The 2017–18

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� ...

is the ninth and final 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. Munster A are the defending champions having won the 2016–17 final against

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds was a rugby union club based in Jersey, Channel Islands. On 28th September 2023, the club ceased trading and shortly thereafter went into liquidation following the withdrawal of financial support from a key investor. Until seaso ...

29–28 at Irish Independent Park,

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

on 21 April 2017. The format of the competition is similar to last season with Scottish clubs not competing. For the third consecutive season the four Welsh teams are the reserve sides of the teams competing in the

Pro14 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 ...

competition instead of clubs from the

Welsh Premier Division The Welsh Premier Division, () known for sponsorship reasons as the Admiral Premiership, (''Uwch Gynghrair grŵp indigo'') is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the 1990–91 season. 2025–26 se ...

Competition format

The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of five pools of four teams playing home and away matches. The top side in each pool, plus the three best runners-up, progress to the knockout stage. The eight quarter-finalists are ranked, with top four teams having home advantage. The four winning quarter-finalists progress to the semi-final draw. Most of the matches are played on the same weekends as the European Champions Cup and

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 ...

. First round matches begin on 13 October 2017 and the final will be held in April 2018.

Participating teams and locations

The allocation of teams is as follows: * – twelve clubs from

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

* – four Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams * – four Welsh regions represented by Premiership Select teams.

Pool stages

(Q) denotes the team has qualified for the quarter-finals as the pool winners
(q) denotes team has at least qualified for the quarter-finals as one of the three highest-scoring second-place teams

Pool 1

Round 1

Round 6 (rescheduled game)

*Game rescheduled from 20 January 2018.

Knock-out stage

The eight qualifiers are seeded according to performance in the pool stage. The four top seeds hosted the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 format. However, if two teams qualify from the same group they can not be drawn together. Therefore, Leinster A cannot be drawn against Doncaster Knights. Teams are ranked by: :1 – competition points (4 for a win, 2 for a draw) :2 – where competition points are equal, greatest number of wins :3 – where the number of wins are equal, aggregate points difference :4 – where the aggregate points difference are equal, greatest number of points scored

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

Attendances

Individual statistics

* Points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Season records

Team

* Largest home win — 68 points: 68-0 Bristol at home to Cardiff Blues Premiership Select on 19 January 2018 * Largest away win — 57 points: 71-14 Ealing Trailfinders away to Connacht Eagles on 22 October 2017 * Most points scored — 78 points: 78-12 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Connacht Eagles on 13 January 2018 * Most tries in a match — 12: Ealing Trailfinders at home to Connacht Eagles on 13 January 2018 * Most conversions in a match — 9 (3): ** Doncaster Knights at home to Cardiff Blues Premiership Select on 9 December 2017 ** Ealing Trailfinders at home to Connacht Eagles on 13 January 2018 ** Bristol at home to Cardiff Blues Premiership Select on 19 January 2018 * Most penalties in a match — 4 (4): ** Nottingham away to Ospreys Premiership Select on 16 December 2017 ** Ospreys Premiership Select at home to Bedford Blues on 12 January 2018 ** Rotherham Titans at home to Richmond on 13 January 2018 ** Jersey Reds away to Yorkshire Carnegie on 20 January 2018 * Most drop goals in a match — 0

Player

* Most points in a match — 20 (2): ** Adam McBurney for Ulster A at home to Hartpury College on 16 December 2017 ** Brendan Cope for Jersey Reds away to London Scottish on 16 December 2017 * Most tries in a match — 4: Adam McBurney for Ulster A at home to Hartpury College on 16 December 2017 * Most conversions in a match — 9 (2): ** Simon Humberstone for Doncaster Knights at home to Cardiff Blues Premiership Select on 9 December 2017 **

Luke Daniels Luke Matthew Daniels (born 5 January 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Barrow, where he also serves as goalkeeper coach. Daniels is product of the Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion academ ...

for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Connacht Eagles on 13 January 2018 * Most penalties in a match — 4 (3): **

Tiff Eden Tiff Eden (born 16 October 1994) is an English rugby union player, currently playing for Premiership Rugby side Saracens. His preferred position is fly-half. Career Eden began his career with the , making 7 appearances, will also taking in a lo ...

for Nottingham away to Ospreys Premiership Select on 16 December 2017 ** Luke Price for Ospreys Premiership Select at home to Bedford Blues on 12 January 2018 ** Lee Millar for Rotherham Titans at home to Richmond on 13 January 2018 ** Brendan Cope for Jersey Reds away to Yorkshire Carnegie on 20 January 2018 * Most drop goals in a match — 0

Attendances

* Highest — 7,428: Bristol at home to Doncaster Knights on 22 October 2017 * Lowest — 50: Scarlets Premiership Select at home to Ulster A on 20 January 2018 * Highest Average Attendance — 6,611: Bristol * Lowest Average Attendance — 150: Scarlets Premiership Select

Notes

References

External links

England Rugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:British and Irish Cup British and Irish Cup 2017–18 rugby union tournaments for clubs 2017–18 in English rugby union 2017–18 in Irish rugby union 2017–18 in Welsh rugby union 2017–18 RFU Championship