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2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup

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The 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the sixth edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this was the 24th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition. Clubs from six European nations competed, including Russian and Italian clubs who qualified via the Continental Shield.

2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries England
 France
 Italy
 Russia
 Scotland
 Wales
Tournament format(s)Round-robin and Knockout
Date15 November 2019 - 16 October 2020
Tournament statistics
Teams20
Matches played60
Attendance374,846 (6,247 per match)
Highest attendance17,553 - Bordeaux Bègles v Edinburgh
(11 January 2020)
Lowest attendance100 - Enisey-STM v Castres
(6 December 2019)
Tries scored376 (6.27 per match)
Top point scorer(s)England Jamie Shillcock (Worcester Warriors)
67 points
Top try scorer(s)England Jamie Shillcock (Worcester Warriors)
5 tries
Final
VenueStade Maurice David
ChampionsEngland Bristol Bears (1st title)
Runners-upFrance Toulon
← 2018–19 (Previous)
(Next) 2020–21 →

The tournament began in November 2019. The knock-out stages, originally planned to take place between March and May 2020, were delayed until later in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The final took place on 16 October at the Stade Maurice David in Aix-en-Provence.[1]

Teams

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20 teams will qualify for the 2019–20 European Challenge Cup; 18 will qualify from Premiership Rugby, the Pro14 and the Top 14, as a direct result of their domestic league performance, with two qualifying through the 2018–19 Continental Shield. The distribution of teams is:

  • England: Five teams
    • Any teams finishing between 7th and 11th position in Premiership Rugby that do not qualify for the Champions Cup (Sale Sharks (7th) qualified for the Champions Cup and therefore did not take part in the Challenge Cup)).
    • The champion of the RFU Championship.
  • France: Eight teams
    • Any teams finishing between 7th and 12th position in the Top 14 that do not qualify for the 2019-20 European Champions Cup
    • The champion from the Pro D2.
    • The winner of the promotion-relegation play-off between the team in 13th position in the Top 14 and the runner-up of the Pro D2.
  • Italy, Scotland, Wales: six teams
    • Five teams from the Pro14, excluding the South African teams, that do not qualify for the 2019-20 European Champions Cup
    • One team from Italy qualified through the Continental Shield
  • Russia: one team
    • One team from Russia qualified through the Continental Shield

No team from Ireland will participate in the competition as all four clubs have qualified for the 2019-20 European Champions Cup.

The following clubs have qualified for the Challenge Cup.

Premiership Top 14 Pro14 Qualifying Competition
  England   France   Italy   Scotland   Wales   Italy   Russia

Qualifying competition

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Further information: European Rugby Continental Shield § 2018–19

Six teams were split into two pools of three to compete in the pool stage of the European Rugby Continental Shield. Each team played the other two teams in its pool twice on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each pool faced each other in a two-legged play-off for a place in the Challenge Cup.

A further place was awarded to the winner of a two-legged playoff between the two sides competing in the 2018–19 Challenge Cup.

Qualifying play-offs

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30 March 2019
Calvisano  29 – 13  Rugby Rovigo Delta
Stadio San Michele, Calvisano
Attendance: 1,200
30 March 2019
Timișoara Saracens  20 – 18  Enisey-STM
Dan Păltinișanu Stadium, Timișoara
Attendance: 970
20 April 2019
Enisey-STM  40 – 32  Timișoara Saracens
Avangard Stadium, Krasnoyarsk
Attendance: 2,600
20 April 2019
Rugby Rovigo Delta  30 – 28  Calvisano
Stadio Mario Battaglini, Rovigo

Team details

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Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.

Team Coach /
Director of Rugby 		Captain Stadium Capacity Method of Qualification
  Agen   Christophe Laussucq Stade Armandie 14,000 Top 14 7th-12th (12th)
  Bayonne   Yannick Bru   Antoine Battut Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 Pro D2 champions
  Bordeaux Bègles   Christophe Urios   Jefferson Poirot Stade Chaban-Delmas 34,694 Top 14 7th-12th (10th)
  Bristol Bears   Pat Lam   Steven Luatua Ashton Gate 27,000 Premiership 8th-11th (9th)
  Brive   Jeremy Davidson   Saïd Hireche Stade Amédée-Domenech 16,000 Pro D2 / Top 14 play-off winner
  Calvisano   Massimo Brunello   Alberto Chiesa Stadio San Michele 5,000 European Rugby Continental Shield play-off winner
  Cardiff Blues   John Mulvihill   Ellis Jenkins Cardiff Arms Park 12,125 Pro14 Conference A (5th)
  Castres   Mauricio Reggiardo   Mathieu Babillot Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 Top 14 7th-12th (7th)
  Dragons   Dean Ryan   Cory Hill Rodney Parade 8,700 Pro14 Conference B (6th)
  Edinburgh   Richard Cockerill   Stuart McInally Murrayfield Stadium 67,144 Pro14 Conference B (5th)
  Enisei-STM   Alexander Pervukhin   Uldis Saulite Kuban Stadium 35,200[a] European Rugby Continental Shield play-off winner
  Leicester Tigers   Geordan Murphy   Tom Youngs Welford Road Stadium 25,849 Premiership 8th-11th (11th)
  London Irish   Declan Kidney   Blair Cowan Madejski Stadium 24,161 RFU Championship champions
  Pau   Nicolas Godignon
  Frédéric Manca 		  Quentin Lespiaucq Stade du Hameau 18,324 Top 14 7th-12th (11th)
  Scarlets   Brad Mooar   Ken Owens Parc y Scarlets 14,870 Pro14 Conference B (4th)[b]
  Stade Français   Heyneke Meyer
(for   Laurent Sempéré and   Julien Arias)[c] 		  Yoann Maestri Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 Top 14 7th-12th
  Toulon   Patrice Collazo   Raphaël Lakafia Stade Mayol 18,200 Top 14 7th-12th (9th)
  Wasps   Lee Blackett   Dan Robson
 Thomas Young 		Ricoh Arena 32,609 Premiership 8th-11th (8th)
  Worcester Warriors   Alan Solomons   GJ van Velze Sixways Stadium 11,499 Premiership 8th-11th (10th)
  Zebre   Michael Bradley   Tommaso Castello Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi 5,000 Pro14 Conference A (7th)

Seeding

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The 20 competing teams will be seeded and split into four tiers; seeding is based on performance in their respective domestic leagues. Where promotion and relegation is in effect in a league, the promoted team is seeded last, or (if multiple teams are promoted) by performance in the lower competition.[3]

Rank Top 14 Premiership Pro 14 Continental Shield
1   Castres   Wasps   Scarlets   Enisey-STM
2   Stade Français   Bristol Bears   Cardiff Blues   Calvisano
3   Toulon   Worcester Warriors   Edinburgh
4   Bordeaux Bègles   Leicester Tigers   Dragons
5   Pau   London Irish   Zebre
6   Agen
7   Bayonne
8   Brive

Based on these seedings, teams are placed into one of the four tiers, with the top-seeded clubs being put in Tier 1. The nature of the tier system means that a draw is needed to allocate two of the three second-seed clubs to Tier 1. The fourth-seed team from the same domestic league as the second-seed team which was put in Tier 2 will also be placed in Tier 2. Brackets show each team's seeding and their league. e.g. 1 Top 14 indicates the team was the top seed from the Top 14.

Given the nature of the Continental Shield, a competition including developing rugby nations and Italian clubs not competing in the Pro14, the qualifying teams from this competition are automatically included in Tier 4.

Tier 1   Wasps (1 Prem)   Scarlets (1 Pro14)   Castres (1 Top 14)   Stade Français (2 Top 14)   Cardiff Blues (2 Pro14)
Tier 2   Bristol Bears (2 Prem)   Worcester Warriors (3 Prem)   Edinburgh (3 Pro14)   Toulon (3 Top 14)   Leicester Tigers (4 Prem)
Tier 3   Bordeaux Bègles (4 Top 14)   Dragons (4 Pro14)   London Irish (5 Prem)   Zebre (5 Pro14)   Pau (5 Top 14)
Tier 4   Agen (6 Top 14)   Bayonne (7 Top 14)   Brive (8 Top 14)   Enisey-STM (CS 1)   Calvisano (CS 2)

Pool stage

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Main article: 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup pool stage
[[File:
class=notpageimage|
Locations
|1300px|alt=Locations of teams of the 2019–20 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.
  Green: Pool 1;   Red: Pool 2;   Orange: Pool 3;   Yellow: Pool 4;   Blue: Pool 5.]]
[[:File:
class=notpageimage|
Locations
| ]]
Locations of teams of the 2019–20 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.
  Green: Pool 1;   Red: Pool 2;   Orange: Pool 3;   Yellow: Pool 4;   Blue: Pool 5.

