2019–20 Premiership Rugby Cup Explained

The 2019–20 Premiership Rugby Cup was the 48th season of England's national rugby union cup competition and the second under the new Premiership Rugby Cup format following the disbanding of the Anglo-Welsh Cup at the end of the 2017–18 season due to the withdrawal of the Welsh Pro14 regions.^[1] Although there were no stipulations on player selection, the cup was seen by many clubs as a development competition, and games took place during the 2019 Rugby World Cup and during the Six Nations.

Northampton Saints entered the competition as reigning champions, becoming the first winners of the Premiership Cup when they defeated Saracens 23 – 9 in the final at Franklin's Gardens during the 2019–20 season.^{[2] [3]}

Competition format

The competition consisted of the twelve Premiership Rugby 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 pool. The top team in each pool, plus the best overall runner up, progressed to the semi-finals, with the highest ranked teams having home advantage. The winners of the semi-finals then met in the final delayed from March to September 2020, held at the home ground of the highest ranked remaining team.^[4]

Teams and locations

Club	Director of Rugby/Head Coach	Captain	Kit supplier	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bath	Stuart Hooper	Matt Garvey	Canterbury	The Recreation Ground	align=center	14,509	Bath
Bristol Bears	Pat Lam	Steve Luatua	Bristol Sport	Ashton Gate	align=center	27,000	Bristol
Exeter Chiefs	Rob Baxter	Jack Yeandle	Samurai Sportswear	Sandy Park	align=center	13,593	Exeter
Gloucester	David Humphreys	Willi Heinz	Elite Pro Sports	Kingsholm Stadium	align=center	16,115	Gloucester
Harlequins	Paul Gustard Billy Millard	Chris Robshaw	Adidas	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	Twickenham, Greater London
Leicester Tigers	Geordan Murphy	Tom Youngs	Kukri	Welford Road	align=center	25,849	Leicester
London Irish	Declan Kidney	Blair Cowan Stephen Myler Dave Porecki Franco van der Merwe	BLK	Madejski Stadium	align=center	24,162	Reading, Berkshire
Northampton Saints		Dylan Hartley Alex Waller	Macron	Franklin's Gardens	15,200	Northampton
Sale Sharks	Steve Diamond	Jono Ross	Samurai Sportswear	AJ Bell Stadium	align=center	12,000	Salford, Greater Manchester
Saracens	Mark McCall	Brad Barritt	Nike	Allianz Park	7,500	Barnet, Greater London
Wasps	Dai Young to 11 February Lee Blackett from 11 February		Under Armour	Ricoh Arena	align=center	32,609	Coventry
Worcester Warriors	Alan Solomons	GJ van Velze	VX-3	Sixways Stadium	align=center	11,499	Worcester

Pool stage

The pool stage began on 20 September 2019 and ran for four consecutive weeks. Fixtures were announced by Premiership Rugby on 17 July 2019.^[5]

Pool 1

<															-- --> width=20% style="border:0px" Pool 1 width=20% style="border:0px" align=right
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Tries For	Tries Against	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1		4	4	0	0	126	77	49	18	9	3	0	19
2		4	3	0	1	149	113	36	18	15	2	0	14
3		4	2	0	2	123	112	11	17	14	3	1	12
4		4	1	0	3	109	151	-42	15	23	3	1	8
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Total number of tries scored
	Green background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as pool winner. Blue background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as the best pool runner up. Updated: 12 October 2019 Note that each team played 4 games; 3 pool games plus a derby game against a team in another pool. Source: Web site: Premiership Rugby Cup 2019-20 . Premiership Rugby.

Round 1

^[6] ----

Round 2

^[7] ----

Round 3

^[8]

Pool 2

<															-- --> width=20% style="border:0px" Pool 2 width=20% style="border:0px" align=right
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Tries For	Tries Against	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1		4	3	0	1	106	89	17	14	12	1	1	14
2		4	2	0	2	95	110	-15	12	16	1	0	9
3		4	1	0	3	116	121	-5	16	16	2	2	8
4		4	0	0	4	101	135	-34	16	19	3	2	5
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Total number of tries scored
	Green background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as pool winner. Blue background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as the best pool runner up. Updated: 12 October 2019 Note that each team played 4 games; 3 pool games plus a derby game against a team in another pool. Source: Web site: Premiership Rugby Cup 2019-20 . Premiership Rugby.

