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Super Cup: Rugby Europe release more details on rugby's newest club comp
By Kim Ekin
Rugby Europe have unveiled the calendar of the first season of the Super Cup, the first ever club competition solely for emerging rugby unions in Europe.
Starting in September 2021, the annual club competition will see a mix of professional club and franchise teams battling it out for the Super Cup title through an exciting competition format.
The eight teams are deployed in an Eastern and Western conference for the initial round-robin stage. Each participant will play home and away-fixtures in six rounds of action played between September and December.
The much-anticipated competition will begin with an all-Russian derby in Round 1 with Enisei-STM hosting Lokomotiv Penza. The opening weekend will also see the Portugese outfit, Lusitanos, entertain their Spanish rivals, Castilla y Leon Iberians and Dutch team Delta welcome the Brussels Devils to Amersfoort.
All 27 matches of the competition will be filmed and widely broadcast on TV and digital platforms throughout Europe and the world.
At its launch earlier this year, Rugby Europe described the Super Cup as a chance to "create a high-performance pathway for the development of pan-European rugby talent, that will be reflected in the competitiveness of the club and franchise teams, as well as in the Rugby Europe National Teams level of performance."
“In future years, it is Rugby Europe’s ambition to extend the Super Cup to new teams and new countries to increase the standards of the game, on and off the field, across the Continent and strengthen the player pathway of the national teams.”
MATCH SCHEDULE POOL PHASE:
ROUND 1
Delta - Brussels Devils
Sat 18th Sep - 15:30 (CET)
Lusitanos - Castilla y Leon Iberians
Sat 18th Sep - 18.00 (CET)
Enisei-STM - Lokomotiv Penza
Sun 19th Sep - 13.00 (CET)
Black Lion - Tel-Aviv Heat
Sat 16th Oct* - 15.00 (CET)
*This match has been postponed due to travel restrictions
ROUND 2
Lokomotiv Penza - Enisei-STM
Sat 25th Sep - 15:30 (CET)
Brussels Devils - Delta
Sat 25th Sep - 18.00 (CET)
Castilla y Leon Iberians - Lusitanos
Sun 26th Sep - 12.00pm (CET)
Tel-Aviv Heat - Black Lion
Sat 18th December - 19.00 (CET)
*This match has been postponed due to travel restrictions
ROUND 3
Enisei-STM - Tel-Aviv Heat
Sat 23th Oct - 13:30 (CET)
Delta - Lusitanos
Sat 23th Oct - 15:30 (CET)
Lokomotiv Penza - Black Lion
Sat 23th Oct - 17:30 (CET)
Brussels Devils - Castilla y Leon Iberians
Sun 24th Oct - 12:30pm (CET)
ROUND 4
Enisei-STM - Black Lion
Sat 30th Oct - 11.00 (CET)
Brussels Devils - Lusitanos
Sat 30th Oct – TBC
Delta - Castilla y Leon Iberians
Sat 30th Oct at 15.00 (CET)
Lokomotiv Penza - Tel-Aviv Heat
Sun 31st Oct – TBC
ROUND 5
Black Lion - Lokomotiv Penza
Sat 4th Dec - 13.00 (CET)
Lusitanos - Brussels Devils
Sat 4th Dec - 16.00 (CET)
Tel-Aviv Heat - Enisei-STM
Sat 4th Dec - 19.00 (CET)
Castilla y Leon Iberians- Delta
Sun 5th Dec - 12:30pm (CET)
ROUND 6
Castilla y Leon Iberians - Brussels Devils
Sat 11th Dec - 12.00pm (CET)
Black Lion - Enisei-STM
Sat 11th Dec - 14.00 (CET)
Lusitanos - Delta
Sat 11th Dec - 16.00 (CET)
Tel-Aviv Heat - Lokomotiv Penza
Sat 11th Dec - 19.00 (CET)
SEMI-FINALS AND FINAL:
At the end of the pool stage, the top two teams of each conference will qualify for the semi-finals, which will be played during April 2022, with the conference winners hosting the ties.
The Final will take place in May 2022 to crown the inaugural winner of the Rugby Europe Super Cup.
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Latest Comments
If we all had to take a guess, with our life depending on it, I don’t think anyone is going to think France B is going to be as good as France A, or as you say Irelands-Best-Team-Ever, that is for sure.
Now, we saw a result pretty indicative on of the All Blacks season just last November in what would still be their toughest match since they got knocked out of the World Cup, but as usual, people love putting credence on 6 Nations rugby and somehow these recent French performances have gone to another level.. is this the English series build all over again?!
Go to commentsYes, I’d imagined theres not the opportunity for full pro players to play for their old club like there is still in NZ and Aus. Would still be interested in how close they are to them however. I’d love to know the relevant numbers of who comes into professionalism from a club, say as an adult, versus early means like say pathway programmes (if those two groups can be exclusive of HPPs).
I’m just thinking ahead. You know Ireland is going to come into the same predicament Aus is at where that next group of youngsters waiting to come into programmes get picked off by the French, like the recent kid in Aus, unless there’s something of real value there.
I mean theres room for growth in Ireland for rugby right, or despite sharing numbers with GAA/football does it already draw the best athletes like how rugby manages in NZ (where it lost it’s ‘most popular’ tag but is still the ‘most relevant’ for aspiring athletes)?
Because from that format I see no reason why Irish clubs shouldn’t desire to play in some of these emerging 2nd/3rd level European club competitions. It just seemed like the structure was in place, to climb to the top of a 10 team division. I see they’ve near completed a double round robin worth of games, does that mean theres not much left in their season?
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