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2015–16 British and Irish Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England Ireland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	13 November 2015 — 10 April 2016
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Attendance	72,839 (average 1,078 per match)
Highest attendance	5,273 Bristol v Ulster Ravens 23 January 2016
Lowest attendance	100 (x2) Scarlets Premiership Select v Ulster Ravens 21 November 2015 Connacht Eagles v Doncaster Knights 16 January 2016
Top point scorer(s)	Laurence May Cornish Pirates 70 points
Top try scorer(s)	Dan Leavy Leinster A 7 tries
Final
Champions	London Welsh (1st title)
Runners-up	Yorkshire Carnegie
← 2014–15 (Previous)(Next) 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 British and Irish Cup was the seventh season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. Worcester Warriors were the defending champions having won the 2014–15 final against Doncaster Knights 35–5 at Castle Park, Doncaster on 3 April 2015. There have been five different winners and six different losing finalists of the competition in the six seasons of its existence. The format of the competition was similar to last season with Scottish clubs not competing. This season the four Welsh teams are the reserve sides of the teams competing in the Pro 12 competition instead of clubs from the Welsh Premier Division.

Matches were played on the same weekends as the European Rugby Champions and Challenge cups. First round matches began on 13 November 2015 and the final was held on 10 April 2016.

Competition format

The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of five pools of four teams playing home and away matches. The top side in each pool, plus the three best runners-up, will progress to the knockout stage. The eight quarter-finalists will be ranked, with top four teams having home advantage. The four winning quarter-finalists will progress to the semi-final draw. Matches take place on the same weekends as the European Rugby Champions and Challenge cups.

Participating teams and locations

The allocation of teams is as follows:

• – twelve clubs from RFU Championship
• – four Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• – four Welsh regions represented by Premiership Select teams.

Club	Country	League	Stadium	Capacity	Area
Bedford Blues	England	RFU Championship	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford
Bristol	England	RFU Championship	Ashton Gate Stadium	21,497	Bristol
Cardiff Blues Premiership Select	Wales	N/A	Cardiff Arms Park	12,125	Cardiff
Connacht Eagles	Ireland	Irish Interprovincial Rugby Championship	Galway Sportsgrounds	9,500	Galway
Cornish Pirates	England	RFU Championship	Mennaye Field	4,000	Penzance
Doncaster Knights	England	RFU Championship	Castle Park rugby stadium	5,000	Doncaster
Ealing Trailfinders	England	RFU Championship	Trailfinders Sports Ground	3,020 (1,020 seats)	West Ealing, London
Jersey	England	RFU Championship	St. Peter	5,000	Saint Peter
Leinster A	Ireland	Irish Interprovincial Rugby Championship	Donnybrook Stadium	6,000 (2,500 seats)	Dublin
London Scottish	England	RFU Championship	Richmond Athletic Ground	4,500	Richmond, London
London Welsh	England	RFU Championship	Old Deer Park	5,850 (1,000 seats)	Richmond, London
Moseley	England	RFU Championship	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham
Munster A	Ireland	Irish Interprovincial Rugby Championship	Snugmore Rosbrien New Ormond Park	7,500 4,000 1,000	Kinsale Limerick Nenagh
Newport Gwent Dragons Premiership Select	Wales	N/A	Pandy Park The Bridge Field Eugene Cross Park	3,000 2,000 8,000	Cross Keys Bedwas Ebbw Vale
Nottingham Rugby	England	RFU Championship	Lady Bay Sports Ground	2,000 (est)	Nottingham
Ospreys Premiership Select	Wales	N/A	Talbot Athletic Ground Brewery Field The Gnoll	3,000 8,000 5,000	Port Talbot Bridgend Neath
Rotherham Titans	England	RFU Championship	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham
Scarlets Premiership Select	Wales	N/A	Carmarthen Park Parc y Scarlets Station Road	3,000 14,870 2,500	Carmarthen Llanelli Bristol
Ulster Ravens	Ireland	Irish Interprovincial Rugby Championship	Kingspan Stadium Eaton Park Deramore Park	18,196 1,000 1,000+	Belfast Ballymena Belfast
Yorkshire Carnegie	England	RFU Championship	Headingley Carnegie Stadium Silver Royd Lockwood Park	21,062 1,950 1,500	Leeds Scalby Huddersfield

