Anglo-Welsh Cup

Anglo-Welsh Cup

Current season, competition or edition: 2014–15 LV Cup
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1971
No. of teams	16
Countries	England Wales
Most recent champion(s)	Saracens (2nd title)
Most titles	Bath (10 titles)
Official website	[1]

The Anglo-Welsh Cup (Welsh: Cwpan Eingl-Gymreig), known for sponsorship reasons as the LV Cup (styled as the LV= Cup), is a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition featuring the 12 English Premiership clubs and the four Welsh regions. The present sponsorship deal with British insurance company LV, which runs for two seasons, was announced on 29 October 2009, just before the start of the 2009–10 competition. Between 2006 and 2009, the competition was sponsored by EDF's UK subsidiary and referred to as the EDF Energy Cup.

Prior to 2006 the cup was an all-English competition.

History

1971–2005

Originally known as the RFU Club Competition, for which no cup was awarded nor sponsorship sought, it was renamed the John Player Cup in 1976. The first competition took place in 1972, and Gloucester were crowned inaugural champions, defeating Moseley in the final, 17–6. Coventry won two titles in succession in 1973 and 1974, and after Bedford's championship win in 1975, Gosforth also won two in succession, in 1976 and 1977. Gloucester won their second title in 1978. The competition was then dominated by Leicester, who won three championships in a row, until Gloucester won their third title in 1982. This was shared with Moseley after a 12–12 draw in extra time, and was the only time the cup was shared between two teams. Leicester were again in the final in 1983, but lost to Bristol. Leicester's record run was then broken by Bath from 1984 to 1987, who won the cup four times in a row, until Harlequins won their first in 1988.

The name of the cup was changed to the Pilkington Cup for the 1989 tournament. Bath picked up from where they left off in the late 1980s, going onto win another six times from 1989 to 1996. Harlequins won their second title in 1991, and Leicester added to their three championships in 1993 and again in 1997. The cup changed its name again after Leicesters' 1997 victory, becoming the Tetley's Bitter Cup for the 1998 season. Saracens won their first title, defeating Wasps in 1998. Wasps were again in the final in 1999, and defeated Newcastle to claim their first championship. Wasps also won the 2000 competition.

In 2001, the name of the tournament was changed to the Powergen Cup. Newcastle won the first Powergen Cup, defeating the Harlequins 30–27. London Irish won it for their first time the following season, and Gloucester won it for the first time since 1982 in 2003. Newcastle won in 2004, and in 2005 the Leeds Tykes defeated Bath to win it for the first time.

2005–present: Anglo-Welsh Cup

Starting in 2005–06, the cup featured a new format including only the twelve teams from the Guinness Premiership and the four regional Welsh clubs. Teams from the Championship (formerly National Division One) and below now play for the Powergen National Trophy, and from 2009–10 Championship teams also play in the British and Irish Cup.

In place of the knock-out format, the 16 clubs are placed in four pools with three English clubs and one Welsh club. The pool stages of the Anglo-Welsh Cup tournament feature one game against each team. The winners of each of the four groups progress to the semi-finals. The pools will stay as they are for the following season as well, with home and away fixtures reversed and the club relegated from the Premiership's place taken by the club promoted from the Championship.

In addition to increased TV revenue (the revised Powergen Cup had a new broadcasting agreement with BBC Sport) and a possible boost to matchday income, the Powergen Cup also offered its winner, if they were a Premiership club, qualification to the even more lucrative Heineken Cup competition. As base compensation, all 16 Powergen clubs are guaranteed £250,000 each, with a prize fund of up to £200,000 available to the semi-finalists.

The Welsh clubs' inclusion initially caused them to be expelled from the Celtic League. Scottish and Irish officials were angered that the Welsh clubs had apparently consented to Powergen Cup fixtures on the same weekend as Celtic League matches. The political fallout resulted in the purported expulsion of the Welsh clubs from the league. Eventually, a compromise was reached, and the Welsh clubs were readmitted.

The Scarlets playing Bath at the Millennium Stadium

Interest in the Powergen Cup was high during the first two rounds. Over 100,000 spectators attend matches, while the television audience peaked at 1.2 million on BBC2 for the match between the Newcastle Falcons and the Llanelli Scarlets. Overall, the 2005–06 cup drew a 12% attendance boost in the group stages over the previous year's competition.

However, Powergen decided to withdraw all of its rugby sponsorship after the conclusion of the 2005–06 cup competitions. The next sponsor of the Anglo-Welsh Cup was EDF Energy, in a deal that ran until 2009. The present deal with LV runs through the 2010–11 competition.

The pools (or groups) for the Powergen Cup were decided on a regional basis, consisting of three English sides geographically close to one another, and one Welsh club again divided as far as possible by their location.

There will be no Anglo-Welsh Cup competition in the 2015–16 season due to the late start of the 2015–16 English Premiership season.

List of winners

The Powergen Cup (centre) seen in the London Irish clubhouse at Sunbury in 2002

Key

Key to list of winners

*	Match went to extra time
Italics	Cup shared

All teams are English, except where (Welsh).

