# Pro14 Rainbow Cup

The Pro14 Rainbow Cup (also known as the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a professional rugby union end-of-season cup competition played in 2021 that consisted of two separate tournaments: the Rainbow Cup for twelve European clubs and the Rainbow Cup SA for four South African clubs. The winners of each competition then played a final match to determine the overall winner. The tournament operated as a shortened 'Spring season' to allow for the integration of the four new South African teams into the United Rugby Championship ahead of the 2021–22 season.
In winning the play-off final against the Bulls of South Africa, Benetton Treviso became the first Italian side ever to win any of the successor championships to the Celtic League.

## Background

The 2020–21 Pro14 was reduced to twelve teams as the two South African teams - the Cheetahs and Southern Kings - were not allowed to travel internationally in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, the Southern Kings ceased operations and the South African Rugby Union council began exploring the possibility of the four South African former Super Rugby teams - the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers - joining an expanded Pro14.
PRO14 Rugby announced in December 2020 that the 2020–21 Pro14 regular season would conclude after 16 rounds, and the top team from each conference would advance to a final in March 2021. The Pro14 Rainbow Cup then commenced in April and introduced the four new South African teams.
With South Africa hosting the British & Irish Lions tour in July–August 2021, the tournament also served as a warm-up event for the British, Irish and South African players hoping to be involved in the tour.
Between February and March eight South African franchises played in a "preparation series" also known as the Preparation Series to get valuable game time before the Rainbow Cup.
Due to several issues surrounding travel restrictions as a result of the pandemic, it was announced in April 2021 that the Rainbow Cup would adopt a dual tournament format and there would be no cross-hemisphere fixtures.

## Format

The competition format changed several times but eventually consisted of two separate tournaments running side by side. In the northern hemisphere's Rainbow Cup, the 12 Pro14 teams in Europe competed from 23 April until 12 June 2021. There were 6 match weekends over an 8-week period with each team receiving one additional bye week.
In the southern hemisphere's Rainbow Cup SA, each of the four teams played each other twice, a total of six rounds were played between 1 May and 12 June 2021. There was one fallow week in which each team received a bye week.
A final between the best placed Northern and Southern Hemisphere teams followed both tournaments on 19 June.

## Law variations

The Rainbow Cup saw three law variations trialled: Replacement for a red carded player after 20 minutes, Captain's Challenge and Goal-line dropouts. The replacement for a red carded player after 20 minutes allowed a side who has had a player sent-off to replace them with one of their named substitutes after a period of 20 minutes. A captain's challenge, similar to appeals used successfully in cricket and tennis, allowed each team to request a television match official review an offence in the build up to a try being scored or an act of foul play, or any referee's decision after the clock passes 75 minutes; where the referee's on-field decision was not changed, that team would no longer be able to challenge a decision thereafter. Goal-line dropouts were used if the ball is held-up over the line, knock-ons that occur in goal or when the ball is grounded by the defending team in the in-goal area after a kick through. All these law variations have previously been trialled in both Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby AU.
The captain's challenge law attracted widespread criticism, particularly after an incident in Munster's game against Cardiff where Munster's CJ Stander called for a captain's challenge on a Cardiff player returning the ball into a ruck, a minor technical offence. It was not adopted in subsequent tournaments.
World Rugby adopted the goal-line drop-out law more widely in the 2021–22 season and it has since become permanent.

## Teams

| ConnachtLeinsterMunsterUlsterEdinburghGlasgow WarriorsBluesDragonsOspreysScarletsclass=notpageimage| Location of Pro14 Rainbow Cup teams in Great Britain and Ireland. | BenettonZebreclass=notpageimage| Location of Pro14 Rainbow Cup teams in Italy. BullsSharksLionsStormersclass=notpageimage| Location of PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA teams. |