Round 1

^[6] ----

Round 2

^[7] ----

Round 3

^[8]

Pool 3

<															-- --> width=20% style="border:0px" Pool 3 width=20% style="border:0px" align=right
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Tries For	Tries Against	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1		4	3	0	1	111	79	32	15	12	3	0	15
2		4	2	0	2	90	102	-12	12	14	2	0	10
3		4	2	0	2	83	98	-15	12	14	2	0	10
4		4	1	0	3	110	132	-22	15	16	2	0	6
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Total number of tries scored
	Green background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as pool winner. Blue background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as the best pool runner up. Updated: 12 October 2019 Note that each team played 4 games; 3 pool games plus a derby game against a team in another pool. Source: Web site: Premiership Rugby Cup 2019-20 . Premiership Rugby.

Round 1

^[6] ----

Round 2

^[7] ----

Round 3

^[8]

Round 4 (derby games)

After three pool games, each team played a 'derby' game against a team in another pool, with results counting towards the final standings in each pool.

^[9]

Knock-out stage

The four qualifiers were seeded according to performance in the pool stage. The top 2 seeds hosted the semi-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 4, 2v 3 format. Note, if two teams qualified from the same pool, they could still be drawn together in the semi-finals. Semi-finals were held over a two-week period in early February followed by the final originally scheduled for mid-March but postponed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

^[10]

Rank	Pool leaders	Pts	Wins	Diff	PF	TF
1		19	4	49	126	18
2		15	3	32	111	15
3		14	3	17	106	14
Rank	Pool runners–up	Pts	Wins	Diff	PF	TF
4		14	3	36	149	18
5		10	2	-12	90	12
6		9	2	-15	95	12

Semi-finals

^[11]

Final

FB 15 Simon Hammersly RW 14 Denny Solomona OC 13 Sam James IC 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg LW 11 Marland Yarde FH 10 Rob du Preez SH 9 Will Cliff N8 8 Dan du Preez OF 7 Ben Curry BF 6 Jono Ross (c) RL 5 Jean-Luc du Preez LL 4 Cobus Wiese TP 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley HK 2 Curtis Langdon LP 1 Coenie Oosthuizen Substitutions: HK 16 Akker van der Merwe PR 17 Valery Morozov PR 18 WillGriff John LK 19 James Phillips FL 20 Tom Curry SH 21 Faf de Klerk FH 22 AJ MacGinty CE 23 Manu Tuilagi Coach: Steve Diamond

FB 15 Mike Brown RW 14 Nathan Earle OC 13 Joe Marchant IC 12 Luke Northmore LW 11 Aaron Morris FH 10 Marcus Smith SH 9 Danny Care N8 8 James Chisholm OF 7 Will Evans BF 6 Chris Robshaw (c) RL 5 Stephan Lewies LL 4 Dino Lamb TP 3 Simon Kerrod HK 2 Scott Baldwin LP 1 Santiago García Botta Substitutions: HK 16 Elia Elia PR 17 Marc Thomas PR 18 Wilco Louw LK 19 Glen Young FL 20 Alex Dombrandt SH 21 Martin Landajo CE 22 Andre Esterhuizen CE 23 James Lang Coach: Billy Millard

Attendances

Club	Home matches	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bath	2	25,856	12,928	13,190	12,666	89%
Bristol Bears	2	12,139	6,070	7,274	4,865	22%
Exeter Chiefs	3	28,846	9,615	9,722	9,418	73%
Gloucester	2	24,484	12,242	13,197	11,287	76%
Harlequins	2	21,547	10,774	12,496	9,051	73%
Leicester Tigers	2	29,793	14,897	16,160	13,633	58%
London Irish	2	5,807	2,904	3,249	2,558	12%
Northampton Saints	2	23,631	11,816	12,000	11,631	77%
Sale Sharks	3	20,545	6,848	7,992	5,744	57%
Saracens	2	11,159	5,580	5,761	5,398	66%
Wasps	2	12,445	6,223	6,341	6,104	19%
Worcester Warriors	2	12,780	6,390	6,743	6,037	56%