RFU Club Competition

Season	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Attendance	Ref
1971–72	Gloucester	17–6	Moseley	Twickenham	10,500
1972–73	Coventry	27–15	Bristol	Twickenham	11,500
1973–74	Coventry	26–6	London Scottish	Twickenham
1974–75	Bedford	28–12	Rosslyn Park	Twickenham	18,000
1975–76	Gosforth	23–14	Rosslyn Park	Twickenham	7,500
1976–77	Gosforth	27–11	Waterloo	Twickenham	10,000
1977–78	Gloucester	6–3	Leicester	Twickenham	24,000
1978–79	Leicester	15–12	Moseley	Twickenham	18,000
1979–80	Leicester	21–9	London Irish	Twickenham	27,000
1980–81	Leicester	22–15	Gosforth	Twickenham	24,000
1981–82	Gloucester	12–12	Moseley	Twickenham	20,000
1982–83	Bristol	28–22	Leicester	Twickenham	34,000
1983–84	Bath	10–9	Bristol	Twickenham	25,000
1984–85	Bath	24–15	London Welsh	Twickenham	32,000
1985–86	Bath	25–17	Wasps	Twickenham	23,000
1986–87	Bath	19–12	Wasps	Twickenham	35,500
1987–88	Harlequins	28–22	Bristol	Twickenham	37,000
1988–89	Bath	10–6	Leicester	Twickenham	59,300
1989–90	Bath	48–6	Gloucester	Twickenham	52,000
1990–91	Harlequins	25–13	Northampton	Twickenham	53,000
1991–92	Bath	15–12	Harlequins	Twickenham	62,000
1992–93	Leicester	23–16	Harlequins	Twickenham	54,000
1993–94	Bath	21–9	Leicester	Twickenham	68,000
1994–95	Bath	36–16	Wasps	Twickenham
1995–96	Bath	16–15	Leicester	Twickenham	75,000
1996–97	Leicester	9–3	Sale	Twickenham	75,000
1997–98	Saracens	48–18	Wasps	Twickenham	64,000
1998–99	London Wasps	29–19	Newcastle	Twickenham	50,000
1999–00	London Wasps	31–23	Northampton	Twickenham	48,000
2000–01	Newcastle	30–27	Harlequins	Twickenham	71,000
2001–02	London Irish	38–7	Northampton	Twickenham	75,000
2002–03	Gloucester	40–22	Northampton	Twickenham	75,000
2003–04	Newcastle	37–33	Sale	Twickenham	48,519
2004–05	Leeds Tykes	20–12	Bath	Twickenham	60,300

Anglo-Welsh Cup

All teams are English, except where (Welsh).

RFU Club Competition

Season	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Attendance	Ref
2005–06	London Wasps	26–10	Llanelli Scarlets	Twickenham	57,212
2006–07	Leicester Tigers	41–35	Ospreys	Twickenham	43,312
2007–08	Ospreys	23–6	Leicester Tigers	Twickenham	65,756
2008–09	Cardiff Blues	50–12	Gloucester	Twickenham	54,899
2009–10	Northampton Saints	30–24	Gloucester	Sixways Stadium, Worcester	12,024
2010–11	Gloucester	34–7	Newcastle Falcons	Franklin's Gardens, Northampton	6,848
2011–12	Leicester Tigers	26–14	Northampton Saints	Sixways Stadium, Worcester	11,895
2012–13	Harlequins	32–14	Sale Sharks	Sixways Stadium, Worcester	8,100
2013–14	Exeter Chiefs	15–8	Northampton Saints	Sandy Park, Exeter	10,744
2014–15	Saracens	23–20	Exeter Chiefs	Franklin's Gardens, Northampton	8,865
2015–16	no competition due to Rugby World Cup

List of champions

Bath – 10 titles; Gloucester and Leicester Tigers – 5 titles; Newcastle Falcons(Gosforth) – 4 titles; Harlequins and Wasps – 3 titles; Coventry and Saracens – 2 titles; Bedford Blues, Bristol, Cardiff Blues, Exeter Chiefs, Yorkshire Carnegie (Leeds Tykes) , London Irish, Ospreys and Northampton – 1 title

Media coverage

BBC covered this tournament from its inception up to 2009 when the rights were transferred to Sky Sports. BBC coverage was covered by their usual rugby union team of John Inverdale with Jeremy Guscott, Jonathan Davies, Andy Nicol and Keith Wood with commentary by Nick Mullins, Eddie Butler or Andrew Cotter with the likes of Brian Moore and Phillip Matthews with reporting by Jill Douglas or Sonja McLaughlan. Sky now show the tournament live with their main rugby union team of Simon Lazenby or Alex Payne with the likes of Will Greenwood, Tyrone Howe, Dewi Morris and commentary by Miles Harrison or Mark Robson with Stuart Barnes or Ieuan Evans. ITV show highlights with Craig Doyle and Martin Bayfield with commentary by Bob Symonds or Martin Gillingham.

In Australia the Anglo-Welsh Cup is broadcast on Setanta Sports, and also in Asia on Setanta Sports. In New Zealand the Anglo-Welsh Cup is broadcast on The Rugby Channel.

See also

• EDF Energy Trophy

External links

• Anglo Welsh Cup website