2010–11 British and Irish Cup

The 2010–11 British and Irish Cup was the 2nd season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on Friday 15 October 2010 and the final was held on Saturday 7 May 2011.

2010–11 British and Irish Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England Ireland  Scotland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	October 2010 - May 2011
Tournament statistics
Teams	24
Matches played	67
Attendance	81,295 (1,213 per match)
Tries scored	388 (5.79 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	James Pritchard (Bedford Blues) (128 points)[1]
Top try scorer(s)	Handre Schmidt (Bedford Blues) (11 tries)[2]
Final
Venue	Memorial Stadium, Bristol
Attendance	4,375
Champions	Bristol (1st title)
Runners-up	Bedford Blues
← 2009–10 (Previous) (Next) 2011–12 →

Defending champions Cornish Pirates were unable to make it out of the pool stages. Bristol lifted the cup, narrowly defeating Bedford Blues 17–14 in the first all-English final.

Teams

The allocation of teams was as follows:

• – 12 teams from RFU Championship
• – 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams.
• – 3 Scottish sides, top clubs from the Scottish Premiership.
• – 6 top clubs from the Principality Premiership.

England	Ireland	Scotland	Wales
Bedford Blues Birmingham & Solihull Bristol Cornish Pirates Doncaster Esher London Welsh Moseley Nottingham Plymouth Albion Rotherham Worcester Warriors	Leinster A Munster A Ulster Ravens	Ayr Currie Melrose	Llandovery Llanelli Neath Newport Pontypridd Swansea

Competition format

The teams were divided into four pools of six, playing over five weekends during the Autumn International and Six Nations windows. The four pool winners and runners-up contested a knock-out stage, with quarter-finals on 5 or 6 March, semi-finals on 23 March and the final on 7 May.

Pool stages

Pool A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	T	TB	LB	Pts
1	Worcester Warriors	5	4	0	1	175	87	+88	22	3	0	19
2	Leinster A	5	4	0	1	138	117	+21	18	3	0	19
3	Cornish Pirates	5	3	0	2	175	108	+67	23	4	1	17
4	Newport	5	3	0	2	121	159	−38	16	3	1	16
5	Plymouth Albion	5	1	0	4	76	144	−68	9	1	0	5
6	Currie	5	0	0	5	104	174	−70	11	0	2	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
• 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

