2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup

2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup
The EPCR Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England France Georgia Italy Scotland South Africa Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	8 December 2023 – 24 May 2024
Tournament statistics
Teams	18
Final
Venue	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Tottenham, London

The 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup will be the 10th edition of the EPCR Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 28th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition.

The tournament will commence in December 2023, and will conclude with the final on 24 May 2024 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England.

This will be the second year that teams from South Africa can qualify, following the second United Rugby Championship season.

Teams

Sixteen teams qualified for the 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup from Premiership Rugby, the Top 14 and the United Rugby Championship as a direct result of their domestic league performance having not qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup. Plus two invited sides making 18 teams.

The distribution of teams are:

• England: two teams
  • Remaining teams in the 2023–24 Premiership Season that do not qualify for the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup. Bristol Bears had previously qualified but replaced London Irish in the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup following London Irish's suspension from the Premiership
• France: six teams
  • Teams taking part in the 2023–24 Top 14 season that did not qualify for the Champions Cup
• Georgia, Italy, Scotland, Wales, South Africa: eleven teams

Round	Premiership	Top 14	United Rugby Championship				Invited
	England	France	Italy	Scotland	Wales	South Africa		Georgia
Preliminary stage	Gloucester Newcastle Falcons	Castres Clermont Montpellier Pau Perpignan Oyonnax	Benetton Zebre Parma	Edinburgh	Ospreys Scarlets Dragons	Sharks Lions	Cheetahs	Black Lion

Team details

Team	Coach / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Method of qualification
Benetton	Marco Bortolami	Dewaldt Duvenage Michele Lamaro	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	5,000
Black Lion	Levan Maisashvili	Merab Sharikadze	Mikheil Meskhi Stadium	27,223	Invited
Castres	Jeremy Davidson	Mathieu Babillot	Stade Pierre-Fabre	12,500	Top 14 bottom 6
Cheetahs			Free State Stadium, Netherlands		Invited
Clermont	Christophe Urios	Arthur Iturria	Stade Marcel-Michelin	19,022	Top 14 bottom 6
Dragons	Dai Flanagan	Harrison Keddie Will Rowlands	Rodney Parade	8,700
Edinburgh		Grant Gilchrist Jamie Ritchie	Edinburgh Rugby Stadium	7,800
Gloucester	George Skivington	Lewis Ludlow	Kingsholm	16,115	Premiership bottom 2 (10th)
Lions	Ivan van Rooyen	Reinhard Nothnagel	Emirates Airline Park	62,567
Montpellier	Philippe Saint-André	Fulgence Ouedraogo	GGL Stadium	15,697	Top 14 bottom 6
Newcastle Falcons	Alex Codling	Callum Chick	Kingston Park	11,200	Premiership bottom 2 (11th)
Ospreys	Toby Booth	Justin Tipuric	Swansea.com Stadium	22,200
Oyonnax			Stade Charles-Mathon	11,500	Pro D2 Champions
Pau			Stade du Hameau	18,324	Top 14 bottom 6
Perpignan			Stade Aimé Giral	14,593	Top 14 bottom 6
Scarlets			Parc y Scarlets	14,870
Sharks			Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium	54,000
Zebre Parma			Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi	5,000

Pool stage

Main article: 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup pool stage

Teams were awarded four points for a win, two for a draw, one for scoring four tries in a game, and one for losing by less than eight points.

Key to colours

Top 4 in each pool, advance to round of 16.

Pool 1

2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Sharks (1)	4	3	0	1	141	53	+88	21	6	4	1	17	Qualifies for a home Round of 16
2	Pau (6)	4	3	0	1	90	113	−23	10	15	0	0	12
3	Cheetahs (13)	4	2	0	2	112	105	+7	14	13	2	1	11	Qualifies for Round of 16
4	Zebre Parma (16)	4	2	0	2	83	92	−9	11	9	1	1	10
5	Dragons	4	1	0	3	71	80	−9	7	12	1	2	7
6	Oyonnax	4	1	0	3	56	110	−54	8	16	1	1	6

Source: EPCR

Pool 2

2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Benetton Rugby (3)	4	3	0	1	147	87	+60	19	12	3	0	15	Qualifies for a home Round of 16
2	Montpellier (5)	4	3	0	1	94	54	+40	15	7	2	0	14
3	Ospreys (7)	4	3	0	1	111	103	+8	15	14	2	0	14	Qualifies for a home Round of 16 as 3rd best
4	Lions (14)	4	2	0	2	94	76	+18	10	8	2	0	10	Qualifies for Round of 16
5	Newcastle Falcons	4	1	0	3	82	139	−57	8	20	0	1	5
6	Perpignan	4	0	0	4	45	114	−69	4	10	0	0	0

Source: EPCR

Pool 3

2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Gloucester (2)	4	4	0	0	99	52	+47	9	7	1	0	17	Qualifies for a home Round of 16
2	Clermont (4)	4	3	0	1	122	66	+56	17	7	3	0	15
3	Edinburgh (8)	4	2	0	2	103	92	+11	15	12	2	1	11	Qualifies for a home Round of 16 as second 3rd best
4	Castres (15)	4	2	0	2	88	91	−3	13	10	2	0	10	Qualifies for Round of 16
5	Black Lion	4	1	0	3	42	86	−44	3	10	0	1	5
6	Scarlets	4	0	0	4	59	126	−67	7	18	0	0	0

Source: EPCR

Knockout stage

The knockout stage will be played with a single-leg round of 16 matches consisting of the top four teams from each pool and the teams ranked 5th in each pool of the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup. The Round of 16 will follow a pre-determined format, while the quarter-finals and semi-finals will guarantee home advantage to the higher-ranked team.

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Leading scorers

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

See also

• 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup