2009–10 British and Irish Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England Ireland   Scotland   Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	November 2009 – May 2010
Tournament statistics
Teams	24
Matches played	63
Attendance	103,545 (1,644 per match)
Tries scored	321 (5.1 per match)
Final
Venue	Recreation Ground, Camborne
Attendance	4,240
Champions	Cornish Pirates (1st title)
Runners-up	Munster A
←  2008-09 (Previous) (Next) 2010–11 →

The 2009–10 British and Irish Cup was the first season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on Friday 20 November 2009 and the final was held on Sunday 16 May 2010.

The first competition was heavily criticised, with one reporter describing it as 'dismal'. ^[1]

A total of 24 teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales competed in the inaugural competition. Cornish Pirates lifted the cup, defeating Munster A 23–14 in the final.

Teams

The allocation of teams was as follows:

• – 12 teams from the RFU Championship
• – 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• – 3 Scottish sides, 2 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership and Gael Force, a side made up of a combination of National Academy players
• – 6 top clubs from the Principality Premiership

England	Ireland	Scotland	Wales
Bedford Blues Birmingham & Solihull Bristol Cornish Pirates Coventry Doncaster Exeter Chiefs London Welsh Moseley Nottingham Plymouth Albion Rotherham	Leinster A Munster A Ulster Ravens	Ayr Heriot's FP Gael Force	Aberavon Cardiff Llanelli Neath Newport Pontypridd

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 contested a knock-out stage, with semi-finals on 24 and 25 April and the final on 16 May. ^{[2] [3]}

Pool stages

Pool A

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TB	LB	Pts
Cornish Pirates	5	4	0	1	112	66	46	15	2	1	19
Leinster A	5	4	0	1	89	65	24	9	1	1	18
Newport	5	3	1	1	81	54	27	10	1	1	16
Exeter Chiefs	5	2	0	3	82	82	0	12	1	1	10
Plymouth Albion	5	1	1	3	55	58	-3	5	0	2	8
Gael Force	5	0	0	5	35	129	-94	6	1	0	1
Points breakdown: *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

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Pool B

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TB	LB	Pts
Munster A	5	5	0	0	111	41	70	14	2	0	22
Bristol	5	4	0	1	122	74	48	14	2	0	18
Nottingham	5	3	0	2	81	59	22	11	1	1	14
Neath	5	2	0	3	93	98	-5	12	2	1	11
Coventry	5	1	0	4	126	144	-18	20	2	2	8
Heriot's FP	5	0	0	5	54	171	-117	7	0	1	1
Points breakdown: *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

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Pool C

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TB	LB	Pts
Ulster Ravens	5	4	1	0	165	62	103	22	3	0	21
London Welsh	5	4	0	1	137	78	59	18	3	1	20
Bedford Blues	5	3	0	2	92	94	-2	11	1	0	13
Aberavon	5	2	0	3	51	131	-80	4	0	1	9
Llanelli	5	1	1	3	106	117	-11	11	1	1	8
Moseley	5	0	0	5	69	138	-69	10	1	0	1
Points breakdown: *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

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Pool D

Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TB	LB	Pts
Doncaster	5	5	0	0	163	58	105	22	5	0	25
Cardiff	5	4	0	1	147	124	23	20	3	0	19
Rotherham	5	2	0	3	147	127	20	19	3	1	12
Ayr	5	2	0	3	132	111	21	14	1	2	11
Pontypridd	5	2	0	3	99	124	-25	12	1	1	10
Birmingham & Solihull	5	0	0	5	76	220	-144	9	0	1	1
Points breakdown: *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

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Knock-out stages

Qualifiers

The four pool winners proceeded to the knock out stages.

	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TB	LB	Pts
Pool D Winner	Doncaster	5	5	0	0	163	58	105	22	5	0	25
Pool B Winner	Munster A	5	5	0	0	111	41	70	14	2	0	22
Pool C Winner	Ulster Ravens	5	4	1	0	165	62	103	22	3	0	21
Pool A Winner	Cornish Pirates	5	4	0	1	112	66	46	15	2	1	19

	Semi-finals				Final
	25 April 2010 - Camborne
	Cornish Pirates	43
					16 May 2010 - Camborne
	Doncaster	5
					Cornish Pirates	23
	24 April 2010 - Thomond Park
					Munster A	14
	Munster A	27
	Ulster Ravens	3

Semi-finals

---

---

Final

Geography

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area/Country
Aberavon	Talbot Athletic Ground	3,000	Aberavon, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
Ayr	Millbrae	Unknown	Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	4,684	Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Birmingham & Solihull	Sharmans Cross Road	3,500	Solihull, West Midlands, England
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol, England
Cardiff	Cardiff Arms Park	13,500	Cardiff, Wales
Cornish Pirates	Recreation Ground	9,000	Camborne, Cornwall, England
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000	Coventry, West Midlands, England
Doncaster	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Exeter Chiefs	Sandy Park	7,300 (10,744 by the end of the season)	Exeter, Devon, England
Gael Force	Bridgehaugh	4,000	Stirling, Scotland
Heriot's FP	Goldenacre	Unknown	Edinburgh, Scotland
Leinster A	Donnybrook	7,000	Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Llanelli	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	London, England
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
Ulster Ravens	Ravenhill Stadium	12,125	Belfast, Ulster, Northern Ireland

References

External links

• Unofficial British and Irish Cup website - latest news, teams etc
• Results from the BBC Archived 2011-02-08 at the Wayback Machine