17 October 2010 14:30

Newport	28 – 33	Leinster A
	Stats

Rodney Parade Attendance: 881

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11 December 2010 13:00

Worcester Warriors	58 – 10	Newport
	Stats

Sixways Attendance: 2,844

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11 December 2010 14:00

Leinster A	25 – 16	Plymouth Albion
	Stats

Greystones RFC Attendance: 500

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11 December 2010 15:00

Cornish Pirates	54 – 31	Currie
	Stats

Mennaye Field Attendance: 923

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19 December 2010 14:00

Cornish Pirates	43 – 12	Leinster A
	Stats

Mennaye Field Attendance: 2,026

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14 January 2011 19:30

Currie	23 – 25	Newport
	Stats

Malleny Park Attendance: 600

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16 January 2011 13:00

Leinster A	38 – 23	Worcester Warriors
	Stats

Donnybrook Attendance: 485

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16 January 2011 14:00

Cornish Pirates	34 – 3	Plymouth Albion
	Stats

Mennaye Field Attendance: 2,207

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21 January 2011 19:15

Newport	34 – 32	Cornish Pirates
	Stats

Rodney Parade Attendance: 697

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22 January 2011 15:00

Worcester Warriors	34 – 11	Plymouth Albion
	Stats

Sixways Attendance: 3,830

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23 January 2011 14:00

Leinster A	30 – 7	Currie
	Stats

Donnybrook Attendance: 530

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25 January 2011 19:45

Plymouth Albion	13 – 24	Newport
	Stats

The Brickfields Attendance: 762

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9 February 2011 19:30

Currie	16 – 32	Worcester Warriors
	Stats

Watsonians RFC Attendance: 400

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26 February 2011 15:00

Plymouth Albion	33 – 27	Currie
	Stats

The Brickfields Attendance: 921

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26 February 2011 15:00

Worcester Warriors	28 – 12	Cornish Pirates
	Stats

Sixways Attendance: 4,042

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Pool B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	T	TB	LB	Pts
1	Bristol	5	4	0	1	161	95	+66	22	3	0	19
2	Llanelli	5	4	0	1	123	66	+57	14	2	0	18
3	Munster A	5	3	0	2	149	79	+70	18	2	1	15
4	Nottingham	5	2	0	3	128	103	+25	18	3	2	13
5	Melrose	5	2	0	3	104	147	−43	11	1	1	10
6	Esher	5	0	0	5	46	221	−175	3	0	1	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
• 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

15 October 2010 19:30

Munster A	13 – 15	Llanelli
	Stats

Waterford Sports Ground Attendance: 1,500

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10 December 2010 19:45

Bristol	23 – 37	Nottingham
	Stats

Memorial Stadium Attendance: 1,912

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11 December 2010 14:00

Melrose	14 – 47	Munster A
	Stats

The Greenyards Attendance: 1,017

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11 December 2010 15:00

Esher	14 – 33	Llanelli
	Stats

Molesey Road Attendance: 812

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3 January 2011 14:00

Melrose	24 – 18	Esher
	Stats

The Greenyards Attendance: 600

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14 January 2011 19:45

Esher	5 – 55	Bristol
	Stats

Molesey Road Attendance: 719

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14 January 2011 19:45

Nottingham	14 – 15	Munster A
	Stats

Meadow Lane Attendance: 3,189

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15 January 2011 13:30

Llanelli	24 – 9	Melrose
	Stats

Carmarthen Park, Carmarthen

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21 January 2011 19:30

Munster A	64 – 9	Esher
	Stats

Garryowen RFC Attendance: 500

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23 January 2011 15:00

Bristol	27 – 17	Llanelli
	Stats

Memorial Stadium Attendance: 2,228

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23 January 2011 15:00

Nottingham	29 – 31	Melrose
	Stats

Meadow Lane Attendance: 913

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22 February 2011 19:45

Bristol	27 – 10	Munster A
	Stats

Memorial Stadium Attendance: 2,364

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23 February 2011 19:30

Llanelli	34 – 3	Nottingham
	Stats

Parc y Scarlets

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26 February 2011 14:00

Melrose	26 – 29	Bristol
	Stats

The Greenyards Attendance: 594

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26 February 2011 15:00

Esher	0 – 45	Nottingham
	Stats

Molesey Road Attendance: 200

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Pool C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	T	TB	LB	Pts
1	Bedford Blues	5	5	0	0	164	66	+98	18	3	0	23
2	Moseley	5	4	0	1	117	113	+4	16	2	0	18
3	Neath	5	3	0	2	78	76	+2	9	0	2	14
4	London Welsh	5	2	0	3	93	99	−6	14	1	2	11
5	Ulster Ravens	5	1	0	4	109	128	−19	13	1	2	7
6	Swansea	5	0	0	5	61	140	−79	7	0	2	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
• 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

