# 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup

The 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the sixth edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this was the 24th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition. Clubs from six European nations competed, including Russian and Italian clubs who qualified via the Continental Shield.
The tournament began in November 2019. The knock-out stages, originally planned to take place between March and May 2020, were delayed until later in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The final took place on 16 October at the Stade Maurice David in Aix-en-Provence.

## Teams

20 teams will qualify for the 2019–20 European Challenge Cup; 18 will qualify from Premiership Rugby, the Pro14 and the Top 14, as a direct result of their domestic league performance, with two qualifying through the 2018–19 Continental Shield. The distribution of teams is:
* England: Five teams
** Any teams finishing between 7th and 11th position in Premiership Rugby that do not qualify for the Champions Cup (Sale Sharks (7th) qualified for the Champions Cup and therefore did not take part in the Challenge Cup)).
** The champion of the RFU Championship.
* France: Eight teams
** Any teams finishing between 7th and 12th position in the Top 14 that do not qualify for the 2019-20 European Champions Cup
** The champion from the Pro D2.
** The winner of the promotion-relegation play-off between the team in 13th position in the Top 14 and the runner-up of the Pro D2.
* Italy, Scotland, Wales: six teams
** Five teams from the Pro14, excluding the South African teams, that do not qualify for the 2019-20 European Champions Cup
** One team from Italy qualified through the Continental Shield
* Russia: one team
** One team from Russia qualified through the Continental Shield
No team from Ireland will participate in the competition as all four clubs have qualified for the 2019-20 European Champions Cup.
The following clubs have qualified for the Challenge Cup.
| Premiership | Top 14 | Pro14 | Pro14 | Pro14 | Qualifying Competition | Qualifying Competition |
| England | France | Italy | Scotland | Wales | Italy | Russia |
| Bristol Bears Leicester Tigers London Irish Wasps Worcester Warriors | Agen Bayonne Bordeaux Bègles Brive Castres Pau Stade Français Toulon | Zebre | Edinburgh | Cardiff Blues Dragons Scarlets | Calvisano | Enisey-STM |

### Qualifying competition

Six teams were split into two pools of three to compete in the pool stage of the European Rugby Continental Shield. Each team played the other two teams in its pool twice on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each pool faced each other in a two-legged play-off for a place in the Challenge Cup.
A further place was awarded to the winner of a two-legged playoff between the two sides competing in the 2018–19 Challenge Cup.

#### Qualifying play-offs

* 30 March 2019
| Calvisano | 29 – 13 | Rugby Rovigo Delta |
* Stadio San Michele, Calvisano Attendance: 1,200
* 30 March 2019
| Timișoara Saracens | 20 – 18 | Enisey-STM |
* Dan Păltinișanu Stadium, Timișoara Attendance: 970
* 20 April 2019
| Enisey-STM | 40 – 32 | Timișoara Saracens |
* Avangard Stadium, Krasnoyarsk Attendance: 2,600
* 20 April 2019
| Rugby Rovigo Delta | 30 – 28 | Calvisano |
* Stadio Mario Battaglini, Rovigo

