2014–15 LV Cup

2014–15 LV Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and knockout
Date	1 November 2014 – 22 March 2015
Tournament statistics
Teams	16
Final
Venue	Franklin's Gardens, Northampton[1]
Attendance	8,685
Champions	Saracens (2nd title)
Runners-up	Exeter Chiefs
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The 2014–15 LV Cup (styled as the LV= Cup) is the 44th season of England's national rugby union cup competition, and the tenth to follow the Anglo-Welsh format.

The competition consists of the four Welsh Pro12 teams and the twelve English Premiership clubs arranged into pools consisting of three English and one Welsh team. English clubs have been allocated to the pools depending on their finish in the 2013–14 Aviva Premiership. Teams are guaranteed 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 qualifies for the semi-finals. The competition will take place during the Autumn Internationals window and during the Six Nations thus allowing teams to develop their squad players.

Exeter Chiefs were the defending champions this season after claiming the cup with a 15–8 victory over Northampton Saints in the final at Sandy Park in Exeter.^[2] The final was won by Saracens 23–20 over Exeter Chiefs with a last-minute penalty from Ben Spencer securing the Londoners' second title in the competition.

Points system

The points scoring system for the pool stages will be as follows:^[3]

• 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
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Saracens (2)	4	4	0	0	101	62	+39	10	6	1	0	17
Gloucester	4	3	0	1	102	69	+33	10	7	1	1	14
Newport Gwent Dragons	4	2	0	2	121	116	+5	14	14	2	1	11
Bath	4	2	0	2	86	59	+27	11	6	2	1	11
Updated 8 February 2015 Source: Premiership Rugby

Pool 4
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Exeter Chiefs (4)	4	3	0	1	101	100	+1	12	12	1	0	13
Ospreys	4	1	0	3	82	114	−32	9	12	1	1	6
Harlequins	4	1	0	3	79	94	−15	8	10	0	2	6
London Welsh	4	0	0	4	44	102	−58	4	11	0	2	2
Updated 8 February 2015 Source: Premiership Rugby

1 November 2014 15:00

(BP) Bath	47–7	London Welsh
Try: Northcote-Green (2) 4' m, 51' c Woodburn 24' c Penalty try 38' c Banahan 40' m Lane 75' m Garratt 80' m Con: Henson (3/7) Pen: Henson (2/2) 11', 32'	Report	Try: Scott 60' c Con: Robinson (1/1)

Recreation Ground Attendance: 13,300

1 November 2014 15:00

(BP) Exeter Chiefs	28–27	Gloucester (BP)
Try: Hughes 40' c Vainikolo 55' m Penalty try 78' c Con: Sweeney (2/3) Pen: Sweeney (3/3) 8', 41', 64'	Report	Try: Evans 34' c Meakes 42' c Thomas 61' c Con: Thomas (3/3) Pen: Thomas (2/2) 7', 47'

Sandy Park Attendance: 13,300 Referee: Simon Harding (RFU)

2 November 2014 13:00

Saracens	25–20	Harlequins (BP)
Try: Taylor 25' c Ellery 28' m Wilson 59' c Con: Spencer (2/3) Pen: Spencer (2/2) 3', 70'	Report	Try: Lambert 57' c Walker 63' c Con: Swiel (2/2) Pen: Grimoldby (1/1) 33' Swiel (1/1) 75'

Allianz Park Attendance: 7,012 Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)

17 November 2014 19:35

(BP) Ospreys	35–51	Newport Gwent Dragons (BP)
Try: Dirksen 49' c Howells 52' c Griffiths 56' c Penalty try 66' c Natoga 71' c Con: Davies (5/5)	Report	Try: Wardle 8' c L. Evans 11' c J. Evans (2) 16' c, 40+1' c Hill (2) 30' c, 46' c Con: R. Jones (6/6) Pen: R. Jones (2/2) 6', 26'

Brewery Field Attendance: 2,736

Pool 2
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Northampton Saints (3)	4	3	0	1	98	53	+45	13	5	2	0	14
Cardiff Blues	4	3	0	1	95	119	−24	10	16	1	0	13
Sale Sharks	4	2	0	2	102	100	+2	12	13	2	0	10
London Irish	4	0	0	4	69	118	−49	5	14	0	1	1
Updated 8 February 2015 Source: Premiership Rugby

Pool 3
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Leicester Tigers (1)	4	4	0	0	106	46	+60	14	3	2	0	18
Newcastle Falcons	4	2	0	2	114	91	+23	15	10	2	1	11
Wasps	4	1	0	3	120	128	−8	14	15	3	2	9
Scarlets	4	1	0	3	50	99	−49	5	12	0	1	5
Updated 8 February 2015 Source: Premiership Rugby

22 March 2015

Saracens	23–20	Exeter Chiefs
Try: David Strettle (2) Nick de Jager Con: Ben Spencer Pen: Ben Spencer (2)		Try: Max Bodilly (2) Con: Gareth Steenson 2 Pen: Ceri Sweeney 2

Franklin's Gardens, Northampton Attendance: 8,365 Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)

FB 15 Ben Ransom RW 14 Mike Ellery OC 13 Marcelo Bosch IC 12 Tim Streather LW 11 David Strettle FH 10 Nils Mordt SH 9 Ben Spencer N8 8 Ernst Joubert OF 7 Matt Hankin BF 6 Nick de Jager RL 5 Hayden Smith LL 4 Maro Itoje (c) TP 3 Juan Figallo HK 2 Jared Saunders LP 1 Richard Barrington Replacements: HK 16 Scott Spurling PR 17 Titi Lamositele PR 18 Biyi Alo LK 19 George Kruis FL 20 Kelly Brown SH 21 Tom Whiteley FH 22 Alex Goode FB 23 Cătălin Fercu Coach: Mark McCall

FB 15 Max Bodilly RW 14 Fet'u Vainikolo OC 13 Adam Hughes IC 12 Sireli Naqelevuki LW 11 Tom James FH 10 Ceri Sweeney (c) SH 9 Haydn Thomas N8 8 Kai Horstmann OF 7 Sam Simmonds BF 6 Ben White RL 5 Jerry Sexton LL 4 Mitch Lees TP 3 Moray Low HK 2 Elvis Taione LP 1 Brett Sturgess Replacements: HK 16 Greg Bateman PR 17 Carl Rimmer PR 18 Alex Brown LK 19 Ed Holmes FL 20 Joel Conlon SH 21 Dave Lewis FH 22 Gareth Steenson CE 23 Byron McGuigan Coach: Rob Baxter