2011–12 British and Irish Cup

The 2011–12 British and Irish Cup was the 3rd season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on Wednesday 21 September 2011 and the final was held on Friday 27 April 2012.

Defending champions Bristol had a very poor campaign and were unable to make it out of the pool stages. Munster A lifted the cup, comfortably defeating Cross Keys 31–12 in the final. They became the first Irish side to claim the title, and the third different side to win in the competition's three-year history.

Teams
The allocation of teams is as follows:


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 – 12 clubs from RFU Championship
 * 🇮🇪 – 3 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams.
 * – 3 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership.
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 – 6 top clubs from the Welsh Premier Division.

Competition format
The pool stage saw a change in format and consisted of six pools of four teams playing cross-pool matches, giving each team two home and two away matches. Matches between English teams were played mid-week. Pool matches took place from 21 September to 18 December. The top team from each pool qualified for the quarter-finals, together with the two runners–up with the best records.


 * Pool 1 teams Ayr, Cornish Pirates, Moseley and Neath, played the teams in Pool 2  Bristol Rugby, Cross Keys, Plymouth Albion and Munster
 * Pool 3 teams Aberavon, Bedford Blues, Leinster and London Scottish, played the teams in Pool 4: Esher Rugby, Llanelli, London Welsh and Melrose
 * Pool 5: Currie, Doncaster, Rotherham and Pontypridd, played the teams in Pool 6: Leeds Carnegie, Nottingham Rugby, Swansea and Ulster Ravens

Qualifiers
The six pool winners and the two best runners up proceeded to the knock out stages. The best four qualifiers (pool winners) had home advantage in the quarter finals.