2015–16 British and Irish Cup
| 2015–16 British and Irish Cup | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament details | |||
| Countries |
 England Ireland Wales
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| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and knockout | ||
| Date | 13 November 2015 — 10 April 2016 | ||
| Tournament statistics | |||
| Teams | 20 | ||
| Attendance | 72,839 (average 1,078 per match) |
||
| Highest Attendance | 5,273 Bristol v Ulster Ravens 23 January 2016 |
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| Lowest Attendance | 100 (x2) Scarlets Premiership Select v Ulster Ravens 21 November 2015 Connacht Eagles v Doncaster Knights 16 January 2016 |
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| Top point scorer(s) |
Laurence May Cornish Pirates 70 points |
||
| Top try scorer(s) |
Dan Leavy Leinster A 7 tries |
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| Final | |||
| Champions | London Welsh (1st title) | ||
| Runner-up | Yorkshire Carnegie | ||
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The 2015–16 British and Irish Cup was the seventh season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. Worcester Warriors were the defending champions having won the 2014–15 final against Doncaster Knights 35–5 at Castle Park, Doncaster on 3 April 2015. There has been five different winners and six different losing finalists of the competition in the six seasons of its existence. The format of the competition was similar to last season with Scottish clubs not competing. This season the four Welsh teams are the reserve sides of the teams competing in the Pro 12 competition instead of clubs from the Welsh Premier Division.
Matches were played on the same weekends as the European Rugby Champions and Challenge cups. First round matches began on 13 November 2015 and the final was held on the 10 April 2016.
The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of five pools of four teams playing home and away matches. The top side in each pool, plus the three best runners-up, will progress to the knockout stage. The eight quarter-finalists will be ranked, with top four teams having home advantage. The four winning quarter-finalists will progress to the semi-final draw. Matches take place on the same weekends as the European Rugby Champions and Challenge cups.
The allocation of teams is as follows:
The eight qualifiers are seeded according to performance in the pool stage, and competed in the quarter-finals, which are held on the weekend of 11/12/13 March 2016. The four top seeds host the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 format. However, if two teams have qualified from the same group then they cannot be drawn together despite the seeding. Hence Leinster A and Moseley were not drawn together leading to a 1 v 7, 2 v 8, 3 v 6, 4 v 5 format.
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