16 October 2010 14:30

Swansea	12 – 32	Ulster Ravens
	Stats

St Helens Attendance: 1,200

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11 December 2010 14:00

London Welsh	21 – 24	Moseley
	Stats

Old Deer Park Attendance: 675

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11 December 2010 15:00

Bedford Blues	36 – 22	Ulster Ravens
	Stats

Goldington Road Attendance: 2,105

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14 January 2011 19:00

Ulster Ravens	20 – 25	Neath
	Stats

Instonians RFC Attendance: 400

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15 January 2011 15:00

Bedford Blues	44 – 14	London Welsh
	Stats

Goldington Road Attendance: 2,416

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15 January 2011 15:00

Moseley	28 – 22	Swansea
	Stats

Billesley Common Attendance: 429

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19 January 2011 19:30

Neath	6 – 13	Bedford Blues
	Stats

The Gnoll Attendance: 1,000

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22 January 2011 14:00

London Welsh	29 – 11	Ulster Ravens
	Stats

Old Deer Park Attendance: 785

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22 January 2011 15:00

Moseley	24 – 18	Neath
	Stats

Billesley Common Attendance: 526

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8 February 2011 19:15

Swansea	9 – 43	Bedford Blues
	Stats

St Helens Attendance: 800

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15 February 2011 19:30

Swansea	12 – 15	Neath
	Stats

St Helens Attendance: 250

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23 February 2011 14:00

Ulster Ravens	24 – 26	Moseley
	Stats

Ravenhill

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25 February 2011 19:15

Neath	14 – 7	London Welsh
	Stats

The Gnoll Attendance: 1,000

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26 February 2011 15:00

Bedford Blues	28 – 15	Moseley
	Stats

Goldington Road Attendance: 1,908

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27 February 2011 14:00

London Welsh	22 – 6	Swansea
	Stats

Old Deer Park Attendance: 237

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Pool D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	T	TB	LB	Pts
1	Pontypridd	5	5	0	0	140	80	+60	18	3	0	23
2	Ayr	5	3	1	1	93	101	−8	13	0	0	14
3	Doncaster	5	2	0	3	142	128	+14	15	1	2	11
4	Birmingham & Solihull	5	2	0	3	95	90	+5	13	1	2	11
5	Llandovery	5	2	0	3	92	106	−14	9	0	1	9
6	Rotherham	5	0	1	4	83	140	−57	13	1	0	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
• 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

16 October 2010 14:30

Llandovery	18 – 28	Pontypridd
	Stats

Church Bank Attendance: 1,200

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11 December 2010 14:00

Rotherham	17 – 34	Llandovery
	Stats

Clifton Lane Attendance: 350

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12 December 2010 12:30

Pontypridd	33 – 12	Ayr
	Stats

The Memorial Ground Attendance: 1,000

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9 January 2011 15:00

Birmingham & Solihull	35 – 29	Doncaster
	Stats

Damson Park Attendance: 317

• This fixture would double up as a cup and 2010–11 RFU Championship game after the cup game was initially postponed.^[3]

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15 January 2011 14:30

Pontypridd	21 – 12	Rotherham
	Stats

Sardis Road Attendance: 2,050

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15 January 2011 15:00

Llandovery	6 – 27	Doncaster
	Stats

Church Bank

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16 January 2011 15:00

Birmingham & Solihull	12 – 18	Ayr
	Stats

Damson Park Attendance: 350

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22 January 2011 14:00

Rotherham	20 – 20	Ayr
	Stats

Clifton Lane Attendance: 587

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22 January 2011 14:30

Doncaster	23 – 35	Pontypridd
	Stats

Castle Park Attendance: 1,227

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25 January 2011 19:45

Pontypridd	23 – 15	Birmingham & Solihull
	Stats

Sardis Road Attendance: 1,200

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12 February 2011 12:00

Ayr	20 – 19	Llandovery
	Stats

Millbrae Attendance: 670

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14 February 2011 15:00

Llandovery	15 – 14	Birmingham & Solihull
	Stats

Church Bank Attendance: 200

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15 February 2011 19:30

Doncaster	46 – 29	Rotherham
	Stats

Castle Park Attendance: 864

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26 February 2011 12:00

Ayr	23 – 17	Doncaster
	Stats

Millbrae Attendance: 860

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27 February 2011 15:00

Birmingham & Solihull	19 – 5	Rotherham
	Stats

Damson Park Attendance: 300

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Knock-out stages

Qualifiers

The four pool winners and the four runners up proceeded to the knock out stages. The best four qualifiers (pool winners) had home advantage in the quarter-finals.