1. Jersey is listed in the English section because they play in the English RFU Championship.

Pool stages

Pool 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Leinster A	6	6	0	0	240	92	+148	5	0	29
Moseley	6	4	0	2	155	191	−36	4	0	20
Rotherham Titans	6	2	0	4	155	120	+35	3	2	13
Ealing Trailfinders	6	0	0	6	100	247	−147	1	1	2

• Postponed due to frozen pitch. Game rescheduled to 20 February 2016.

• Game rescheduled from 16 January 2016.

Pool 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Bedford Blues	6	5	0	1	166	144	+22	4	0	24
Bristol	6	4	0	2	200	112	+88	3	0	19
Ulster Ravens	6	2	0	4	112	143	−31	1	1	10
Scarlets Premiership Select	6	1	0	5	114	193	−79	1	1	6

1. Game was initially to be held at Church Bank Playing Fields (home of Llandovery) but due an unplayable pitch caused by heavy rain the fixture was switched to Station Road in Bristol (home of Clifton RFC and Bristol Rugby's training ground). Despite being held in Bristol it would be classed as a home game for the Scarlets with the gate fee going to that club.

Pool 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Yorkshire Carnegie	6	5	0	1	202	98	+104	5	1	26
London Scottish	6	4	0	2	151	144	+7	2	1	19
Munster A	6	3	0	3	153	134	+19	3	1	16
Ospreys Premiership Select	6	0	0	6	81	211	−130	1	1	2

1. Game was initially to be held at Laund Hill (home of Huddersfield YMCA) but due to an unplayable pitch caused by heavy rain the fixture was switched to Headingley.

Pool 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Cornish Pirates	6	5	0	1	157	92	+65	2	1	23
London Welsh	6	4	0	2	169	139	+30	3	1	20
Cardiff Blues Premiership Select	6	1	1	4	117	141	−24	1	2	9
Nottingham Rugby	6	1	1	4	82	153	−71	0	0	6

Pool 5

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Doncaster Knights	6	4	1	1	173	84	+89	3	1	22
Jersey	6	4	1	1	189	105	+84	3	0	21
Newport Gwent Dragons Premiership Select	6	3	0	3	119	134	−15	1	1	14
Connacht Eagles	6	0	0	6	40	198	−158	0	1	1

Knock-out stage

The eight qualifiers are seeded according to performance in the pool stage, and competed in the quarter-finals, which are held on the weekend of 11/12/13 March 2016. The four top seeds host the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 format. However, if two teams have qualified from the same group then they cannot be drawn together despite the seeding. Hence Leinster A and Moseley were not drawn together leading to a 1 v 7, 2 v 8, 3 v 6, 4 v 5 format.

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

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	Wins	Pts diff
1	Leinster A	29	6	148
2	Yorkshire Carnegie	26	5	104
3	Bedford Blues	24	5	22
4	Cornish Pirates	23	5	65
5	Doncaster Knights	22	4	89
Seed	Pool Runners–up	Pts	Wins	Pts diff
6	Jersey	21	4	84
7	London Welsh	20	4	30
8	Moseley	20	4	–36
9	Bristol	19	4	88
10	London Scottish	19	4	7

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	12 March 2016 - Donnybrook
	Leinster A	39
					19 March 2016 - Old Deer Park
	London Welsh	45
					London Welsh	36
	13 March 2016 - Mennaye Field
					Cornish Pirates	15
	Cornish Pirates	38
									10 April 2016 - Headingley Stadium
	Doncaster Knights	19
									Yorkshire Carnegie	10
	11 March 2016 - Goldington Road
									London Welsh	33
	Bedford Blues	15
					20 March 2016 - Headingley Stadium
	Jersey	19
					Yorkshire Carnegie	33
	13 March 2016 - Headingley Stadium
					Jersey	32
	Yorkshire Carnegie	50
	Moseley	3