The draw took place in June 2019.

Teams in the same pool will play each other twice, both at home and away in the group stage, that will begin in November 2019, and continue through to January 2020, before the pool winners and three best runners-up progressed to the quarter-finals.

Teams will be awarded competition points, based on match result. Teams receive four points for a win, two points for a draw, one attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and one defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.[4]

In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers will be used, as directed by EPCR:

  1. Where teams have played each other
    1. The club with the greater number of competition points from only matches involving tied teams.
    2. If equal, the club with the best aggregate points difference from those matches.
    3. If equal, the club that scored the most tries in those matches.
  2. Where teams remain tied and/or have not played each other in the competition (i.e. are from different pools)
    1. The club with the best aggregate points difference from the pool stage.
    2. If equal, the club that scored the most tries in the pool stage.
    3. If equal, the club with the fewest players suspended in the pool stage.
    4. If equal, the drawing of lots will determine a club's ranking.
Key to colours
     Winner of each pool, advance to quarter-finals.
     Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarter-finals.

Pool 1

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Pos Team
 Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1   Castres (5) 6 5 0 1 159 103 +56 22 12 3 0 23
2   Dragons (7) 6 4 0 2 194 136 +58 24 17 3 1 20
3   Worcester Warriors 6 3 0 3 209 127 +82 27 14 3 1 16
4   Enisey-STM 6 0 0 6 73 269 −196 10 40 0 0 0
Source: [citation needed]

Pool 2

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Pos Team
 Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1   Toulon (1) 6 6 0 0 177 87 +90 25 8 4 0 28
2   Scarlets (8) 6 4 0 2 149 90 +59 17 11 2 1 19
3   Bayonne 6 1 0 5 93 190 −97 12 28 2 1 7
4   London Irish 6 1 0 5 122 174 −52 16 23 1 2 7
Source: [citation needed]

Pool 3

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Pos Team
 Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1   Bordeaux Bègles (3) 6 5 1 0 221 72 +149 28 6 4 0 26
2   Edinburgh (6) 6 4 1 1 140 85 +55 16 9 3 0 21
3   Wasps 6 2 0 4 141 145 −4 18 16 2 1 11
4   Agen 6 0 0 6 57 257 −200 6 37 0 0 0
Source: [citation needed]

Pool 4

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Pos Team
 Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1   Bristol Bears (2) 6 5 1 0 209 58 +151 27 6 4 0 26
2   Brive 6 3 0 3 111 165 −54 14 22 1 1 14
3   Zebre 6 2 1 3 106 151 −45 15 19 2 1 13
4   Stade Français 6 1 0 5 104 156 −52 11 20 1 3 8
Source: [citation needed]

Pool 5

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Pos Team
 Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1   Leicester Tigers (4) 6 5 0 1 181 95 +86 23 10 2 1 23
2   Pau 6 4 0 2 208 170 +38 29 23 3 0 19
3   Cardiff Blues 6 3 0 3 216 119 +97 30 13 4 2 18
4   Calvisano 6 0 0 6 68 289 −221 7 43 0 1 1
Source: [citation needed]

Ranking of pool leaders and runners-up

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Rank Pool Leaders Pts Diff TF
1   Toulon 28 +90 25
2   Bristol Bears 26 +151 27
3   Bordeaux Bègles 26 +149 28
4   Leicester Tigers 23 +86 23
5   Castres 23 +56 22
Rank Pool Runners–up Pts Diff TF
6   Edinburgh 21 +55 16
7   Dragons 20 +58 24
8   Scarlets 19 +59 17
9   Pau 19 +38 29
10   Brive 14 –54 14