### Team details

Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.
Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.
| Team | Coach / Director of Rugby | Captain | Stadium | Capacity | Method of Qualification |
| Agen | Christophe Laussucq | | Stade Armandie | 14,000 | Top 14 7th-12th (12th) |
| Bayonne | Yannick Bru | Antoine Battut | Stade Jean Dauger | 16,934 | Pro D2 champions |
| Bordeaux Bègles | Christophe Urios | Jefferson Poirot | Stade Chaban-Delmas | 34,694 | Top 14 7th-12th (10th) |
| Bristol Bears | Pat Lam | Steven Luatua | Ashton Gate | 27,000 | Premiership 8th-11th (9th) |
| Brive | Jeremy Davidson | Saïd Hireche | Stade Amédée-Domenech | 16,000 | Pro D2 / Top 14 play-off winner |
| Calvisano | Massimo Brunello | Alberto Chiesa | Stadio San Michele | 5,000 | European Rugby Continental Shield play-off winner |
| Cardiff Blues | John Mulvihill | Ellis Jenkins | Cardiff Arms Park | 12,125 | Pro14 Conference A (5th) |
| Castres | Mauricio Reggiardo | Mathieu Babillot | Stade Pierre-Fabre | 12,500 | Top 14 7th-12th (7th) |
| Dragons | Dean Ryan | Cory Hill | Rodney Parade | 8,700 | Pro14 Conference B (6th) |
| Edinburgh | Richard Cockerill | Stuart McInally | Murrayfield Stadium | 67,144 | Pro14 Conference B (5th) |
| Enisei-STM | Alexander Pervukhin | Uldis Saulite | Kuban Stadium | 35,200 | European Rugby Continental Shield play-off winner |
| Leicester Tigers | Geordan Murphy | Tom Youngs | Welford Road Stadium | 25,849 | Premiership 8th-11th (11th) |
| London Irish | Declan Kidney | Blair Cowan | Madejski Stadium | 24,161 | RFU Championship champions |
| Pau | Nicolas Godignon Frédéric Manca | Quentin Lespiaucq | Stade du Hameau | 18,324 | Top 14 7th-12th (11th) |
| Scarlets | Brad Mooar | Ken Owens | Parc y Scarlets | 14,870 | Pro14 Conference B (4th) |
| Stade Français | Heyneke Meyer (for Laurent Sempéré and Julien Arias) | Yoann Maestri | Stade Jean-Bouin | 20,000 | Top 14 7th-12th |
| Toulon | Patrice Collazo | Raphaël Lakafia | Stade Mayol | 18,200 | Top 14 7th-12th (9th) |
| Wasps | Lee Blackett | Dan Robson Thomas Young | Ricoh Arena | 32,609 | Premiership 8th-11th (8th) |
| Worcester Warriors | Alan Solomons | GJ van Velze | Sixways Stadium | 11,499 | Premiership 8th-11th (10th) |
| Zebre | Michael Bradley | Tommaso Castello | Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi | 5,000 | Pro14 Conference A (7th) |

## Seeding

The 20 competing teams will be seeded and split into four tiers; seeding is based on performance in their respective domestic leagues. Where promotion and relegation is in effect in a league, the promoted team is seeded last, or (if multiple teams are promoted) by performance in the lower competition.
| Rank | Top 14 | Premiership | Pro 14 | Continental Shield |
| 1 | Castres | Wasps | Scarlets | Enisey-STM |
| 2 | Stade Français | Bristol Bears | Cardiff Blues | Calvisano |
| 3 | Toulon | Worcester Warriors | Edinburgh | |
| 4 | Bordeaux Bègles | Leicester Tigers | Dragons | |
| 5 | Pau | London Irish | Zebre | |
| 6 | Agen | | | |
| 7 | Bayonne | | | |
| 8 | Brive | | | |
Based on these seedings, teams are placed into one of the four tiers, with the top-seeded clubs being put in Tier 1. The nature of the tier system means that a draw is needed to allocate two of the three second-seed clubs to Tier 1. The fourth-seed team from the same domestic league as the second-seed team which was put in Tier 2 will also be placed in Tier 2. Brackets show each team's seeding and their league. e.g. 1 Top 14 indicates the team was the top seed from the Top 14.
Given the nature of the Continental Shield, a competition including developing rugby nations and Italian clubs not competing in the Pro14, the qualifying teams from this competition are automatically included in Tier 4.
| Tier 1 | Wasps (1 Prem) | Scarlets (1 Pro14) | Castres (1 Top 14) | Stade Français (2 Top 14) | Cardiff Blues (2 Pro14) |
| Tier 2 | Bristol Bears (2 Prem) | Worcester Warriors (3 Prem) | Edinburgh (3 Pro14) | Toulon (3 Top 14) | Leicester Tigers (4 Prem) |
| Tier 3 | Bordeaux Bègles (4 Top 14) | Dragons (4 Pro14) | London Irish (5 Prem) | Zebre (5 Pro14) | Pau (5 Top 14) |
| Tier 4 | Agen (6 Top 14) | Bayonne (7 Top 14) | Brive (8 Top 14) | Enisey-STM (CS 1) | Calvisano (CS 2) |

