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The Anglo Welsh Cup, is a competition between the 12 English Premiership teams and the 4 Pro 12 Welsh teams. They play in 4 pools of 4 teams. Each pool has 3 English teams and 1 Welsh team. The teams in Pool 1 play the teams in Pool 4 and the teams in Pool 2 play the teams in Pool 3. The winner of each pool then progresses on to semi-finals and the winners of these on to the final. The competition ceased to exist in 2018 as the Welsh teams withdrew and new competitions were set up in both countries. |
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Pool 1
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Pool 2
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Pool 3
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Pool 4
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History of the Anglo Welsh Cup
The Anglo Welsh Cup started in 2005/06. Prior to this, from 1971 to 2005, the competition was the English clubs knockout competition. It has had a number of different names over the years including: John Player Cup, Pilkington Cup, Tetley's Bitter Cup, PowerGen Cup and the EDF Energy Cup.
In 2005 a new format was introduced. The competition would involve only the 12 Premiership teams from England and the 4 professional Welsh teams. Instead of a knockout format, 4 pools of 4 teams was established. Teams in each pool played each other once and then the top teams from each pool moved on to semi-finals and then the winners on to the final.
In 2006/07 the competition had a new sponsor and was called the EDF Energy Cup, but the same format was used.
In 2009/10, with a new sponsor, the competition was called the LV Cup. A new format saw teams in Pool 1 play the teams in Pool 4, and the teams in Pool 2 play the teams in Pool 3. This allowed each team to have 2 home and 2 away games. The top teams from each pool then progressed to the semi-finals and the winners on to the final.
This format has remained in place for each season until 2014/15.
In 2015, due to the RWC being held in England and the ensuing congestion to the rugby calendar, the Anglo-Welsh Cup was not be played for in the 2015/16 season.
In 2016 the competition restarted in the previous format. The name reverted back to the Anglo Welsh Cup with the end of the LV= sponsorship. This continued in 2017.
In 2018 the Welsh Rugby Union announced it's intention to start a Welsh Under 23 competition and would therefore not be able to commit to the Anglo-Welsh Cup. This marked the end of the competition.
In response to this Premiership Rugby Limited, which runs English rugby at this level, announced a new competition for the English teams. It will be called the Premiership Rugby Cup.