The 2016–17 British and Irish Cup was the eighth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. London Welsh were the defending champions having won the 2015–16 final against Yorkshire Carnegie 10–33 at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Leeds on 10 April 2016. There have been six different winners and six different losing finalists in the seven seasons of its existence. The format of the competition is similar to last season with Scottish clubs not competing. For the second consecutive season the four Welsh teams were the reserve sides of the teams competing in the Pro12 competition instead of clubs from the Welsh Premier Division.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Countries ...

2016–17 British and Irish Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England Ireland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	14 October 2016 — 21 April 2017
Tournament statistics
Teams	19
Matches played	63
Attendance	62,823 (997 per match)
Highest attendance	4,813 Ulster A v London Scottish 13 January 2017
Lowest attendance	200 (x3)
Top point scorer(s)	Johnny McPhillips Ulster A 62
Top try scorer(s)	Tom Williams Scarlets PS 8
Final
Venue	Irish Independent Park
Champions	Munster A (2nd title)
Runners-up	Jersey Reds[1]
← 2015–16 (Previous) (Next) 2017–18 →

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The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of five pools of four teams playing home and away matches. The top side in each pool, plus the three best runners-up, progress to the knockout stage. The eight quarter-finalists are ranked, with top four teams having home advantage. The four winning quarter-finalists progress to the semi-final draw. Most of the matches are played on the same weekends as the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. First round matches began on 14 October 2016 and the final was held on the 21 April 2017.

The allocation of teams is as follows:

• – twelve clubs from RFU Championship
• – four Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
• – four Welsh regions represented by Premiership Select teams.

More information Club, Country ...

Club Country League Stadium Capacity Area Bedford Blues England RFU Championship Goldington Road 6,000 Bedford Cardiff Blues Premiership Select Wales N/A Cardiff Arms Park Sardis Road The Wern 12,125 7,861 4,500 Cardiff Pontypridd Merthyr Tydfil Connacht Eagles Ireland Irish Interprovincial Rugby Championship Galway Sportsgrounds Dubarry Park 9,500 10,000 Galway Athlone Cornish Pirates England RFU Championship Mennaye Field 4,000 Penzance Doncaster Knights England RFU Championship Castle Park 5,000 Doncaster Ealing Trailfinders England RFU Championship Trailfinders Sports Ground 3,020 West Ealing, London Jersey Reds England [lower-alpha 1] RFU Championship St. Peter 4,000 Saint Peter Leinster A Ireland Irish Interprovincial Rugby Championship Donnybrook Stadium 6,000 Dublin London Irish England RFU Championship Madejski Stadium 7,579[lower-alpha 2] Reading, Berkshire London Scottish England RFU Championship Richmond Athletic Ground 4,500 Richmond, London London Welsh England RFU Championship Old Deer Park 5,850 Richmond, London Munster A Ireland Irish Interprovincial Rugby Championship Towns Park The Showgrounds Old Chapel Irish Independent Park CIT Stadium 400 1,000[2] N/A 8,200 1,100[3] Midleton Ennis Bandon Cork Cork Newport Gwent Dragons Premiership Select Wales N/A Pandy Park CCB Centre 3,000 1,000 Crosskeys Ystrad Mynach Nottingham Rugby England RFU Championship Lady Bay Sports Ground 3,000 Nottingham Ospreys Premiership Select Wales N/A The Gnoll Talbot Athletic Ground Llynfi Road 5,000 3,000 N/A Neath Port Talbot Maesteg Richmond England RFU Championship Richmond Athletic Ground 4,500 Richmond, London Rotherham Titans England RFU Championship Clifton Lane 2,500 Rotherham Scarlets Premiership Select Wales N/A Church Bank Playing Fields Carmarthen Park Parc y Scarlets 3,000 3,000 14,870 Llandovery Carmarthen Llanelli Ulster A Ireland Irish Interprovincial Rugby Championship Shaw's Bridge Eaton Park Kingspan Stadium 1,300 1,000 18,196 Belfast Ballymena Belfast Yorkshire Carnegie England RFU Championship Sandhill Lane Stadium Moor Lane Silver Royd N/A N/A 1,950 Selby Pontefract Scalby Jersey is listed in the English section because they play in the English RFU Championship. Although Madejski's full capacity is 24,161, for most matches only West Stand will be open with capacity of 7,579.