Knock-out stage

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Bracket

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Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
         
1   Toulon 11
8   Scarlets 6
  Toulon 34
  Leicester Tigers 19
4   Leicester Tigers Bye
5   Castres
  Toulon 19
  Bristol Bears 32
2   Bristol Bears 56
7   Dragons 17
  Bristol Bears (a.e.t.) 37
  Bordeaux Bègles 20
3   Bordeaux Bègles 23
6   Edinburgh 14

Quarter-finals

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18 September
19:45
Bristol Bears   (2)56–17(7)   Dragons
Try: Hughes 20' c
Earl (2) 24' c, 26' c
Radradra 43' c
Vui 74' c
Malins 75' c
D. Thomas 77' c
Con: Sheedy (6/7) 21', 25', 26', 44', 74', 76'
Pen: Sheedy (3/4) 31', 54', 70'		ReportTry: Hewitt 13' c
R. Williams 51' c
Con: S. Davies (2/2) 14', 51'
Pen: S. Davies (1/1) 11'
Ashton Gate
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR)
19 September
13:30
Bordeaux Bègles   (3)23–14(6)   Edinburgh
Try: Cordero 4' c
Dubié 9' c
Con: Jalibert (2/2) 5', 10'
Pen: Jalibert (2/3) 50', 58'
Botica (1/1) 80'+1		ReportTry: Hoyland 53' m
Pen: van der Walt (2/3) 32', 46'
Kinghorn (1/1) 71'
Stade Chaban-Delmas
Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)
19 September
21:15
Toulon   (1)11–6(8)   Scarlets
Try: Parisse 56' m
Pen: Carbonel (2/2) 54', 73'		ReportPen: Halfpenny (2/3) 3', 30'
Stade Mayol
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
20 September
15:00
Leicester Tigers   (4)Cancelled[d](5)   Castres
Welford Road
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

Semi-finals

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25 September
19:45
Bristol Bears   (2)37–20
(a.e.t.)		(3)   Bordeaux Bègles
Try: Luatua 38' c
Malins (2) 51' c, 86' c
O'Conor 82' c
Con: Sheedy (4/4) 39', 52', 83', 88'
Pen: Sheedy (3/4) 58', 62', 97'		ReportTry: Jalibert 11' c
Dweba 67' c
Con: Lucu (1/1) 13'
Botica (1/1) 68'
Pen: Jalibert (2/2) 27', 30'
Ashton Gate
Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)
26 September
21:00
Toulon   (1)34–19(4)   Leicester Tigers
Try: Heem 8' c
Villière (2) 20' c, 66' c
Isa 58' c
Con: Carbonel (4/4) 10', 22', 60', 67'
Pen: Carbonel (2/2) 18', 34'		ReportTry: Nadolo 37' m
Potter 74' m
Pen: Ford (3/3) 3', 25', 45'
Stade Mayol
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

Final

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16 October 2020
21:00
Toulon   (1)19–32(2)   Bristol Bears
Try: Heem 11' c
Con: Carbonel (1/1) 13'
Pen: Carbonel (4/5) 21', 37', 40', 53'		ReportTry: Randall 1' c
Malins 60' c
Con: Sheedy (2/2) 2', 61'
Pen: Sheedy (6/6) 4', 48', 56', 59', 75', 79'
Stade Maurice David, Aix-en-Provence
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
FB 15   Gervais Cordin
RW 14   Bryce Heem   32'
OC 13   Isaia Toeava
IC 12   Duncan Paia'aua
LW 11   Gabin Villière
FH 10   Louis Carbonel
SH 9   Baptiste Serin   45'
N8 8   Sergio Parisse
OF 7   Raphaël Lakafia   60'
BF 6   Charles Ollivon
RL 5   Romain Taofifénua   52'
LL 4   Eben Etzebeth   47'
TP 3   Beka Gigashvili   58'   77'
HK 2   Anthony Étrillard (c)   55'
LP 1   Jean-Baptiste Gros   55'
Substitutions:
HK 16   Bastien Soury   55'
PR 17   Florian Fresia   55'
PR 18   Emerick Setiano   58'   77'
LK 19   Brian Alainu'uese   52'
FL 20   Swan Rebbadj   47'
SH 21   Julien Ory   60'
FH 22   Sonatane Takulua
WG 23   Masivesi Dakuwaqa   32'
Coach:
  Patrice Collazo
FB 15   Max Malins
RW 14   Luke Morahan   78'
OC 13   Semi Radradra   60'
IC 12   Siale Piutau (c)
LW 11   Alapati Leiua
FH 10  Callum Sheedy
SH 9   Harry Randall   78'
N8 8   Ben Earl
OF 7   Dan Thomas
BF 6   Chris Vui   40'
RL 5   Joe Joyce   70'
LL 4   Dave Attwood
TP 3   Kyle Sinckler   55'
HK 2   Harry Thacker   78'
LP 1   Yann Thomas   55'
Substitutions:
HK 16   George Kloska   78'
PR 17   Jake Woolmore   55'
PR 18   John Afoa   55'
LK 19   Ed Holmes   70'
FL 20   Jake Heenan   40'
SH 21   Tom Kessell   78'
FH 22   Piers O'Conor   60'
CE 23   Niyi Adeolokun   78'
Coach:
  Pat Lam

