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<blockquote data-quote="Nielsch" data-source="post: 574023" data-attributes="member: 44680"><p>Basicly there are three professional domestic competitions in Europe: Orange Top 14 (France), Aviva Premiership (England) and RaboDirect Pro 12 (Celtic nations). This last one started out as the Celtic League with teams from four Celtic nations; Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and was up until a few seasons ago known as the Magners League (until Magners stopped sponsoring the league and Rabobank took over). Two seasons ago, two Italian teams were added to this competition in order to increase the standard of rugby in Italy. Therefore it cannot really be considered as a single domestic competition. Anyhow, all three competitions run from September through May and follow the same pattern; all sides play each other twice (both home and away) and the numbers 1 through 4 qualify for the play-offs (1 through 6 in France). </p><p></p><p>Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy still have their own domestic competitions by the way, but the standard is much lower and teams can be considered semi-professional at most. There is no promotion / relegation between these domestic competitions and the RaboDirect Pro 12. The other two domestic competitions do have promotion / relegation; the Aviva Premiership with the English 2nd division known as the RFU Championship and the Orange Top 14 with the French 2nd division known as the PRO D2.</p><p></p><p>There are two cross-competition European tournaments; the Heineken Cup (known as the H-Cup in France because of a ban on alcohol advertising) and the Amlin Challenge Cup. The teams from the Heineken Cup come from the three domestic competition I just mentioned above. Qualifying into the tournament differs per competition, but overall the best teams from those domestic competitions play in the Heineken Cup. The teams from those competitions who don't make the Heineken Cup (because they ended too low in the competition) enter the Amlin Challenge Cup which can therefore be considered the second tier European division. They are joined in this competition by the top teams from the Italian domestic competition as well as the champions of Spain and Romania. So, basicly, a professional teams plays in both a domestic competition and a European competition at the same time. Both European competitions follow the same format: small group stage followed by a knock-out competition. To make it a bit more confusing; some teams entered into the Heineken Cup who don't make the knock-out stage join the knock-out stage of the Amlin Challenge Cup. </p><p></p><p>The Anglo-Welsh Cup (known as the LV= Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a competition between the teams from the Aviva Premiership and the Welsh teams from the RaboDirect Pro 12. It follows a small group stage followed by knock-outs format. Nobody really cares for it though.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nielsch, post: 574023, member: 44680"] Basicly there are three professional domestic competitions in Europe: Orange Top 14 (France), Aviva Premiership (England) and RaboDirect Pro 12 (Celtic nations). This last one started out as the Celtic League with teams from four Celtic nations; Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and was up until a few seasons ago known as the Magners League (until Magners stopped sponsoring the league and Rabobank took over). Two seasons ago, two Italian teams were added to this competition in order to increase the standard of rugby in Italy. Therefore it cannot really be considered as a single domestic competition. Anyhow, all three competitions run from September through May and follow the same pattern; all sides play each other twice (both home and away) and the numbers 1 through 4 qualify for the play-offs (1 through 6 in France). Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy still have their own domestic competitions by the way, but the standard is much lower and teams can be considered semi-professional at most. There is no promotion / relegation between these domestic competitions and the RaboDirect Pro 12. The other two domestic competitions do have promotion / relegation; the Aviva Premiership with the English 2nd division known as the RFU Championship and the Orange Top 14 with the French 2nd division known as the PRO D2. There are two cross-competition European tournaments; the Heineken Cup (known as the H-Cup in France because of a ban on alcohol advertising) and the Amlin Challenge Cup. The teams from the Heineken Cup come from the three domestic competition I just mentioned above. Qualifying into the tournament differs per competition, but overall the best teams from those domestic competitions play in the Heineken Cup. The teams from those competitions who don't make the Heineken Cup (because they ended too low in the competition) enter the Amlin Challenge Cup which can therefore be considered the second tier European division. They are joined in this competition by the top teams from the Italian domestic competition as well as the champions of Spain and Romania. So, basicly, a professional teams plays in both a domestic competition and a European competition at the same time. Both European competitions follow the same format: small group stage followed by a knock-out competition. To make it a bit more confusing; some teams entered into the Heineken Cup who don't make the knock-out stage join the knock-out stage of the Amlin Challenge Cup. The Anglo-Welsh Cup (known as the LV= Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a competition between the teams from the Aviva Premiership and the Welsh teams from the RaboDirect Pro 12. It follows a small group stage followed by knock-outs format. Nobody really cares for it though. [/QUOTE]
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