The 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup-Challenge Cup play-off was the second play-off for entry into the top-level competition of European Club rugby union, the

European Rugby Champions 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 pr ...

Format

Following the two-team play-off in 2014–15, an expanded, four-team format was due to be used. However, on 24 September 2014, it was announced this would instead be a three-team play-off, with the highest placed non-qualifying team taking part. To accommodate the longer season in the French Top 14, the format was announced as follows: *One team each would qualify from the Premiership and the

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 ...

, with each league being represented by the highest placed team not already qualified. These two teams would play in the first game, with home advantage in the match would be decided by a coin toss. In the event that the 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup winner was a Premiership club, and it had not automatically qualified for the Champions Cup, it would take the place allocated to a Premiership team. *The winner of the first game would host the 7th placed team in the French

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 ...

. The winner of that game would qualify for the Champions Cup.

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 ...

became the first team to qualify for the play-off, taking the place allocated to the Premiership, when they beat

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

19–13 in the Challenge Cup final on 1 May 2015. This result meant that the 7th place team in the 2014–15 Premiership will no longer take part in the play-off, and will compete in the Challenge Cup.

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 next, when the finished seventh in the

2014–15 Pro12 The 2014–15 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the fifth with its current four-country format. It was ...

with 50 points, narrowly edging

who had 48 points. Bordeaux Bègles qualified for the play-off on 23 May 2015. Connacht played Gloucester away at Gloucester's

Kingsholm Stadium Kingsholm Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Kingsholm area of Gloucester, England, and is the home stadium of Gloucester Rugby. The stadium has a capacity of 16,115. It is sometimes nicknamed 'Castle Grim', after the estate where ...

on Sunday 24 May 2015, with the venue having been decided earlier by a coin toss. It was decided that, in the event of a Gloucester win, the second play-off match would be played 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 ...

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 ...

, to avoid a clash of fixtures with a Madness concert.

Teams

Matches

Match 1

advanced to play Bordeaux Bègles.

went on to compete in the

2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup The 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the second edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual pan-European rugby union competition for professional clubs. It is also the 20th season of the Challenge Cup competition in all forms, ...

Match 2

* Bordeaux Bègles qualified for the

2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup The 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup was the second European Rugby Champions Cup championship (21st overall), the annual rugby union club competition for teams from the top six nations in European rugby. The European Rugby Champions Cup rep ...

played in the

References