2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup
| 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament details | |||
| Countries |
 England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales Romania
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| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and Knockout | ||
| Date | 16 October 2014 – 1 May 2015 | ||
| Tournament statistics | |||
| Teams | 20 | ||
| Matches played | 67 | ||
| Attendance | 391,649 (5,846 per match) | ||
| Tries scored | 395 (5.9 per match) | ||
| Top point scorer(s) |
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh) (99 points) |
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| Top try scorer(s) |
Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) (6 tries) |
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| Final | |||
| Venue | The Stoop, Twickenham | ||
| Champions |
Gloucester (2nd title) |
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| Runner-up |
Edinburgh
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| Official website | EPCR Website | ||
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The 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the first season of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union competition. It is the 19th season of second tier pan-European club competition in general, as the competition replaces the European Challenge Cup. The competition began with the first round of the group stage, on the weekend of 16 October 2014, and ended with the final on 1 May 2015 at the The Twickenham Stoop.
Gloucester became the first ever champions of the newly formatted competition, beating Edinburgh, who became the first ever Scottish team to make a European final, 19–13, with 14 men on the pitch for the final 17 minutes with center Bill Meakes being sent off because of a dangerous high tackle of the ball on Edinburgh center Sam Beard.
Twenty teams qualified for the 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup, based on their performance in their respective domestic leagues the previous season. The distribution of teams is as follows:
So far, the following 18 teams have qualified.
The following teams took part in the play-off to decide the final team in the Champions Cup. The play-off was held between the 7th placed teams in the Aviva Premiership and the Top 14. The loser of this play-off joined the Challenge Cup.
On 29 April 2014, it was announced that this play-off would take place over two legs, on the weekends of 17/18 May and 24/25 May, with a draw being used to determine home advantage for each leg.
The draw took place on 6 May 2014, in Heathrow. Following the draw, the fixtures were announced as follows:
Stade Français lost the play-off 35-50 on aggregate, and will play in the Challenge Cup.
On 14 August 2014, EPCR announced the format for the first qualifying competition.
Given the amount of time until the start of the Challenge Cup, it was announced that this first competition will consist of 2 two-legged matches, with the aggregate winner of each taking a place in either pool. The first legs took place on 20 September, with the return legs taking place on 27 September
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.
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