### PRO14 Rainbow Cup

| Team | Country | Coach / Director of Rugby | Captain | Stadium | Capacity |
| Benetton | Italy | Kieran Crowley | Dewaldt Duvenage | Stadio Comunale di Monigo | 6,700 |
| Cardiff Blues | Wales | Dai Young | Ellis Jenkins | Cardiff Arms Park | 12,125 |
| Connacht | Ireland | Andy Friend | Jarrad Butler | Galway Sportsgrounds | 8,129 |
| Dragons | Wales | Dean Ryan | Rhodri Williams | Rodney Parade | 8,700 |
| Edinburgh | Scotland | Richard Cockerill | Stuart McInally | Murrayfield Stadium | 67,144 |
| Glasgow Warriors | Scotland | Danny Wilson | Fraser Brown Ryan Wilson | Scotstoun Stadium | 7,351 |
| Leinster | Ireland | Leo Cullen | Johnny Sexton | RDS Arena | 18,500 |
| Munster | Ireland | Johann van Graan | Peter O'Mahony | Thomond Park | 25,600 |
| Ospreys | Wales | Toby Booth | Justin Tipuric | Liberty Stadium | 20,827 |
| Scarlets | Wales | Glenn Delaney | Ken Owens | Parc y Scarlets | 14,870 |
| Ulster | Ireland | Dan McFarland | Iain Henderson | Ravenhill Stadium | 18,196 |
| Zebre | Italy | Michael Bradley | Tommaso Castello | Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi | 5,000 |

### PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA

| Team | Country | Coach / Director of Rugby | Captain | Stadium | Capacity |
| Bulls | South Africa | Jake White | Duane Vermeulen | Loftus Versfeld | 51,762 |
| Lions | South Africa | Ivan van Rooyen | Dan Kriel | Ellis Park Stadium | 62,567 |
| Sharks | South Africa | Sean Everitt | Lukhanyo Am | Kings Park Stadium | 52,000 |
| Stormers | South Africa | John Dobson | Steven Kitshoff | Cape Town Stadium | 55,000 |

## Tables

Pro14 Rainbow Cup
watch · · discuss :
| | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Pts |
| 1 | Benetton | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 125 | 78 | +47 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 22** |
| 2 | Munster | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 170 | 75 | +95 | 23 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| 3 | Glasgow Warriors | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 121 | 117 | +4 | 17 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| 4 | Leinster | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 124 | 87 | +37 | 19 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| 5 | Cardiff Blues | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 124 | 123 | +1 | 16 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| 6 | Connacht | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 109 | 133 | –24 | 15 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| 7 | Scarlets | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 110 | 115 | –5 | 13 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 13* |
| 8 | Ospreys | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 103 | 88 | +15 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 11** |
| 9 | Edinburgh | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 126 | 140 | –14 | 18 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| 10 | Ulster | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 85 | 116 | –31 | 12 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 8* |
| 11 | Dragons | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 117 | 156 | –39 | 14 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 12 | Zebre | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 88 | 174 | -86 | 10 | 23 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| * Cancelled fixture: Scarlets awarded four match points. ** Cancelled fixture: Benetton awarded four match points. |||||||||||||||
| If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: number of matches won; the difference between points for and points against; the number of tries scored; the most points scored; the difference between tries for and tries against; the fewest red cards received; the fewest yellow cards received. |||||||||||||||
| Green background (row 1) is the play-off places and earn a place in the final against the 1st placed Rainbow Cup SA team. |||||||||||||||
Pro14 Rainbow Cup SA
watch · · discuss :
| | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Pts |
| 1 | Bulls | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 183 | 117 | +66 | 22 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | Stormers | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 137 | 143 | –6 | 16 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 17* |
| 3 | Sharks | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 153 | 179 | –26 | 30 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
| 4 | Lions | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 127 | 161 | –34 | 16 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 8* |
| * Cancelled fixture: Stormers awarded four match points. |||||||||||||||
| If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: number of matches won; the difference between points for and points against; the number of tries scored; the most points scored; the difference between tries for and tries against; the fewest red cards received; the fewest yellow cards received. |||||||||||||||
| Green background (row 1) is the play-off places and earn a place in the final against the 1st placed Rainbow Cup team from Europe. |||||||||||||||