Bedford Blues Connacht Cornish Pirates Doncaster Ealing T Jersey Reds Leinster L Irish L Scottish L Welsh Munster Dragons Nottingham Ospreys Richmond Rotherham Scarlets Ulster Y Carnegie Locations of the 2016-17 British & Irish Cup teams

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The eight qualifiers were seeded according to performance in the pool stage. The four top seeds hosted the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 format. If two teams qualified from the same group they could not be drawn together despite the seeding, therefore, Jersey Reds did not play against Ulster A. The quarter-finals were held over the weekend of 10/11/12 March 2017, the semi-finals were held over the weekend of 31 March and 1 & 2 April 2017 and the final was played on 21/22/23 April 2017.

Teams are ranked by:

1 – competition points (4 for a win, 2 for a draw)

2 – where competition points are equal, greatest number of wins

3 – where the number of wins are equal, aggregate points difference

4 – where the aggregate points difference are equal, greatest number of points scored

More information Seed, Pool winners ...

Seed	Pool winners	Pts	Wins	Pts diff
1	London Irish	25	5	57
2	Jersey Reds	23	5	87
3	Ealing Trailfinders	23	4	71
4	Scarlets Premiership Select	22	4	49
5	Munster A	19	4	66
Seed	Pool Runners–up	Pts	Wins	Pts diff
6	Cornish Pirates	20	4	89
7	Ulster A	20	4	29
8	Yorkshire Carnegie	20	4	26
9	Leinster A	16	3	123
10	Rotherham Titans	5	1	−25

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	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	12 March 2017 - Irish Independent Park
	Munster A	26
					31 March - CIT Stadium
	Ulster A	3
					Munster A	25
	11 March 2017 - Trailfinders Sports Ground
					Ealing Trailfinders	9
	Ealing Trailfinders	84
									21 April 2017 - Irish Independent Park, Cork
	Scarlets Premiership Select	7
									Munster A	29
	11 March 2017 - Madejski Stadium
									Jersey Reds	28
	London Irish	37
					2 April 2017 - Madejski Stadium
	Yorkshire Carnegie	14
					London Irish	17
	10 March 2017 - St. Peter
					Jersey Reds	25
	Jersey Reds	36
	Cornish Pirates	20

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• Points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).

More information Rank, Player ...

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 Johnny McPhillips Ulster A 6 62 2 Billy McBryde Scarlets PS 7 56 3 Warren Seals Yorkshire Carnegie 7 52 4 Arwel Robson Newport-Gwent Dragons PS 6 51 5 Simon Katz Jersey Reds 6 50 6 Myles Dorrian Bedford Blues 6 45 7 Laurence May Cornish Pirates 6 43 8 David Johnston Munster A 8 42 9 Tom Daly Leinster A 4 40 Tom Williams Scarlets PS 6 40 [4][5][6][7][8][10][11][20][22]

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Tom Williams Scarlets PS 6 8 2 Alex Walker Ealing Trailfinders 4 6 3 Barney Nightingale Newport-Gwent Dragons PS 5 6 4 Jay Baker Ospreys PS 3 5 5 Rob O'Donnell Yorkshire Carnegie 3 5 6 Tom Daly Leinster A 4 5 7 Morgan Allen Scarlets PS 6 5 Nick Haining Jersey Reds 6 5 Jimmy O'Brien Leinster A 6 5 Keiran Williams Ospreys PS 6 5 8 Alex O'Meara Cornish Pirates 7 5 [4][5][6][7][8][10][11][20][22]

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