2011–12 European Challenge Cup

The 2011–12 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 16th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second-tier club rugby union competition. The tournament began with two matches on 10 November 2011 and ended with the final on 18 May 2012 at the Twickenham Stoop in London. A total of 23 teams from six countries participated—20 in the pool stage, plus three teams parachuting into the knockout stages from the Heineken Cup. In an all-French final, Biarritz claimed their first Challenge Cup, defeating Toulon 21–18. The Basque club claimed a place in the 2012–13 Heineken Cup, which will be their 13th consecutive appearance in Europe's top club competition.^[1]

2011–12 Amlin Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Italy  Romania  Spain  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	10 November 2011 to 18 May 2012
Tournament statistics
Teams	23
Matches played	67
Attendance	344,547 (5,142 per match)
Tries scored	365 (5.45 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon) (96 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Morgan Turinui (Stade Français) (6 tries)
Final
Venue	Twickenham Stoop, London
Attendance	9,376
Champions	Biarritz (1st title)
Runners-up	Toulon
← 2010–11 (Previous) (Next) 2012–13 →

The defending Challenge Cup champions, England's Harlequins, did not initially have a chance to defend their crown because they had earned an automatic berth in the Heineken Cup. However, Quins parachuted into the knockout stage of this season's Challenge Cup, losing to Toulon in the quarter-finals. All four semi-finalists were from France, equalling the achievement of 1996–97 and 1998–99.

Teams

Teams that parachuted in from the Heineken Cup are in italics.

England	France	Italy	Romania	Spain	Wales
London Wasps Sale Sharks Newcastle Falcons Worcester Warriors Exeter Chiefs Harlequins	Stade Français Perpignan Toulon Brive Agen Bayonne Lyon Bordeaux Biarritz	Cavalieri Prato Crociati Parma Petrarca Padova Rovigo	Bucharest Wolves	La Vila	Newport Gwent Dragons Scarlets

Seeding

Teams that did not qualify for the 2011–12 Heineken Cup were ordered into four tiers according to the European Rugby Club Ranking. Five pools of four teams were drawn comprising one team from each tier.

The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2010–11 season.^[2]

Tier 1	Stade Français (8)	Perpignan (9)	London Wasps (14)	Toulon (19)	Sale Sharks (22)
Tier 2	Newport Gwent Dragons (26)	Brive (27)	Newcastle Falcons (28)	Worcester Warriors (29)	Bayonne
Tier 3	Petrarca Padova	Crociati Parma	Rugby Rovigo	Agen	Exeter Chiefs
Tier 4	Cavalieri Prato	Lyon	Bordeaux-Bègles	Bucharest Wolves	Club Rugby La Vila Comunidad Valencia

Pool stage

Main article: 2011–12 European Challenge Cup pool stage

Key to colours

Winner of each pool advances to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses.

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Stade Français (1)	6	6	0	0	33	5	+28	241	43	+198	5	0	29
Worcester Warriors	6	4	0	2	30	9	+21	194	95	+99	4	0	20
București Wolves	6	2	0	4	12	27	−15	102	184	−82	2	0	10
Crociati Parma	6	0	0	6	4	38	−34	36	251	−215	0	0	0

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Toulon (3)	6	5	0	1	26	5	+14	197	73	+124	3	1	25
Newcastle Falcons	6	4	0	2	18	9	+9	133	82	+51	2	0	18
Lyon	6	3	0	3	16	11	+5	143	114	+29	1	1	14
Petrarca Padova	6	0	0	6	3	38	−28	50	254	−204	0	0	0

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
London Wasps (4)	6	5	0	1	21	7	+14	189	75	+114	4	0	24
Bayonne	6	5	0	1	10	3	+7	197	61	+136	2	0	22
Bordeaux Bègles	6	2	0	4	9	14	−5	82	132	−50	1	1	10
Rovigo	6	0	0	6	5	21	−16	51	251	−200	0	1	1