Qualification	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	T	TB	LB	Pts
Pool C Winner	Bedford Blues	5	5	0	0	164	66	+98	18	3	0	23
Pool D Winner	Pontypridd	5	5	0	0	140	80	+60	18	3	0	23
Pool A Winner	Worcester Warriors	5	4	0	1	175	87	+88	22	3	0	19
Pool B Winner	Bristol	5	4	0	1	161	95	+66	22	3	0	19
Pool A Runner-up	Leinster A	5	4	0	1	138	117	+21	18	3	0	19
Pool B Runner-up	Llanelli	5	4	0	1	123	66	+57	14	2	0	18
Pool C Runner-up	Moseley	5	4	0	1	117	113	+4	16	2	0	18
Pool D Runner-up	Ayr	5	3	1	1	93	101	−8	13	0	0	14

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	5 March 2011 - Sardis Road
	Pontypridd	12
					23 April 2011 - Sardis Road
	Llanelli	10
					Pontypridd	25
	6 March 2011 - Memorial Stadium
					Bristol	36
	Bristol	29
									7 May 2011 - Memorial Stadium
	Ayr	19
									Bristol	17
	5 March 2011 - Goldington Road
									Bedford Blues	14
	Bedford Blues	50
					23 April 2011 - Goldington Road
	Leinster A	15
					Bedford Blues	43
	5 March 2011 - Sixways Stadium
					Worcester Warriors	27
	Worcester Warriors	57
	Moseley	15

Quarter-finals

5 March 2011 14:30

Pontypridd	12 - 10	Llanelli
Pen: Humberstone 5'c, 30'c, 68'c (3/3), Gunter 79'c (1/1)	Report Stats	Try: Hopkins 38'c Con: Shingler (1/1) Drop: Shingler 76'c (1/1)

Sardis Road, Pontypridd Attendance: 1,400 Referee: Luke Pearce

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5 March 2011 15:00

Worcester Warriors	57 - 15	Moseley
Try: Sanderson 10'c, 24'c, Garvey 27'c, 38'c, Crockett 30'c, Frost 44'c, Grove 50'c, Shervington 74'm Con: Carlisle (7/8) Pen: Carlisle 20'c (1/1)	Report Stats	Try: Sigley 64'm, Borgen 80'c Con: Thomas (1/2) Pen: Thomas 2'c (1/1)

Sixways Stadium, Worcester Attendance: 2,461 Referee: Leo Colgan

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5 March 2011 15:00

Bedford Blues	50 - 15	Leinster A
Try: Schmidt 14'm, 20'm, 58'c, 64'c, Dodge 32'c, Thrower 79'c Con: Pritchard (4/6) Pen: Pritchard 19'c, 43'c, 46'c, 76'c (4/4)	Report Stats	Try: Auva'a 53'c, 73'm Con: Madigan (1/2) Pen: Madigan 36'c (1/1)

Goldington Road, Bedford Attendance: 1,313 Referee: David Jones

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6 March 2011 15:00

Bristol	29 - 19	Ayr
Try: Gadd 9'm, Merriman 15'c, 39'c, Watkins 41'c Con: Barnes (3/4) Pen: Barnes 5'm, 73'c (1/2)	Report Stats	Try: Taylor 30'm, Manning 48'c, Ferguson 69'c Con: Curle (2/3) Pen: Curle 40'm (0/1)

Memorial Stadium, Bristol Attendance: 1,595 Referee: Neil Hennessey

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Semi-finals

23 April 2011 14:30

Pontypridd	25 - 36	Bristol
Try: Siggery 13'c, Humberstone 74'c, Waters 78'm Con: Humberstone (2/3) Pen: Humberstone 34'c, 39'c (2/2)	Report Stats	Try: Norton 4'c, 69'c, Penalty try 15'c, Blaney 51'm, Watkins 64'c Con: Barnes (4/5) Pen: Barnes 3'c

Sardis Road, Pontypridd Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Leo Colgan

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23 April 2011 15:00

Bedford Blues	43 - 27	Worcester Warriors
Try: Seal 13'c, Tupai 17'c, 30'c, Rae 23'm, Pritchard 47'c, Thrower 60'c Con: Pritchard (5/6) Pen: Pritchard 53'c	Report Stats	Try: Carlisle 4'c, Grove 6'c, King 76'c Con: Carlisle (2/2), Walker (1/1) Pen: Walker 26'c, 45'c (2/2)

