Tips:
The European Challenge, also known as the Amlin Challenge Cup, named after the sponsor of the event (from 2009 to 2014) or the European Rugby Challenge Cup (since 2014), is the second European rugby union 'Europe. It is open to clubs in England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Spain, Romania and Russia.The entry criteria differ from country to country. For France, England, Ireland and Wales, the teams not qualified for the European Cup are selected.Until 2014 for France, all the teams in the top 14 not qualified for the Heineken Cup will automatically go into the European Challenge, the same goes for England. In Italy, the four places are awarded to the first four in the Italian league since the two H-Cup squads are reserved for the two Italian franchises in the Celtic League. Finally Romania and Spain who have no place in theEuropean Cup send their best team in European Challenge. For Ireland and Wales, the Celtic League teams not qualified for the European Cup are selected. The winner of the event is entitled to a place in the H-Cup the following season, which constitutes an additional motivation which can give place to a real spectacle in the matches of this European challenge.Beginning in 2014-2015, the eighteen clubs of Top 14, Premiership and Pro12 not qualified for the European Cup will automatically play the European Challenge. The last two tickets are awarded through a qualifying competition organized by Rugby Europe in coordination with the EPCR and the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR). Six Italian, Romanian, Iberian and Russian clubs are competing in three pools, each of which takes place over three days. The two winners of the chickens will reach the final stage where they will play barrages in round-robin matches against two clubs from a first qualifying competition for the Challenge Cup.The twenty qualified teams are divided into five pools of four. The group stage is played in round-robin matches. At the end of the group stage, the five teams ranked first in their pool are qualified for the quarter-finals as well as the best three (from 2009 to 2014 the three additional qualified teams are the top three teams at the end Of the H-Cup group which are not qualified for the final round of the H-Cup2, ie the 3rd, 4th and 5th best second among the 6 H-Cup teams.
Match Details:
European Challenge Cup
16 June, Friday
