1996–97 Pilkington Cup

The 1996–97 Pilkington Cup was the 26th edition of England's premier rugby union club competition. Leicester won the competition defeating Sale in the final.^[1] The event was sponsored by Pilkington and the final was held at Twickenham Stadium.^[2]

1996–97 Pilkington Cup
Tournament statistics
Champions	Leicester Tigers (5th title)
← 1995–96 (Previous) (Next) 1997–98 →

Draw and results

First round (Sep 14)

Team one	Team two	Score
Barking	Barnstaple	18-31
Birmingham & Solihull	Old Halesonians	37-8
Bishop Stortford	Bicester	13-26
Bradford & Bingley	Aspatria	13-26
Bridgwater & Albion	Newbury	22-46
Bridlington	Nuneaton	23-16
Camberley	Plymouth	24-24*
Camp Hill	Wigton	17-35
Charlton Park	Askeans	11-28
Derby	Blaydon	12-13
Esher	Ruislip	20-3
Gosport & Fareham	Weston-Super-Mare	12-19
Haywards Heath	Beckenham	31-10
Henley	Westcombe Park	84-10
Launceston	Cheltenham	25-37
Lichfield	Winnington Park	19-21
Longton	Sheffield	16-26
Manchester	Scunthorpe	37-10
Marlow	Norwich	0-6
Metropolitan Police	Sutton & Epsom	47-18
New Brighton	Hereford	29-13
North Walsham	Gloucester Old Boys	17-18
Preston Grasshoppers	Stoke-on-Trent	28-10
Southend	High Wycombe	24-41
Staines	Gloucester Saras	27-20
Stourbridge	Kendal	17-28
Sutton Coldfield	Sandal	15-22
Swanage & Wareham	Berry Hill	41-8
Tabard	Bracknell	19-30
Westleigh	Tynedale	19-20
Widnes	Ampthill	30-17
Worcester	Vale of Lune	59-8

Second round (Oct 12)

Team one	Team two	Score
Askeans	Swanage & Wareham	18-21
Barnstaple	Plymouth	27-14
Bishop Stortford	Metropolitan Police	22-22*
Bridlington	Blaydon	15-7
Cheltenham	Worcester	30-22
Gloucester Old Boys	Newbury	13-26
Haywards Heath	Bracknell	24-58
Manchester	Wigton	19-31
New Brighton	Preston Grasshoppers	12-24
Norwich	Esher	12-38
Sandal	Tynedale	16-9
Sheffield	Kendal	29-31
Staines	Henley	20-31
Weston-Super-Mare	High Wycombe	23-6
Widnes	Birmingham & Solihull	19-9
Winnington Park	Aspatria	19-46

Progressed to next round by virtue of scoring more tries*

Third round (Nov 2)

Team one	Team two	Score
Bridlington	Wigton	22-30
Cheltenham	Henley	23-19
Esher	Bracknell	26-15
Exeter	Barnstaple	32-3
Leeds	Redruth	96-6
Liverpool St Helens	Walsall	30-20
London Welsh	Reading	11-16
Morley	Aspatria	30-26
Newbury	Clifton	58-12
Otley	Wharfedale	34-27
Preston Grasshoppers	Fylde	24-12
Rosslyn Park	Havant	27-15
Sandal	Kendal	20-32
Swanage & Wareham	Lydney	9-26
Weston-super-Mare	Bishop Stortford	23-11
Widnes	Harrogate	12-7

Fourth round (Dec 21 & 22)

Team one	Team two	Score
Bath	London Irish	33-0
Bristol	Blackheath	60-17
Coventry	Kendal	79-17
Gloucester	Leeds	55-20
Harlequins	Cheltenham	47-11
Leicester	Newbury	26-21
Moseley	Wigton	49-6
Newcastle	West Hartlepool	51-10
Nottingham	London Scottish	11-25
Orrell	Bedford	34-31
Preston Grasshoppers	Northampton	11-40
Reading	Saracens	3-41
Rotherham	Rosslyn Park	41-26
Sale	Richmond	34-30
Wakefield	Waterloo	22-17
Wasps	Rugby	84-8

Fifth round (Jan 25 & 26)

Team one	Team two	Score
Bath	Leicester	28-39
Gloucester	Bristol	18-12
London Scottish	Newcastle	15-39
Northampton	Coventry	26-17
Orrell	Sale	0-57
Rotherham	Harlequins	23-42
Saracens	Wasps	21-17
Wakefield	Moseley	24-14

Quarter-finals (Feb 22 & 23)

Team one	Team two	Score
Harlequins	Saracens	28-21
Newcastle	Leicester	8-18
Northampton	Sale	9-22
Wakefield	Gloucester	21-25

Semi-finals (Mar 29)

Team one	Team two	Score
Gloucester	Leicester	13-26
Sale	Harlequins	26-16

Final

10 May 1997

Leicester	9–3	Sale
Pen: Joel Stransky 3		Pen: Simon Mannix

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Brian Campsall (Yorkshire)

Leicester

Sale

O Niall Malone N Craig Joiner M Will Greenwood L Stuart Potter K Leon Lloyd J Joel Stransky I Austin Healey G Eric Miller H Neil Back F John Wells E Matt Poole D Martin Johnson (c) C Darren Garforth B Richard Cockerill A Graham Rowntree Replacements: P Rob Liley Q Aadel Kardooni R Bill Drake-Lee S Dean Richards T Dorian West U Steve Hackney Dir of Rugby: Bob Dwyer

15 Jim Mallinder (c) 14 David Rees 13 Jos Baxendell 12 Adrian Hadley 11 Tom Beim 10 Simon Mannix 9 Dewi Morris 8 John Mitchell 7 Dylan O'Grady 6 Neil Ashurst 5 Dave Baldwin 4 Dave Erskine 3 Paul Smith 2 Steve Diamond 1 Paul Winstanley Replacements: 16 John O'Reilly 17 Chris Yates 18 Andy Morris 19 Sean Fletcher 20 Luke Hewson 21 Murray Driver Coach: