The 2018–19 Premiership Rugby Cup was the 47th 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 first under the new
Premiership Rugby Cup format following the disbanding of the
Anglo-Welsh Cup
The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...
at the end of the 2017–18 season due to the withdrawal of the Welsh
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 ...
regions. Although there are no stipulations on player selection, the cup was seen by many clubs as a development competition, and games took place during the
Autumn International window and during the
Six Nations.
Northampton Saints
Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union.
It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...
became the first ever winners of the Premiership Cup when they defeated
Saracens
file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens
''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...
23 – 9 in the final at
Franklin's Gardens
Franklin's Gardens (currently known for sponsorship purposes as cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens) is a purpose-built rugby stadium in Northampton, England. It is the home stadium of Northampton Saints and Loughborough Lightning. The stadiu ...
on 17 March 2019.
It was the Saints' first domestic cup triumph since winning the
2009–10 LV Cup and their second overall.
Competition format
The competition consists of the twelve
English Premiership teams arranged in three pools of four clubs each, with each team playing three games against teams in their pool, as well as a 'derby' game against a team in another group. The top team in each pool, plus the best overall runner up, progress to the semi-finals, with the highest ranked teams having home advantage. The winners of the semi-finals then meet at the final in March 2019 to be held at the home ground of the highest ranked remaining team.
Teams and locations
Pool stage
Pool 1
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
Pool 2
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
Pool 3
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
Round 4 (derby games)
After three pool games, each team will play a 'derby' game against a team in another pool, with results counting towards the final standings in each pool.
*Game originally due to be played on 2 February but postponed twice due to snow.
Knock-out stage
The four qualifiers are seeded according to performance in the pool stage. The top 2 seeds host the semi-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 4, 2v 3 format. Note, if two teams qualify from the same pool, they can still be drawn together in the semi-finals.
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
:5 – where the greatest number of points are equal, greatest number of tries scored
Semi-finals
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 — 52 points
52 – 0 Bath at home to Gloucester on 4 February 2019
;Largest away win — 20 points
32 – 12 Saracens away to Harlequins on 26 January 2019
;Most points scored — 59
59 – 33 Northampton Saints at home to Newcastle Falcons on 9 February 2019
;Most tries in a match — 9
Northampton Saints at home to Newcastle Falcons on 9 February 2019
;Most conversions in a match — 7 (2)
Bath at home to Gloucester on 4 February 2019
Northampton Saints at home to Newcastle Falcons on 9 February 2019
;Most penalties in a match — 4 (4)
Harlequins away to Bath on 27 October 2018
Saracens at home to Leicester Tigers on 27 October 2018
Wasps at home to Bristol Bears on 11 November 2018
Saracens away to Worcester Warriors on 8 February 2019
;Most drop goals in a match — 0
Player
;Most points in a match — 20
Semesa Rokoduguni for Bath at home to Gloucester on 4 February 2019
;Most tries in a match — 4
Semesa Rokoduguni for Bath at home to Gloucester on 4 February 2019
;Most conversions in a match — 7
James Grayson for Northampton Saints at home to Newcastle Falcons on 9 February 2019
;Most penalties in a match — 4 (4)
Demetri Catrakilis for Harlequins away to Bath on 27 October 2018
Max Malins for Saracens at home to Leicester Tigers on 27 October 2018
Lima Sopoaga for Wasps at home to Bristol Bears on 11 November 2018
Alex Lozowski for Saracens away to Worcester Warriors on 8 February 2019
;Most drop goals in a match — 0
Attendances
;Highest — 17,815
Leicester Tigers at home to Worcester Warriors on 3 November 2018
;Lowest — 3,824
Sale Sharks at home to Newcastle Falcons on 3 February 2019
Notes
See also
*
Premiership Rugby
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...
*
Anglo-Welsh Cup
The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...
*
2018–19 RFU Championship Cup
*
English rugby union system
Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system.
Women's Rugby union in England consi ...
*
List of English rugby union teams
The England, English rugby union league pyramid is topped by the Premiership. Below this are the Championship and National Leagues 1 to 3. Below this, the structure is split geographically into four regions: Midlands, North, London and South East, ...
*
Rugby union in England
Rugby union in England is one of the leading professional and recreational team sports. In 1871 the Rugby Football Union, the governing body for rugby union in England, was formed by 21 rugby clubs, and the first international match, which invol ...
References
External links
Premiership Rugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Premiership Rugby Cup
Rugby union competitions in England
2018–19 rugby union tournaments for clubs
Premiership Rugby Cup