The format will involve 20 teams – all 10 clubs from the 2024–25 Premiership Rugby and 10 out of 12 clubs from the 2024–25 RFU Championship. The remaining 2 Championship clubs, Cambridge and Chinnor, were not invited, as Cambridge had finished 11th in the previous season, and Chinnor were newly promoted into the league.[3] This was despite 22 teams being involved in the competition in the 2023–24 edition.
The 20 teams will be divided into 5 regional pools, each made up of 4 teams, with each side playing 6 games (3 home, 3 away). This is a change from the previous season, where Premiership clubs typically had more home fixtures than the Championship sides.
Teams played every other team in their pool twice, once at home and once away. The group winners and three best placed runners up would qualify for the quarter finals.
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[4]
Fixtures were announced on 20 August 2024 with the first game taking place on Friday 1 November 2024 and the final taking place on the weekend of 14 March.[5]
The winner from each pool will progress to the quarter-finals, along with the three best runners-up. The top 5 seeds are the group winners based on points – if teams are level, tiebreakers are applied. Seeds 6, 7 and 8 are the best 2nd place teams, based on the same criteria.[5]
England