## Pool stage

The draw took place in June 2019.
Teams in the same pool will play each other twice, both at home and away in the group stage, that will begin in November 2019, and continue through to January 2020, before the pool winners and three best runners-up progressed to the quarter-finals.
Teams will be awarded competition points, based on match result. Teams receive four points for a win, two points for a draw, one attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and one defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.
In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers will be used, as directed by EPCR:
* Where teams have played each other
** The club with the greater number of competition points from only matches involving tied teams.
** If equal, the club with the best aggregate points difference from those matches.
** If equal, the club that scored the most tries in those matches.
* Where teams remain tied and/or have not played each other in the competition (i.e. are from different pools)
** The club with the best aggregate points difference from the pool stage.
** If equal, the club that scored the most tries in the pool stage.
** If equal, the club with the fewest players suspended in the pool stage.
** If equal, the drawing of lots will determine a club's ranking.
Key to colours :
* Winner of each pool, advance to quarter-finals.
* Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarter-finals.

### Pool 1

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Castres (5) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 159 | 103 | +56 | 22 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 23 |
| 2 | Dragons (7) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 194 | 136 | +58 | 24 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| 3 | Worcester Warriors | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 209 | 127 | +82 | 27 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
| 4 | Enisey-STM | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 73 | 269 | −196 | 10 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Pool 2

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Toulon (1) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 177 | 87 | +90 | 25 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 28 |
| 2 | Scarlets (8) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 149 | 90 | +59 | 17 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 19 |
| 3 | Bayonne | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 93 | 190 | −97 | 12 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | London Irish | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 122 | 174 | −52 | 16 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 7 |

### Pool 3

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Bordeaux Bègles (3) | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 221 | 72 | +149 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 26 |
| 2 | Edinburgh (6) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 140 | 85 | +55 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 21 |
| 3 | Wasps | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 141 | 145 | −4 | 18 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| 4 | Agen | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 57 | 257 | −200 | 6 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Pool 4

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Bristol Bears (2) | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 209 | 58 | +151 | 27 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 26 |
| 2 | Brive | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 111 | 165 | −54 | 14 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| 3 | Zebre | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 106 | 151 | −45 | 15 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| 4 | Stade Français | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 104 | 156 | −52 | 11 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 8 |

### Pool 5

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Leicester Tigers (4) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 181 | 95 | +86 | 23 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
| 2 | Pau | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 208 | 170 | +38 | 29 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| 3 | Cardiff Blues | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 216 | 119 | +97 | 30 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| 4 | Calvisano | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 68 | 289 | −221 | 7 | 43 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

### Ranking of pool leaders and runners-up

| Rank | Pool Leaders | Pts | Diff | TF |
| 1 | Toulon | 28 | +90 | 25 |
| 2 | Bristol Bears | 26 | +151 | 27 |
| 3 | Bordeaux Bègles | 26 | +149 | 28 |
| 4 | Leicester Tigers | 23 | +86 | 23 |
| 5 | Castres | 23 | +56 | 22 |
| Rank | Pool Runners–up | Pts | Diff | TF |
| 6 | Edinburgh | 21 | +55 | 16 |
| 7 | Dragons | 20 | +58 | 24 |
| 8 | Scarlets | 19 | +59 | 17 |
| 9 | Pau | 19 | +38 | 29 |
| 10 | Brive | 14 | –54 | 14 |

## Knock-out stage
### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Toulon | 11 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Scarlets | 6 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Scarlets | 6 | Toulon | Toulon | 34 | | | |
| | | | Leicester Tigers | Leicester Tigers | 19 | | | |
| 4 | Leicester Tigers | Bye | Leicester Tigers | Leicester Tigers | 19 | | | |
| 5 | Castres | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Castres | | | | | Toulon | Toulon | 19 |
| | | | | | | Bristol Bears | Bristol Bears | 32 |
| 2 | Bristol Bears | 56 | | | | | | | Bristol Bears | Bristol Bears | 32 |
| 7 | Dragons | 17 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Dragons | 17 | Bristol Bears (a.e.t.) | Bristol Bears (a.e.t.) | 37 | | | |
| | | | Bordeaux Bègles | Bordeaux Bègles | 20 | | | |
| 3 | Bordeaux Bègles | 23 | Bordeaux Bègles | Bordeaux Bègles | 20 | | | |
| 6 | Edinburgh | 14 | | | | | | |

