By Paul I
February 2 2025

With the bulk of Round 4 completed, just Bath entertaining (?) Bedford this afternoon, on TnT at 3.00pm, to go, I think it's time to have a look at the latest state of play.  With Cov's dismantling of Nottingham yesterday, 76-21, who could we be facing if the quarter-finals are achieved?  

In our group yesterday, Tigers decided to take it seriously and gained a 54-33 win over Cov's opponents next week, Saints.  Will Wand grabbed himself a brace of tries.  Cov are on 15 points, the same as Saints.  Tigers with their 10 points accrued are in third. Next Saturday for Cov at Saints could be a vital game for progression, either in the competition or confidence building for the rest of the season.  This is in Pool B.

In Pool A, Newcastle Falcons with 20 points, still unbeaten, lead Sale on 17 points. Sad to say Doncaster Knights and Caldy occupy the rest of Pool A with 9 and 0 points respectively.  Top two to progress to the quarters. 

Pool C is probably the tightest Pool of them all.  With almost identical records, P4, W3, L1, both Ealing Trailfinders and Harlequins have 17 points.  Saracens with 10 in third place seem to have it all to do to qualify for the quarters with two games left. At the bottom of Pool C, London Scottish with two bonus points are also-rans. 

Pool D is also a tight affair, with Bristol Bears on 15, being tracked by Bath on , currently,  14 points.   I fully expect that to be 19 points by 5pm this afternoon.  Bedford's win over pointless Ampthill has been their only success.  

The final group, Group E , sees the unbeaten Exeter Chiefs with 20 points leading their West Country and Premiership rivals , Gloucester, with 15 points in second place.  Hartpury with 7 points and Pirates with 3 points complete Pool E. 

So, there you have it.  A quick run through and recap. Predictions? Pretty simple really. Only Cov and Ealing from the Championship  can , realistically, make the quarter- finals.  I remain to be convinced that this competition will be running again in season 2025/2026.  But, it has been a worthwhile look at how ' the other half' live and meeting fans from Premiership clubs.  We are really all the same , just love the game and our clubs. 

Premiership Cup - Runners, Riders and Also-rans

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 02/02/2025 09:16

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
02/02/2025 09:16

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:02:22:09:50:33 by Kimbo.

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Cov1981
02/02/2025 15:33

The question is can the Premiership clubs afford to do without it. They only have 9 home league matches and 2 in Europe guaranteed so 11 across 8/9 months. Not good for income generation. If you look at the home gates Leicester and Northampton will get in this seasons Premiership Cup can they give that up? Northampton have had 22,000 attend across their two home games with the Cov game to come, Leicester have had 35,000 attend with the Nottingham game to come. A lot of those will be season ticket holders but there will be others that wouldn't have attended + beer sales etc. It also provides good match experience for the extended squad players of the Premiership clubs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:02:02:15:34:27 by Cov1981.

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Cov1981
17/02/2025 19:05

Interesting to see crowd attendances across the cup games at [en.wikipedia.org].
Some winners and losers here. Cov had a higher average than both Sale and Newcastle and Saracens were within touching distance. It obviously helps when you are in a group with two of the best supported teams in the country who are both within travelling distances and with whom you have an historic rivalry.

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Wazeroonie
18/02/2025 23:22

Quote:

Cov1981
Interesting to see crowd attendances across the cup games at [en.wikipedia.org].
Some winners and losers here. Cov had a higher average than both Sale and Newcastle and Saracens were within touching distance. It obviously helps when you are in a group with two of the best supported teams in the country who are both within travelling distances and with whom you have an historic rivalry.

I’d say that it’s rather Premiership fans are less interested in the Cup, hence the lower average attendances than in their league fixtures.
It also looks like average attendances for the Cup are higher for most Championship clubs than they are currently in the league. Of course there possibly would be an uplift in Prem fans travelling to Champ grounds they’re not used to going to.

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