Goldington Road, Bedford Attendance: 2,049 Referee: Michael Tutty

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Final

7 May 2011 17:05

Bristol	17 - 14	Bedford Blues
Try: Elliott 51'm Con: Barnes (0/1) Pen: Barnes 13'm, 33'c, 36'c, 40'c, 75'c (4/5)	Report Stats	Try: Schmidt 80'm Con: Pritchard (0/1) Pen: Pritchard 9'c, 61'c, 64'm, 70'c (3/4)

Memorial Stadium, Bristol Attendance: 4,375 Referee: Andrew McMenemy

FB 15 George Watkins RW 14 Anthony Elliott OC 13 Jack Adams IC 12 Junior Fatialofa LW 11 Dan Norton FH 10 Ed Barnes SH 9 Robbie Shaw  80' N8 8 Dan Montagu OF 7 James Merriman BF 6 Iain Grieve (c) RL 5 Roy Winters LL 4 Mariano Sambucetti  71' TP 3 Darren Crompton  57' HK 2 David Blaney LP 1 Mark Irish  74' Replacements: HK 16 Ollie Hayes PR 17 Wayne Thompson  57' PR 18 Mako Vunipola  74' LK 19 Darren Barry  71' N8 20 Marco Mama SH 21 Richard Bolt  80' FH 22 Mark Davies Coach: Paul Hull

FB 15 Edd Thrower  52' RW 14 Handre Schmidt OC 13 Myles Dorrian IC 12 Ollie Dodge LW 11 James Pritchard (c) FH 10 Jake Sharp SH 9 Will Chudley  52' N8 8 Paul Tupai OF 7 Alex Rae 39' to 49' BF 6 Gregor Gillanders  71' RL 5 George Kruis LL 4 Mike Howard TP 3 Phil Boulton  61' HK 2 Dan Richmond LP 1 Dan Seal Replacements: HK 16 Chris Locke PR 17 Sam Walsh  61' LK 18 Sean Tomes  71' N8 19 Chris Goodman SH 20 Darryl Veenendaal  52' CE 21 Tom Bedford WG 22 Duncan Taylor  52' Coach: Mike Rayer

Touch judges: Ian Heard Graham Marshall

Top scorers

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Points[1] 1 James Pritchard Bedford Blues 128 2 Joe Carlisle Worcester Warriors 75 3 Simon Humberstone Pontypridd 61 4 Ed Barnes Bristol 58 5 Handre Schmidt Bedford Blues 55 6 Hayden Abercrombie Currie 49 Tristan Roberts Doncaster 8 Steven Shingler Llanelli 47 9 Rob Cook Cornish Pirates 43 Christian Lewis-Pratt Doncaster Scott Wright Melrose

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Tries[2] 1 Handre Schmidt Bedford Blues 11 2 Andrew Conway Leinster A 6 George Watkins Bristol 4 Wesley Davies Cornish Pirates 5 5 Anthony Elliott Bristol 4 Christian Lewis-Pratt Doncaster Matt Scott Currie

Geography

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area/Country
Ayr	Millbrae	Unknown	Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	4,684	Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Birmingham & Solihull	Damson Park	3,050	Solihull, West Midlands, England
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol, England
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	3,500	Penzance, Cornwall, England
Currie	Malleny Park	Unknown	Balerno, Edinburgh, Scotland
Doncaster	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Esher	Molesey Road	Unknown	Esher, England
Leinster A	Donnybrook	7,000	Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Llandovery	Church Bank	5,000	Llandovery, Wales
Llanelli	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	London, England
Melrose	The Greenyards	Unknown	Melrose, Scottish Borders, Scotland
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+ (650 seated)	Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Munster A	Musgrave Park	8,300	Cork, County Cork, Ireland
Neath	The Gnoll	7,500	Neath, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
Newport	Rodney Parade	10,500	Newport, Wales
Nottingham	Meadow Lane	19,588	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	6,500	Plymouth, Devon, England
Pontypridd	Sardis Road	7,861	Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales
Rotherham	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England
Swansea	St Helens	4,500	Swansea, Wales
Ulster A	Ravenhill Stadium	12,125	Belfast, Ulster, Northern Ireland
Worcester Warriors	Sixways Stadium	12,068	Worcester, England