### Quarter-finals

* 18 September 19:45
| Bristol Bears (2) | 56–17 | (7) Dragons |
| Try: Hughes 20' c Earl (2) 24' c, 26' c Radradra 43' c Vui 74' c Malins 75' c D. Thomas 77' c Con: Sheedy (6/7) 21', 25', 26', 44', 74', 76' Pen: Sheedy (3/4) 31', 54', 70' | Report | Try: Hewitt 13' c R. Williams 51' c Con: S. Davies (2/2) 14', 51' Pen: S. Davies (1/1) 11' |
* Ashton Gate Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR)
* 19 September 13:30
| Bordeaux Bègles (3) | 23–14 | (6) Edinburgh |
| Try: Cordero 4' c Dubié 9' c Con: Jalibert (2/2) 5', 10' Pen: Jalibert (2/3) 50', 58' Botica (1/1) 80'+1 | Report | Try: Hoyland 53' m Pen: van der Walt (2/3) 32', 46' Kinghorn (1/1) 71' |
* Stade Chaban-Delmas Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)
* 19 September 21:15
| Toulon (1) | 11–6 | (8) Scarlets |
| Try: Parisse 56' m Pen: Carbonel (2/2) 54', 73' | Report | Pen: Halfpenny (2/3) 3', 30' |
* Stade Mayol Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
* 20 September 15:00
| Leicester Tigers (4) | Cancelled | (5) Castres |
* Welford Road Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

### Semi-finals

* 25 September 19:45
| Bristol Bears (2) | 37–20 (a.e.t.) | (3) Bordeaux Bègles |
| Try: Luatua 38' c Malins (2) 51' c, 86' c O'Conor 82' c Con: Sheedy (4/4) 39', 52', 83', 88' Pen: Sheedy (3/4) 58', 62', 97' | Report | Try: Jalibert 11' c Dweba 67' c Con: Lucu (1/1) 13' Botica (1/1) 68' Pen: Jalibert (2/2) 27', 30' |
* Ashton Gate Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)
* 26 September 21:00
| Toulon (1) | 34–19 | (4) Leicester Tigers |
| Try: Heem 8' c Villière (2) 20' c, 66' c Isa 58' c Con: Carbonel (4/4) 10', 22', 60', 67' Pen: Carbonel (2/2) 18', 34' | Report | Try: Nadolo 37' m Potter 74' m Pen: Ford (3/3) 3', 25', 45' |
* Stade Mayol Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