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Exeter Chiefs (8)	6	5	0	1	22	4	+18	202	64	+121	2	1	23
Perpignan	6	4	0	2	17	9	+8	153	112	+41	2	0	18
Newport Gwent Dragons	6	3	0	3	16	7	+9	139	100	+10	2	1	15
Cavalieri Prato	6	0	0	6	6	41	−35	62	280	−218	0	0	0

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Brive (2)	6	6	0	0	26	7	+19	209	79	+130	3	0	28
Sale Sharks	6	4	0	2	31	8	+23	225	96	+129	4	0	20
Agen	6	2	0	4	24	21	+3	168	166	+2	2	0	10
La Vila	6	0	0	6	6	51	−45	64	325	−261	0	0	0

^[3]

Knockout stage

Seeding

Following the end of the pool stage, the 5 pool winners were seeded alongside the top 3 2011–12 Heineken Cup pool runners-up who failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

(HC) Means a team has entered the competition from the Heineken Cup

Seed	Team
1	Stade Français
2	Brive
3	Toulon
4	London Wasps
5 (HC)	Biarritz
6 (HC)	Harlequins
7 (HC)	Scarlets
8	Exeter Chiefs

Quarter-finals

To be played on the weekend of 5–8 April 2012.^[4]

5 April 2012 20:45 CEST

Stade Français	22–17	Exeter Chiefs
Try: Camara 43' m Williams 79' m Pen: Dupuy (4/4) 29', 40', 47', 55'	Report[5]	Try: Naqelevuki 68' m Pen: Mieres (4/5) 21', 27', 36', 49'

Stade Charléty, Paris Attendance: 4,693 Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

6 April 2012 20:45 CEST

Toulon	37–8	Harlequins
Try: Tillous-Borde 34' c Lapeyre 60' c Armitage 73' m Con: Wilkinson (1/1) Giteau (1/2) Pen: Wilkinson (5/5) 5', 8', 14', 18' 30' Giteau (1/1) 52'	Report[6]	Try: Care 70' m Pen: Clegg (1/1) 11'

Stade Mayol, Toulon Attendance: 12,762 Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

7 April 2012 12:30 BST

London Wasps	23–26	Biarritz
Try: Wade 63' c Davis 66' c Con: Robinson (2/2) Pen: Robinson (3/3) 12', 21', 39'	Report[7]	Try: Balshaw 22' c van Staden 40' c Con: Yachvili (2/2) Pen: Yachvili (4/4) 28', 54', 61', 75'

Adams Park, High Wycombe Attendance: 4,308 Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)

8 April 2012 20:45 CEST

Brive	15–11	Scarlets
Pen: Swanepoel (5/8) 15', 36', 46', 50', 79'	Report[8]	Try: Li. Williams 58' m Pen: S. Jones (2/4) 30', 39'

Stade Amédée-Domenech, Brive-la-Gaillarde Attendance: 7,850 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Semi-finals

This is the fifth time that one country has supplied all four semi-finalists: they were all French in 1996–97 and 1998–99, and all English in the 2005–06 and 2007–08 seasons.

27 April 2012 20:55 CEST

Toulon	32–29	Stade Français
Try: Armitage 2' m Pen: Wilkinson (7/11) 31', 40', 42', 50', 55', 63', 67' Drop: Wilkinson (2/3) 46', 79'	Report[9]	Try: Bonneval 12' c Turinui 60' c Con: Plisson (2/2) Pen: Plisson (3/5) 15', 26', 37' Drop: Plisson (2/2) 21', 68'

Stade Mayol, Toulon Attendance: 12,404 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

28 April 2012 16:00 CEST

Biarritz	19–0	Brive
Try: Traille 29' c Con: Yachvili (1/1) Pen: Yachvili (4/5) 17', 23', 67', 71'	Report[10]

Parc des Sports Aguiléra, Biarritz Attendance: 8,927 Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Final

18 May 2012 20:00 BST

Biarritz	21–18	Toulon
Pen: Yachvili (7/7) 4', 17', 24', 35', 46', 53', 73'	Report[11]	Pen: Wilkinson (5/7) 11', 22', 31', 44', 59' Drop: Wilkinson (1/1) 65'

Twickenham Stoop, London Attendance: 9,376 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)