Attendances

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Does not include the attendance at the final as it takes place at a neutral venue, or the attendances of matches played in empty stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

Club Home
Games 		Total Average Highest Lowest % Capacity
  Agen 3 7,580 2,527 3,570 1,997 18%
  Bayonne 3 21,566 7,189 9,053 5,057 42%
  Bordeaux Bègles 3 43,694 14,565 17,553 12,233 42%
  Bristol Bears 3 32,505 10,835 11,120 10,511 40%
  Brive 3 9,335 3,112 4,533 1,800 19%
  Calvisano 3 5,450 1,817 2,500 950 36%
  Cardiff Blues 3 17,612 5,871 7,122 4,668 48%
  Castres 3 24,507 8,169 8,277 7,957 65%
  Dragons 3 12,088 4,029 4,038 4,013 46%
  Edinburgh 3 17,529 5,843 6,387 5,432 9%
  Enisei-STM 3 700 233 400 100 1%
  Leicester Tigers 3 46,861 15,620 16,538 15,073 60%
  London Irish 3 9,083 3,028 3,444 2,632 13%
  Pau 3 14,115 4,705 6,124 3,724 26%
  Scarlets 3 20,575 6,858 7,565 6,257 46%
  Stade Français 3 6,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 10%
  Toulon 3 38,575 12,858 15,336 10,212 71%
  Wasps 3 20,847 6,949 7,594 6,107 21%
  Worcester Warriors 3 20,124 6,708 6,938 6,287 58%
  Zebre 3 6,100 2,033 2,200 1,900 41%

[6]

Player scoring

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  • Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).

Season records

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Enisei-STM will play all their home games in Krasnodar - almost 3,000 miles west of their home town of Krasnoyarsk - due to the harshness of the Siberian winter.
  2. ^ Scarlets lost the 7th-place play-off to Ospreys, missing out on qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup.
  3. ^ Heyneke Meyer began the tournament as Stade Français head coach, but resigned on November 12.[2]
  4. ^ Due to three Castres players and one staff member testing positive for COVID-19, the match was cancelled and Castres forfeited.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Marseille finals moved to 2021 with new venues for this season to be decided". European Professional Club Rugby. 2020-07-09. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  2. ^ "Heyneke Meyer leaves Stade Francais with immediate effect". skysports.com. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Watch the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup Pool Draws live : News | ERC | Official Website". ERCRugby.com. 7 June 2014. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  4. ^ "Champions Cup Rules". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  5. ^ "Leicester Tigers v Castres Olympique – match cancelled". European Professional Club Rugby. 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  6. ^ a b "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Home attendance". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Player Statistics". EPCR. 18 January 2020. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  8. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most points in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  9. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most tries in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  10. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most conversions in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  11. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most penalties in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  12. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most drop goals in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  13. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most points in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  14. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most tries in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  15. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most conversions in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  16. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most penalties in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
  17. ^ "European Rugby Challenge Cup 19/20 Most drop goals in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 18 January 2020.
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