### Final

* 16 October 2020 21:00
| Toulon (1) | 19–32 | (2) Bristol Bears |
| Try: Heem 11' c Con: Carbonel (1/1) 13' Pen: Carbonel (4/5) 21', 37', 40', 53' | Report | Try: Randall 1' c Malins 60' c Con: Sheedy (2/2) 2', 61' Pen: Sheedy (6/6) 4', 48', 56', 59', 75', 79' |
* Stade Maurice David, Aix-en-Provence Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
| FB | 15 | Gervais Cordin |
| RW | 14 | Bryce Heem | 32' |
| OC | 13 | Isaia Toeava |
| IC | 12 | Duncan Paia'aua |
| LW | 11 | Gabin Villière |
| FH | 10 | Louis Carbonel |
| SH | 9 | Baptiste Serin | 45' |
| N8 | 8 | Sergio Parisse |
| OF | 7 | Raphaël Lakafia | 60' |
| BF | 6 | Charles Ollivon |
| RL | 5 | Romain Taofifénua | 52' |
| LL | 4 | Eben Etzebeth | 47' |
| TP | 3 | Beka Gigashvili | 58' | 77' |
| HK | 2 | Anthony Étrillard (c) | 55' |
| LP | 1 | Jean-Baptiste Gros | 55' |
| Substitutions: ||
| HK | 16 | Bastien Soury | 55' |
| PR | 17 | Florian Fresia | 55' |
| PR | 18 | Emerick Setiano | 58' | 77' |
| LK | 19 | Brian Alainu'uese | 52' |
| FL | 20 | Swan Rebbadj | 47' |
| SH | 21 | Julien Ory | 60' |
| FH | 22 | Sonatane Takulua |
| WG | 23 | Masivesi Dakuwaqa | 32' |
| Coach: ||
| Patrice Collazo ||
| FB | 15 | Max Malins |
| RW | 14 | Luke Morahan | 78' |
| OC | 13 | Semi Radradra | 60' |
| IC | 12 | Siale Piutau (c) |
| LW | 11 | Alapati Leiua |
| FH | 10 | Callum Sheedy |
| SH | 9 | Harry Randall | 78' |
| N8 | 8 | Ben Earl |
| OF | 7 | Dan Thomas |
| BF | 6 | Chris Vui | 40' |
| RL | 5 | Joe Joyce | 70' |
| LL | 4 | Dave Attwood |
| TP | 3 | Kyle Sinckler | 55' |
| HK | 2 | Harry Thacker | 78' |
| LP | 1 | Yann Thomas | 55' |
| Substitutions: ||
| HK | 16 | George Kloska | 78' |
| PR | 17 | Jake Woolmore | 55' |
| PR | 18 | John Afoa | 55' |
| LK | 19 | Ed Holmes | 70' |
| FL | 20 | Jake Heenan | 40' |
| SH | 21 | Tom Kessell | 78' |
| FH | 22 | Piers O'Conor | 60' |
| CE | 23 | Niyi Adeolokun | 78' |
| Coach: ||
| Pat Lam ||

## Attendances

Does not include the attendance at the final as it takes place at a neutral venue, or the attendances of matches played in empty stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
| Club | Home Games | Total | Average | Highest | Lowest | % Capacity |
| Agen | 3 | 7,580 | 2,527 | 3,570 | 1,997 | 18% |
| Bayonne | 3 | 21,566 | 7,189 | 9,053 | 5,057 | 42% |
| Bordeaux Bègles | 3 | 43,694 | 14,565 | 17,553 | 12,233 | 42% |
| Bristol Bears | 3 | 32,505 | 10,835 | 11,120 | 10,511 | 40% |
| Brive | 3 | 9,335 | 3,112 | 4,533 | 1,800 | 19% |
| Calvisano | 3 | 5,450 | 1,817 | 2,500 | 950 | 36% |
| Cardiff Blues | 3 | 17,612 | 5,871 | 7,122 | 4,668 | 48% |
| Castres | 3 | 24,507 | 8,169 | 8,277 | 7,957 | 65% |
| Dragons | 3 | 12,088 | 4,029 | 4,038 | 4,013 | 46% |
| Edinburgh | 3 | 17,529 | 5,843 | 6,387 | 5,432 | 9% |
| Enisei-STM | 3 | 700 | 233 | 400 | 100 | 1% |
| Leicester Tigers | 3 | 46,861 | 15,620 | 16,538 | 15,073 | 60% |
| London Irish | 3 | 9,083 | 3,028 | 3,444 | 2,632 | 13% |
| Pau | 3 | 14,115 | 4,705 | 6,124 | 3,724 | 26% |
| Scarlets | 3 | 20,575 | 6,858 | 7,565 | 6,257 | 46% |
| Stade Français | 3 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 10% |
| Toulon | 3 | 38,575 | 12,858 | 15,336 | 10,212 | 71% |
| Wasps | 3 | 20,847 | 6,949 | 7,594 | 6,107 | 21% |
| Worcester Warriors | 3 | 20,124 | 6,708 | 6,938 | 6,287 | 58% |
| Zebre | 3 | 6,100 | 2,033 | 2,200 | 1,900 | 41% |

## Player scoring

* Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).