## PRO14 Rainbow Cup

All kickoff times are local. League stage

### Round 1

* 23 April 2021 20:15
| (2 BP) Ulster | 24–26 | Connacht (1 BP) |
| Try: Stockdale 23' Herring 29' c Burns 44' Shanahan 72' c Con: Cooney 30' Lowry 73' | Report Highlights | Try: Boyle 7' c Blade (2) 50' c 63 c Sullivan 80+3' Con: Carty 8' Daly (2) 52' 64' |
* Ravenhill Stadium Referee: Andrew Brace
* 23 April 2021 20:15
| Edinburgh | 24–18 | Zebre (1 BP) |
* Murrayfield Referee: Ben Whitehouse
* 24 April 2021 14:00
| (1 BP) Benetton | 46–19 | Glasgow Warriors |
* Stadio Comunale di Monigo Referee: Marius Mitrea
* 24 April 2021 17:15
| (1 BP) Ospreys | 36–14 | Cardiff Blues |
* Liberty Stadium Referee: Sam Grove-White
* 24 April 2021 19:35
| Leinster | 3–27 | Munster |
* RDS Arena Referee: Chris Busby
* 25 April 2021 13:00
| (1 BP) Dragons | 52–32 | Scarlets (1 BP) |
* Rodney Parade Referee: Craig Evans

### Round 2

* 7 May 2021 19:00
| (1 BP) Zebre | 20–25 | Benetton |
* Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi
* 7 May 2021 20:15
| (1 BP) Munster | 38–10 | Ulster |
| Try: Scannell (2) 10' c 54' c Murray 26' Haley c Hanrahan 57' c Conway 78' Con: Hanrahan (4) 11' 40+1' 55' 59' | Report Highlights Full game | Try: Henderson 43' Con: Lowry 45' Pen: Lowry 2' |
* Thomond Park
* 7 May 2021 20:15
| (1 BP) Glasgow Warriors | 29–19 | Edinburgh |
* Scotstoun Stadium
* 8 May 2021 19:35
| Connacht | 21–50 | Leinster (1 BP) |
* Galway Sportsgrounds
* 8 May 2021 19:35
| Scarlets | 22–6 | Ospreys |
* Parc y Scarlets
* 9 May 2021 13:00
| Cardiff Blues | 17–16 | Dragons (1 BP) |
* Cardiff Arms Park

### Round 3

* 14 May 2021 18:00
| (1 BP) Munster | 20–24 | Connacht |
* Thomond Park
* 14 May 2021 20:15
| Leinster | 21–17 | Ulster (1 BP) |
| Try: Healy 25' c Conan 53' c Henshaw 61' c Con: Ringrose (3) 25' 54' 62' | Report Highlights | Try: Baloucoune 18' c Gilroy 79' c Con: Burns 19' Madigan 79' Pen: Burns 51' |
* RDS Arena
* 15 May 2021 15:00
| (1 BP) Scarlets | 28–29 | Cardiff Blues (1 BP) |
* Parc y Scarlets
* 15 May 2021 18:15
| (1 BP) Benetton | 34–27 | Zebre (1 BP) |
* Stadio Comunale di Monigo
* 15 May 2021 19:35
| (1 BP) Edinburgh | 24–31 | Glasgow Warriors (1 BP) |
* Murrayfield
* 16 May 2021 13:00
| (1 BP) Dragons | 26–42 | Ospreys (1 BP) |
* Rodney Parade

### Round 4

* 28 May 2021 19:35
| (1 BP) Munster | 31–27 | Cardiff Blues (1 BP) |
* Thomond Park
* 29 May 2021 15:00
| Ulster | Cancelled 0–0 | Scarlets |
* Ravenhill Stadium
* 29 May 2021 18:15
| Benetton | 20–12 | Connacht |
* Stadio Comunale di Monigo
* 29 May 2021 19:35
| Dragons | 16–27 | Glasgow Warriors (1 BP) |
* Cardiff City Stadium
* Bye/s: Edinburgh, Leinster, Ospreys, Zebre

