The 2017–18 Anglo-Welsh Cup was the 46th season of England's national
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
cup competition, and the 12th and final to follow the
Anglo-Welsh Cup
The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...
format. After this season it was replaced by the
Premiership Rugby Cup
The Premiership Rugby Cup is an English rugby union knockout cup competition for teams in Premiership Rugby and from the 2023–24 season the RFU Championship. It was created in 2018 to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup after the withdrawal of the Wels ...
and was played for by clubs from the English Premiership only.
The competition consists of the four Welsh
Pro14
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...
teams and the twelve
Aviva Premiership
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...
clubs arranged in pools of three English and one Welsh team. English clubs were allocated to the pools depending on their final positions in the
2016–17 Aviva Premiership. Teams will play two home and two away pool matches, with teams in Pools 1 and 4 playing each other and teams in Pools 2 and 3 playing each other. The top team from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals. The competition will take place during the
Autumn International window and during the
Six Nations.
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...
are defending champions after claiming the cup with a 16–12 victory over
Exeter Chiefs
Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...
in the
2016–17 final at
Twickenham Stoop
Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a stadium located in south-west London, England, situated just across the road from Twickenham Stadium. The stadium is home to the Harlequins in Premiership Rugby and has a c ...
.
This was Leicester's eighth title in the competition.
Teams & locations
Pool stages
;Points system
The points scoring system for the pool stages will be as follows:
* 4 points for a win
* 2 points for a draw
* 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match (TB)
* 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less (LB)
Pool 1 v Pool 4
Round 1 (England)
----
----
Round 2
----
----
----
Round 1 (Wales)
Round 3
----
----
----
Round 4
----
----
----
Pool 2 v Pool 3
Round 1 (England)
----
----
Round 2
----
----
----
Round 1 (Wales)
Round 3
----
----
----
Round 4
----
----
----
Semi-finals
Final
Attendances
* Attendances do not include the final at Kingsholm.
Individual statistics
* * Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
Season records
Team
;Largest home win — 59 points
66–7 London Irish at home to Wasps on 27 January 2018
;Largest away win — 40 points
40-0 Exeter Chiefs away to Scarlets on 12 November 2017
;Most points scored — 66 points
66–7 London Irish at home to Wasps on 27 January 2018
;Most tries in a match — 10
London Irish at home to Wasps on 27 January 2018
;Most conversions in a match — 8
London Irish at home to Wasps on 27 January 2018
;Most penalties in a match — 5
Saracens away to Sale Sharks on 10 November 2017
;Most drop goals in a match — 0
Attendances
;Highest — 18,408
Leicester Tigers at home to Gloucester on 4 November 2017
;Lowest — 2,500
Sale Sharks at home to Northampton Saints on 27 January 2018
;Highest Average Attendance —
;Lowest Average Attendance —
Player
;Most points in a match — 21
Freddie Burns for Bath at home to Leicester Tigers on 10 November 2017
;Most tries in a match — 3 (2)
Dean Hammond for Worcester Warriors away to Harlequins on 12 November 2017
Joe Cokanasiga for London Irish at home to Wasps on 27 January 2018
;Most conversions in a match — 6
James Marshall for London Irish away to Cardiff Blues on 2 February 2018
;Most penalties in a match — 5
Max Malins for Saracens away to Sale Sharks on 10 November 2017
;Most drop goals in a match — 0
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anglo-Welsh Cup
2016-17
2017–18 rugby union tournaments for clubs
2017–18 English Premiership (rugby union)
2017–18 in Welsh rugby union