2012–13 British and Irish Cup
| 2012–13 British and Irish Cup | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament details | |||
| Countries |
 England Ireland Scotland Wales
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| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and knockout | ||
| Date | October 2012 — May 2013 | ||
| Tournament statistics | |||
| Teams | 32 | ||
| Matches played | 103 | ||
| Attendance | 106,987 (1,039 per match) | ||
| Tries scored | 602 (5.84 per match) | ||
| Top point scorer(s) |
James Pritchard (Bedford Blues) (88 points) |
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| Top try scorer(s) |
Mark Kohler (Bedford Blues) James Stephenson (Bedford Blues) (8 tries) |
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| Final | |||
| Venue | Kingston Park | ||
| Attendance | 3,838 | ||
| Champions |
Leinster A (1st title) |
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| Runner-up |
Newcastle Falcons
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The 2012–13 British and Irish Cup was the fourth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. The final was contest on 17 May 2013 and won by Leinster A with a 78th minute penalty by Noel Reid to beat Newcastle Falcons 18–17 at their home ground Kingston Park. The defending champions Munster A were eliminated in the semi–finals by the eventual winners and Bedford Blues was the other losing semi–finalists.
There has been four different winners and four different losing finalist of the competition. The format of the competition has been considerably revamped, with expansion to 32 teams playing each other home and away in the pool stages. Previously, 24 teams played home or away in the pool stages. First round matches began on the weekend of 13/14 October 2012 and the final was held on 17 May 2013.
The allocation of teams was as follows:
The pool stage saw a considerable change in format and consisted of eight pools of four teams playing home and away matches. Pool matches took place on the same weekends as the Heineken and Amlin Cups. The top team from each pool qualified for the quarter-finals.
The fixture weekends have been announced.
Round 6 matches were badly effected by adverse weather. Pitches were frozen or snow-covered, or teams were unable to travel.
The eight pool winners proceed to the knock out stages. The quarter-final matches were:
Teams are ranked by
There are further criteria that can be applied if necessary.
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Wikipedia