Watch elite European rugby teams battle in the European Rugby Challenge Cup. After all, although the European Rugby Challenge Cup is a second-tier competition for teams that don’t qualify for the Heineken Champions Cup, the standard of rugby union played by participating teams is incredibly high and classic matches unfold before our very eyes year after year.
Read on to discover even more about Challenge Cup rugby, including information on all the latest Challenge Cup results and upcoming Challenge Cup rugby fixtures.
Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle will kick off their Heineken Champions Cup title defence in December at home to another European title winner, Northampton Saints.
RugbyPass Offload duo Ryan Wilson and Max Lahiff have become the latest to pass judgement on the massively debated Eben Etzebeth ruck clearout on Davit Niniashvili in last Friday night’s Challenge Cup final between Toulon and Lyon.
20 teams contest the European Rugby Challenge Cup. Of these, 18 teams automatically qualify from Europe’s top three professional leagues: the English Premiership, the French Top 14 and the PRO14. The final two participants qualify through the European Rugby Continental Shield. However, for the 2020-21 season, only 14 teams will compete due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Usually, the format of the European Challenge Cup includes five pools containing four teams that are ranked based on their domestic league performance from the previous season. Teams then play each other team in their pool twice: once at home and once away. Following the completion of the pool stage, the five pool winners and the three best pool runners-up qualify for the knock-out stage of the European Challenge Cup.
Agen View Team 
Bayonne View Team 
Benetton View Team 
Biarritz View Team 
Bordeaux View Team 
Bristol View Team 
Brive View Team 
Cardiff Blues View Team 
Castres View Team 
Clermont View Team 
Edinburgh View Team 
Enisei-STM View Team 
Glasgow View Team 
Gloucester View Team 
Gwent Dragons View Team 
Harlequins View Team 
La Rochelle View Team 
Leicester View Team 
London Irish View Team 
Lyon View Team 
Newcastle View Team 
Pau View Team 
Perpignan View Team 
Rugby Calvisano View Team 
Sale View Team 
Saracens View Team 
Scarlets View Team 
Stade Francais View Team 
Toulon View Team 
Wasps View Team 
Worcester View Team 
Zebre View Team During the knock-out stage, the remaining Challenge Cup rugby teams are ranked from 1 to 8 based on their performance in their respective pool. The four top-ranked teams have home advantage for the quarter-finals and play against the four lower-ranked teams in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5 format. The semi-finals are then determined by a draw and the final is played at a pre-determined venue in May.
In the history of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, both Clermont and Harlequins have won the Challenge Cup final on three occasions. In addition to this, Gloucester, Sale, Northampton and Cardiff are the only sides who have won the competition more than once. Overall, English rugby sides have won the European Rugby Challenge Cup 12 times and French teams have won the tournament on nine occasions. However, no Scottish team has ever won the Challenge Cup final.