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

Rank	Player	Team	Appearances	Points
1			5	41
2			3	40
3			4	31
4			4	30
5			2	28
6			3	25
			5	25
7			2	24
8			3	23
			4	23
9			3	21
10			3	20

^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [11]}

Top try scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Appearances	Tries
1			5	5
2			3	4
			3	4
			4	4
3			2	3
			2	3
			2	3
			3	3
			3	3
			3	3
			3	3
			3	3
			3	3
			4	3
			4	3
			4	3
			4	3
			4	3
			4	3
			4	3

^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [11]}

Season records

Team

Largest home win — 34 points57 – 23 Worcester Warriors at home to Leicester Tigers on 21 September 2019

Largest away win — 27 points49 – 22 Harlequins away to Exeter Chiefs on 31 January 2020

Most points scored — 5757 – 23 Worcester Warriors at home to Leicester Tigers on 21 September 2019

Most tries in a match — 8Worcester Warriors at home to Leicester Tigers on 21 September 2019

Most conversions in a match — 6 (2)Worcester Warriors at home to Leicester Tigers on 21 September 2019
Exeter Chiefs at home to Bristol Bears on 12 October 2019

Most penalties in a match — 4Saracens away to Wasps on 21 September 2019

Most drop goals in a match — 1Leicester Tigers away to Bath on 5 October 2019

Player

Most points in a match — 23 Ben Spencer for Saracens at home to Harlequins on 12 October 2019

Most tries in a match — 3 (4) Scott Steele for London Irish away to Gloucester on 21 September 2019
Tom Howe for Worcester Warriors at home to Exeter Chiefs on 4 October 2019
Nick Tompkins for Saracens away to Northampton Saints on 6 October 2019
Marcus Watson for Wasps at home to Worcester Warriors on 12 October 2019

Most conversions in a match — 5 (3) Marcus Smith for Harlequins at home to Gloucester on 5 October 2019
Tiff Eden for Bristol Bears at home to London Irish on 6 October 2019
Joe Simmonds for Exeter Chiefs at home to Bristol Bears on 12 October 2019

Most penalties in a match — 4 Tom Whiteley for Saracens away to Wasps on 21 September 2019

Most drop goals in a match — 1 Tom Hardwick for Leicester Tigers away to Bath on 5 October 2019

Attendances

Highest — 16,160Leicester Tigers at home to Northampton Saints on 12 October 2019

Lowest — 2,558London Irish at home to Sale Sharks on 12 October 2019

See also

• 2019–20 Premiership Rugby
• Anglo-Welsh Cup
• 2019–20 RFU Championship Cup
• English rugby union system
• List of English rugby union teams
• Rugby union in England

External links

• Premiership Rugby

Notes and References

1. News: Premiership Rugby Cup to replace Anglo-Welsh Cup from next season . BBC Sport . 10 May 2018. 12 May 2018.
2. Web site: Match Report: Northampton Saints 23-9 Saracens . Premiership Rugby . 17 March 2019 . 17 March 2019 .
3. Web site: Premiership Rugby Cup Final: Northampton beat Saracens with three first-half tries . BBC Sport . 17 March 2019 . 17 March 2019 .
4. Web site: Premiership Rugby Cup Format. Premiership Rugby . 17 July 2019.
5. Web site: Gallagher Premiership Rugby Cup kicks off in September live on BT Sport. Premiership Rugby . 17 July 2019.
6. News: Premiership Rugby Cup. The RugbyPaper. 575. 22 September 2019. 26–27 & 38.
7. News: Premiership Rugby Cup. The RugbyPaper. 576. 29 September 2019. 22–23 & 38.
8. News: Premiership Rugby Cup. The RugbyPaper. 577. 6 October 2019. 22–23 & 38.
9. News: Premiership Rugby Cup. The RugbyPaper. 578. 13 October 2019. 22–23 & 38.
10. Web site: Premiership Rugby Cup (Competition Format) . Premiership Rugby . 3 November 2018 .
11. News: Premiership Rugby Cup. The RugbyPaper. 595. 9 February 2020. 18 & 32.