Rugby Europe Super Cup

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Rugby Europe Super Cup
SportRugby Union
Instituted2021; 3 years ago (2021)
Number of teams8
Country Belgium
 Czech Republic
 Georgia
 Israel
 Netherlands
 Portugal
 Romania
 Spain
HoldersBlack Lion (3rd title) (2023)
Websitewww.rugbyeurope.eu/super-cup/

The Rugby Europe Super Cup is an annual men's rugby union club tournament organised by the continental governing body, Rugby Europe. Featuring clubs outside the traditional Six Nations strongholds of the sport, it effectively forms a third tier of European club rugby beneath the EPCR-organised European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup.[1] The first Super Cup competition took place in 2021–22.

Format[edit]

The tournament was announced as an annual event for emerging nations in Europe. Professional rugby clubs and franchise teams can take part in it. Teams are divided into two conferences: western and eastern. Each team plays every conference rival home and away. The two best teams from each conference advance to the semi-finals, where they play for a ticket to the final. For the first time, the Czech Rugby Union was involved in the European club competition with Bohemia Rugby Warriors taking part. [2]

Group A Joined Group B Joined
Black Lion Georgia (country) Georgia 2021–22 Brussels Devils Belgium Belgium 2021–22
Castilla y León Iberians Spain Spain 2021–22 Delta Netherlands Netherlands 2021–22
Lusitanos XV Portugal Portugal 2021–22 Romanian Wolves Romania Romania 2022
Tel Aviv Heat Israel Israel 2021–22 Bohemia Rugby Warriors Czech Republic Czech Republic 2023

The first competition included two Russian teams who were expelled following the invasion of Ukraine, to be replaced with teams from Romania and Georgia in the second season.

Former teams Years
Batumi RC Georgia (country) Georgia 2022
Lokomotiv Penza  Russia 2021–22
Yenisey-STM 2021–22

The goal of the tournament is to bridge the development gap between European countries and attract new sponsors in new markets. All 27 matches are filmed and widely broadcast on TV and digital platforms.

The plan was to expand the Super Cup to include 12 teams by 2023 and 16 teams by 2025.[3]

Finals[edit]

Year Final Third place match
Host Winner Score Runner-up Host 3rd place Score 4th place
2021–22 Lisbon Georgia (country) Black Lion 17–14 Portugal Lusitanos XV
2022 Tbilisi Georgia (country) Black Lion 29–17 Israel Tel Aviv Heat
2023 Tbilisi Georgia (country) Black Lion 27–17 Israel Tel Aviv Heat Amsterdam Romania Romanian Wolves 41–17 Spain Castilla y León Iberians

Performances by team[edit]

Team Winners Runner-up 3rd place 4th place 5th place 6th place 7th place 8th place
Georgia (country) Black Lion 3 (2021–22, 2022, 2023)
Israel Tel Aviv Heat 2 (2022, 2023) 1 (2021–22)
Portugal Lusitanos XV 1 (2021–22) 1 (2022) 1 (2023)
Spain Castilla y León Iberians 2 (2021–22, 2022) 1 (2023)
Romania Romanian Wolves 1 (2023) 1 (2022)
Belgium Brussels Devils 1 (2022) 1 (2023) 1 (2021–22)
Netherlands The Delta 1 (2021–22) 2 (2022, 2023)
Russia Yenisey-STM 1 (2021–22)
Russia Lokomotiv Penza 1 (2021–22)
Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors 1 (2023)

Number of participating clubs by country[edit]

The following is a list of clubs that have played or will be playing in the Rugby Europe Super Cup group stage.

Nation No. Clubs Years
Georgia (country) Georgia (2) 3 Black Lion 2021-22, 2022, 2023
1 RC Batumi 2022
Russia Russia (2) 1 Lokomotiv Penza 2021-22
1 Yenisey-STM 2021-22
Portugal Portugal (1) 3 Lusitanos 2021-22, 2022, 2023
Israel Israel (1) 3 Tel Aviv Heat 2021-22, 2022, 2023
Spain Spain (1) 3 Castilla y León Iberians 2021-22, 2022, 2023
Netherlands Netherlands (1) 3 Delta 2021-22, 2022, 2023
Belgium Belgium (1) 3 Brussels Devils 2021-22, 2022, 2023
Romania Romania (1) 2 Romanian Wolves 2022, 2023
Czech Republic Czech Republic (1) 1 Bohemia Rugby Warriors 2023

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Rugby Europe launch The Super Cup". Rugby Europe. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
  2. ^ "Rugby Europe has confirmed the details of the third season of the Rugby Europe Super Cup, its club competition for the emerging rugby unions in Europe". rugbyeurope.eu. 2023-07-06. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  3. ^ "A new dawn for Israeli rugby". Jerusalem Post. 2021-07-18. Retrieved 2021-07-27.