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Attendances

Individual statistics

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances is placed first (if they have the same number of games, then the less minutes played will rank first). Also note that 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 Laurence May Cornish Pirates 8 70 2 Kevin Sinfield Yorkshire Carnegie 6 53 3 Peter Lydon London Scottish 5 51 4 Gareth Davies Cardiff Blues Premiership Select 4 42 5 Olly Barkley London Welsh 8 38 6 Sam Windsor Ulster Ravens 6 37 7 Josh Lewis Scarlets Premiership Select 6 36 8 Cathal Marsh Leinster A 3 35 9 Dan Leavy Leinster A 6 35 10 Uili Koloʻofai Jersey 8 35

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Dan Leavy Leinster A 6 7 2 Uili Koloʻofai Jersey 8 7 3 Chris Walker Yorkshire Carnegie 5 6 4 James Lewis London Welsh 7 6 5 Josh Bainbridge Yorkshire Carnegie 3 5 6 Tom Howe Jersey 6 5 7 Latu Makaafi Doncaster Knights 6 5 8 Taylor Prell Yorkshire Carnegie 7 5 9 James Freeman Jersey 8 5 10 Andy Saull Yorkshire Carnegie 2 4

Season records

References

1. "Worcester Warriors win 2014/15 British & Irish Cup final". England Rugby. RFU. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
2. ^ "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 374. Rugby Paper Ltd. 15 November 2015. pp. 22–23 & 38.
3. ^ "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 375. Rugby Paper Ltd. 22 November 2015. pp. 20–22 & 38.
4. ^ "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 378. Rugby Paper Ltd. 13 December 2015. pp. 20–21 & 38.
5. ^ "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 379. Rugby Paper Ltd. 20 December 2015. pp. 20–21 & 38.
6. "MATCH OFF". Rotherham Rugby. 16 January 2016.
7. ^ "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 383. Rugby Paper Ltd. 17 January 2016. pp. 22–23 & 38.
8. ^ "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 384. Rugby Paper Ltd. 24 January 2016. pp. 28–29 & 38.
9. "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 388. Rugby Paper Ltd. 21 February 2016. pp. 20 & 38.
10. "Scarlets A vs Bedford". Sky Sports. 15 November 2015.
11. "Scarlets A game switched to Clifton". Scarlet Fever. 13 January 2016.
12. "Yorkshire Carnegie's British & Irish Cup tie switched to Headingley from Huddersfield YMCA". The Telegraph and Argus. 15 November 2015.
13. "Yorkshire Carnegie 56 London Scottish 7". Yorkshire Carnegie. 13 December 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015.
14. "Ospreys A 26 - 46 Munster A". Sky Sports. 20 December 2015.
15. "Cardiff Blues A vs Nottingham". Sky Sports. 14 November 2015.
16. "Nottingham Rugby 7 Cornish Pirates 19: British and Irish Cup match report". Nottingham Post. 22 November 2015. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015.
17. "Cardiff Blues A vs Cornish Pirates". Sky Sports. 13 December 2015.
18. "Nottingham Rugby 0 London Welsh 24: Match report". Nottingham Post. 20 December 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015.
19. "Newport Gwent Dragons A vs Jersey". Sky Sports. 22 November 2015.
20. "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 391. Rugby Paper Ltd. 13 March 2016. pp. 28–29 & 39.
21. "British & Irish Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 392. Rugby Paper Ltd. 20 March 2016. pp. 28 & 38.
22. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Leading top scorers". Rugby Statbunker. 10 April 2016.
23. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Leading try scorers". Rugby Statbunker. 10 April 2016.
24. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most tries in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
25. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most conversions in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
26. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most penalties in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
27. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most drop goals in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
28. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most points in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
29. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most tries in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
30. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most conversions in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
31. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most penalties in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
32. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Most drop goals in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.
33. "British and Irish Cup 15/16 Home attendance". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2016.

External links

• Unofficial British and Irish Cup website - latest news, teams etc

• British and Irish Cup
• 2015–16 rugby union tournaments for clubs
• 2015–16 RFU Championship
• 2015–16 in Irish rugby union
• 2015–16 in Welsh rugby union
• 2015–16 in British rugby union