### Round 5

* 4 June 2021 18:00
| (1 BP) Connacht | 26–19 | Ospreys (1 BP) |
* The Sportsground
* 4 June 2021 20:15
| Glasgow Warriors | 15–12 | Leinster (1 BP) |
* Scotstoun Stadium
* 5 June 2021 17:15
| (2 BP) Edinburgh | 31–34 | Ulster (1 BP) |
| Try: Van der Merwe 3' Kinghorn 7' c Schoeman 67' c Hutchison 73' c Sau 76' Con: Kinghorn (3) 8' 67' 74' | Report Highlights | Try: Hume 12' c Henderson 19' c McCloskey 27' c McBurney 38' Lyttle 47' Con: Madigan (3) 13' 19' 28' Pen: Madigan 80+1' |
* Murrayfield
* 5 June 2021 19:35
| (1 BP) Cardiff Blues | 37–12 | Zebre |
* Cardiff Arms Park
* Bye/s: Benetton, Dragons, Munster, Scarlets

### Round 6

* 11 June 2021 19:00
| Zebre | 11–54 | Munster (1 BP) |
* Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi
* 11 June 2021 20:15
| (1 BP) Leinster | 38–7 | Dragons |
* RDS Arena
* 12 June 2021 19:35
| Ospreys | Cancelled 0–0 | Benetton |
* Brewery Field
* 13 June 2021 13:00
| (1 BP) Scarlets | 28–28 | Edinburgh (1 BP) |
* Parc y Scarlets
* Bye/s: Cardiff Blues, Connacht, Glasgow Warriors, Ulster

## PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA

All kickoff times are local. League stage

### Round 1

* 1 May 2021 14:00
| (1 BP) Stormers | 30–33 | Sharks (1 BP) |
* Cape Town Stadium
* 1 May 2021 19:00
| Bulls | 22–9 | Lions |
* Loftus Versfeld

### Round 2

* 8 May 2021 16:00
| (1 BP) Sharks | 34–26 | Lions (1 BP) |
* Kings Park Stadium
* 8 May 2021 18:15
| (1 BP) Stormers | 16–20 | Bulls |
* Cape Town Stadium

### Round 3

* 15 May 2021 13:30
| (2 BP) Lions | 37–39 | Stormers (1 BP) |
* Ellis Park Stadium
* 15 May 2021 18:15
| (1 BP) Bulls | 43-9 | Sharks |
* Loftus Versfeld

### Round 4

* 22 May 2021 13:00
| (1 BP) Sharks | 22–25 | Stormers |
* Kings Park Stadium
* 22 May 2021 15:30
| (1 BP) Lions | 34–33 | Bulls (2 BP) |
* Ellis Park Stadium

### Round 5

* 4 June 2021 19:00
| (1 BP) Bulls | 31–27 | Stormers (2 BP) |
* Loftus Versfeld
* 5 June 2021 16:00
| Lions | 21–33 | Sharks (1 BP) |
* Ellis Park Stadium

### Round 6

* 12 June 2021 16:00
| Stormers | Cancelled 0–0 | Lions |
* Cape Town Stadium
* 12 June 2021 18:15
| Sharks | 22–34 | Bulls (1 BP) |
* Kings Park Stadium

## Final

The first-placed teams from each tournament, Benetton and Bulls, played in the final in Treviso. Benetton won 35–8 in front of their home crowd for a historic first win of an international competition for any Italian club.
* 19 June 2021 18:30 CEST (UTC+2)
| Benetton | 35–8 | Bulls |
| Try: Ioane 5' m Els 31' m Penalty try 40' Lamaro 42' c Padovani 57' m Con: Garbisi (1/4) 43' Pen: Garbisi (2/3) 20', 47' | Report | Try: Tambwe 26' m Con: Smith (0/1) Pen: Smith (1/1) 30' |
* Stadio Comunale di Monigo Attendance: 1250 Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)