2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup
The EPCR Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Georgia  Italy  Scotland  South Africa  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	8 December 2023 – 24 May 2024
Tournament statistics
Teams	18
Matches played	27
Attendance	177,090 (6,559 per match)
Highest attendance	15,552 – Clermont v Scarlets 13 January 2023
Lowest attendance	1,600 – Zebre Parma v Cheetahs 9 December 2023
Tries scored	148 (5.48 per match)
Final
Venue	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

The 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup will be the 10th edition of the EPCR Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 28th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition.

The tournament will commence in December 2023, and will conclude with the final on 24 May 2024 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England.^[1]

This will be the second year that teams from South Africa can qualify, following the second United Rugby Championship season.

Teams

Sixteen teams qualified for the 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup from Premiership Rugby, the Top 14 and the United Rugby Championship as a direct result of their domestic league performance having not qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup. Plus two invited sides making 18 teams.^[2]

The distribution of teams are:

• England: two teams
  • Remaining teams in the 2023–24 Premiership Season that do not qualify for the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup. Bristol Bears had previously qualified but replaced London Irish in the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup following London Irish's suspension from the Premiership^[3]
• France: six teams
  • Teams taking part in the 2023–24 Top 14 season that did not qualify for the Champions Cup
• Georgia, Italy, Scotland, Wales, South Africa: ten teams
  • Eight teams qualified from Italy, Scotland, Wales and South Africa through the United Rugby Championship. Ireland are not represented.
  • Two teams invited, one each from South Africa and Georgia.^[4]

Entry Point	Premiership	Top 14	United Rugby Championship				Invited
—	England	France	Italy	Scotland	Wales	South Africa		Georgia
Pool stage	Gloucester Newcastle Falcons	Castres Clermont Montpellier Pau Perpignan Oyonnax	Benetton Zebre Parma	Edinburgh	Ospreys Scarlets Dragons	Sharks Lions	Cheetahs	Black Lion

Team details

Team	Coach / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Method of qualification
Entering at Pool stage
Benetton	Marco Bortolami	Dewaldt Duvenage Michele Lamaro	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	5,000	URC bottom eight
Black Lion	Levan Maisashvili	Merab Sharikadze	Mikheil Meskhi Stadium	27,223	Invited[lower-alpha 1]
Castres	Jeremy Davidson	Mathieu Babillot	Stade Pierre-Fabre	12,500	Top 14 bottom 6
Cheetahs	Hawies Fourie	Victor Sekekete	Free State Stadium	46,000	Invited[lower-alpha 2]
			NRCA Stadium
Clermont	Christophe Urios	Arthur Iturria	Stade Marcel-Michelin	19,022	Top 14 bottom 6
Dragons	Dai Flanagan	Steffan Hughes	Rodney Parade	8,700	URC bottom eight
Edinburgh	Sean Everitt	Grant Gilchrist Jamie Ritchie	Edinburgh Rugby Stadium	7,800	URC bottom eight
Gloucester	George Skivington	Lewis Ludlow	Kingsholm	16,115	Premiership bottom 2
Lions	Ivan van Rooyen	Reinhard Nothnagel	Emirates Airline Park	62,567	URC bottom eight
Montpellier	Philippe Saint-André	Fulgence Ouedraogo	GGL Stadium	15,697	Top 14 bottom 6
Newcastle Falcons	Alex Codling	Callum Chick	Kingston Park	11,200	Premiership bottom 2
Ospreys	Toby Booth	Justin Tipuric	Swansea.com Stadium	22,200	URC bottom eight
Oyonnax	Joe El Abd	Tommy Raynaud	Stade Charles-Mathon	11,500	Pro D2 Champions
Pau	Thomas Domingo	Beka Gorgadze	Stade du Hameau	18,324	Top 14 bottom 6
Perpignan	David Marty	Mathieu Acebes	Stade Aimé Giral	14,593	Top 14 bottom 6
Scarlets	Dwayne Peel	Josh Macleod	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	URC bottom eight
Sharks	John Plumtree	Thomas du Toit	Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium	54,000	URC bottom eight[lower-alpha 3]
Zebre Parma	Fabio Roselli	Dave Sisi	Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi	5,000	URC bottom eight

Pool stage

Teams were awarded four points for a win, two for a draw, one for scoring four tries in a game, and one for losing by less than eight points.

Pool 1

Pool 1
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Sharks (q)	3	2	0	1	112	44	+68	16	6	3	1	12
Cheetahs	3	2	0	1	85	77	+8	10	9	1	0	9
Zebre Parma	3	2	0	1	56	64	–8	7	6	0	0	8
Pau	3	2	0	1	62	86	–24	7	11	0	0	8
Dragons	3	1	0	2	62	51	+11	7	7	1	2	7
Oyonnax (E)	3	0	0	3	28	83	–55	4	12	0	1	1
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are qualification places for the Challenge Cup round of 16. (q) indicates teams qualified for the next round of Challenge Cup rugby but not confirmed seeding. (E) indicated teams that are eliminated Starting table — source: EPCR

Pool 2

Pool 2
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Montpellier (q)	3	3	0	0	75	27	+48	12	4	2	0	14
Benetton Rugby (q)	3	2	0	1	120	68	+52	16	9	3	0	11
Lions (q)	3	2	0	1	66	38	+28	6	3	1	0	9
Ospreys (q)	3	2	0	1	73	75	–2	10	10	1	0	9
Newcastle Falcons (E)	3	0	0	3	50	116	–66	6	17	0	1	1
Perpignan (E)	3	0	0	3	22	82	–60	1	8	0	0	0
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are qualification places for the Challenge Cup round of 16. (q) indicates teams qualified for the next round of Challenge Cup rugby but not confirmed seeding. (E) indicated teams that are eliminated Starting table — source: EPCR

Pool 3

Pool 3
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Gloucester (q)	3	3	0	0	64	47	+17	5	6	0	0	12
Castres (q)	3	2	0	1	83	56	+27	12	6	2	0	10
Clermont	3	2	0	1	86	63	+23	12	7	2	0	10
Edinburgh	3	1	0	2	72	73	–1	10	9	1	1	6
Black Lion	3	1	0	2	39	50	–11	3	5	0	1	5
Scarlets (E)	3	0	0	3	40	95	–55	4	13	0	0	0
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are qualification places for the Challenge Cup round of 16. (q) indicates teams qualified for the next round of Challenge Cup rugby but not confirmed seeding. (E) indicated teams that are eliminated Starting table — source: EPCR

Knockout stage

The knockout stage will be played with a single-leg round of 16 matches consisting of the top four teams from each pool and the teams ranked 5th in each pool of the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup. The Round of 16 will follow a pre-determined format, while the quarter-finals and semi-finals will guarantee home advantage to the higher-ranked team.

Seeding

Rank	Team	Pts	Diff	TF
Pool leaders
1	Montpellier	14	+48	12
2	Sharks	12	+68	16
3	Gloucester	12	+17	5
Pool runners-up
4	Benetton Rugby	11	+52	16
5	Castres	10	+27	12
6	Cheetahs	9	+8	10
Top two third placed teams
7	Clermont	10	+23	12
8	Lions	9	+28	6
Champions Cup teams
9	Fourth placed teams in Champions Cup pools (tbc)
10
11
12
Third best third placed team
13	Zebre Parma	8	–8	7
Fourth placed teams
14	Ospreys	9	–2	10
15	Pau	8	–24	7
16	Edinburgh	6	–1	10

See also

• 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup
• 2023 Rugby Europe Super Cup

Notes

References