1985–86 John Player Cup

The 1985–86 John Player Special Cup was the 15th edition of England's premier rugby union club competition at the time. Bath won the competition for the third consecutive year defeating Wasps in the final.^[1] The event was sponsored by John Player cigarettes and the final was held at Twickenham Stadium.^[2]

1985–86 John Player Cup
Tournament statistics
← 1984–85 (Previous) (Next) 1986–87 →

Draw and results

First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Morley	Wakefield	19-27
Tynedale	Lymm	22-0
Sheffield	Vale of Lune	13-16
Aspatria	Westoe	19-24
Nuneaton	Loughborough Students	19-24
Evesham	Bedford	9-13
Stourbridge	Broughton Park	9-13
Matlock	Barkers Batts	13-11
Old Mid-Whitgiftians	Southend	4-12
Saracens	North Walsham	27-6
Havant	Guildford & Godalming	17-7
Richmond	London Irish	21-14
Maidstone	Lewes	6-21
Cheshunt	Askeana	23-23*
Bletchley	Maidenhead	20-9
Berry Hill	Bournemouth	36-6
Gloucester	Exeter	87-3
Old Redcliffians	Coney Hill	6-17
St Ives	Henley	18-22

Cheshunt progress on more tries*

Second round

Team one	Team two	Score
Coney Hill	Saracens
Bletchley	Havant	6-9
Richmond	Cheshunt
Lewes	Gloucester	10-24
Southend	Henley
Westoe	Vale of Lune
Loughborough Students	Berry Hill
Bedford	Broughton Park	10-37
Lichfield	Matlock
Wakefield	Tynedale

Third round

Team one	Team two	Score
Richmond	Blackheath
Broughton Park	Vale of Lune	12-6
Camborne	Havant	15-4
Coventry	Leicester	14-21
Gloucester	Bristol	7-4
Gosforth	Northampton	6-6*
Harlequins	Headingley	9-6
Lichfield	West London Institute	26-0
London Scottish	Sale	16-6
London Welsh	Plymouth	10-6
Nottingham	Southend	25-12
Orrell	Bath	16-16*
Rosslyn Park	Wakefield	19-23
Saracens	Waterloo	11-8
Wasps	Loughborough Colts	23-3
West Hartlepool	Moseley	3-33

Northampton progress as away team*

Fourth round

Team one	Team two	Score
Blackheath	Wasps	12-24
Broughton Park	Leicester	6-46
London Welsh	Camborne	12-9
Wakefield	Nottingham	7-26
Saracens	Gloucester	6-13
Moseley	Bath	4-22
Northampton	London Scottish	6-11
Lichfield	Harlequins	6-23

Quarter-finals

Team one	Team two	Score
Nottingham	Wasps	13-13*
London Welsh	Bath	10-18
Harlequins	Leicester	8-15
London Scottish	Gloucester	12-10

Wasps progress on more tries*

Semi-finals

Team one	Team two	Score
Wasps	London Scottish	11-3
Leicester	Bath	6-10

Final

26 April 1986

Bath	25–17	Wasps
Try: Spurrell Simpson Hill Swift Con: Trick 3 Pen: Trick		Try: Pellow Stringer Balcombe Con: Stringer Pen: Stringer

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 24,500 Referee: Fred Howard (Liverpool)

Bath

Wasps

16 Chris Martin 15 David Trick 14 John Palmer (c) 12 Simon Halliday 11 Tony Swift 10 Stuart Barnes 9 Richard Hill 8 Paul Simpson 7 Jon Hall 6 Roger Spurrell 5 Nigel Redman 4 John Morrison 3 Maurice 'Richard' Lee 2 Graham Dawe 1 Gareth Chilcott Replacements: 16 Chris Stanley 17 Phil Cue 18 Barry Trevaskis 19 Greg Bess 20 Chris Lilley 21 David Egerton Coach: Jack Rowell

15 Nick Stringer 14 Simon Smith 13 Richard Cardus (c) 12 Roger Pellow 11 Mark Bailey 10 Gareth Rees 9 Steve Bates 8 Mark Rose 7 Mark Rigby 6 David Pegler 5 Mike Pinnegar 4 John Bonner 3 Jeff Probyn 2 Alan Simmons 1 Garry Holmes Replacements: 16 Paul Minihan 17 Kevin Titcombe 18 Paul Balcombe for Bates 19 Allan Isicheri 20 Justin Samuel 21 John Ellison Coach: