The 2021–22 RFU Championship Cup was the third 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 ...
Championship Cup
The Championship Cup (known as the Northern Rail Cup for sponsorship reasons), previously known as the National League Cup, was a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Rugby League Championships. Although the Frenc ...
competition for second tier,
professional
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...
English clubs playing in the
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 ...
. The competition returned after a 14-month hiatus, following the cancellation of the previous year's tournament and the mid season cancellation of the
2019–20 tournament.
Competition format
The competition format is two-legged knockout ties with a first round of five matches, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. The Championship winners,
Ealing Trailfinders
Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the reigning RFU Championship champions of 2024–25 but were considered ineligible for promotion to Premiership Rugby a ...
received a
bye to the quarter-finals. The first round matches took place on 9 April, following the final round of Championship fixtures. In the competition's inaugural season, the RFU had set out the pool matches in a regional format to encourage derby games, but this year's competition format is more loosely structured.
Participating teams and locations
First round
First leg
Second leg
*Jersey Reds win 111 – 21 on aggregate
* Doncaster Knights win 56 – 46 on aggregate
* Hartpury University win 96 – 66 on aggregate
* Coventry win 52 – 49 on aggregate
* Bedford Blues win 90 – 33 on aggregate
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Knock-out stage
The four overall winners from round 1 along with the best two losing teams and Ealing Trailfinders will contest the two-legged quarter-finals. The competition will then be played in a single-leg straight knockout format.
Quarter-finals
1st leg
2nd leg
* Jersey Reds won 49 - 34 on aggregate
* Cornish Pirates won 71 – 69 on aggregate
* Ealing Trailfinders won 87 – 45 on aggregate
* Coventry won 62 – 53 on aggregate
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Semi-finals
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Final
See also
*
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 ...
*
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†...
References
External links
RFU
{{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 RFU Championship Cup
RFU Championship Cup
2021–22 rugby union tournaments for clubs
2021–22 RFU Championship