh literature) is a term used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers.
The term 'Anglo-Welsh' replaced an earlier attempt to define this category of writing as 'Anglo- ...
format.
The competition consists of the four Welsh
Pro12
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 ...
teams and the twelve
English Premiership clubs arranged into pools consisting of three English and one Welsh team. English clubs have been allocated to the pools depending on their finish in the
2012–13 Aviva Premiership. Welsh regions have been allocated to the pools to avoid repeating fixtures from the
Heineken
Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star.
History
On 15 February 1864, ...
and
Amlin Challenge Cups where possible. Teams are guaranteed two home and two away pool matches, with teams in Pools 1 and 4 playing each other and teams in Pools 2 and 3 playing each other, with the top team from each pool qualifying for the semi-finals. The competition will take place during the Autumn Internationals window and during the Six Nations thus allowing teams to develop their squad players.
Harlequins are defending champions this season after claiming the cup with a 32–14 victory over
Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...
in the final at
Sixways Stadium
Sixways Stadium is a stadium in Worcester, England. It is currently used for rugby union and association football matches and is the home stadium of Premier 15s side Worcester Warriors Women, football side Worcester Raiders F.C., Worcester Ra ...
in
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engl ...
.
It was the third victory for Harlequins in the competition, and the first since the current Anglo-Welsh format was adopted in
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
.
Pool stages
Points system
The points scoring system for the pool stages will be as follows:
* 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)
Pool 1 v Pool 4
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
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Round 4
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Pool 2 v Pool 3
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
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Round 4
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Knockout stage
Qualification criteria
The top teams from each pool qualify for the knockout stages. The pool winners will be decided by the following criteria:
:1. The pool winner will be the club with the highest number of match points in each pool. The pool winners will be ranked 1 to 4 by reference to the number of match points earned in the pools.
:2. If two or more clubs in the same pool end the pool stage equal on match points, then the order in which they have finished will be determined by:
::i. the greater number of matches won by the club and
::ii. if the number of matches won is equal, the club with the greater total number of tries scored and
::iii. if the total number of tries scored is equal, the club with the greater points difference (points scored for, less points scored against) and
::iv. if the points difference is equal, the club with the fewer number of red cards and
::v. if the number of red cards is the same, by the toss a coin.
Each of the four qualifying clubs shall be ranked as above and shall play each other as follows:
:Semi-final 1 – 1st ranked club v 4th ranked club
:Semi-final 2 – 2nd ranked club v 3rd ranked club
The first club listed in each of the semi-final matches shall be the home club.
Semi-finals
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Final
* In previous seasons, the winner of the Anglo-Welsh Cup (if English) was awarded with a place in the following season's
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 ...
. This is no longer the case with the advent of the
Rugby Champions Cup.
Top scorers
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
See also
*
2013–14 English Premiership (rugby union)
*
2013–14 Pro 12
References
External links
Official website* Anglo Welsh Cup on Premiership Rugby website
*
Tables*
Fixtures and resultsAnglo Welsh Cup website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lv Cup
2013-14
2013–14 English Premiership (rugby union)
2013–14 in Welsh rugby union
2013–14 rugby union tournaments for clubs