2018–19 RFU Championship Cup

The 2018–19 RFU Championship Cup was the inaugural season of the annual rugby union Championship Cup competition for second tier, professional English clubs playing in the RFU Championship. It was formed following the discontinuation of the British and Irish Cup at the end of the 2017–18 season.

The inaugural winners were Ealing Trailfinders who defeated London Irish 23–17 in the final held at the Trailfinders Sports Ground. It was a deserved victory for Ealing, who were the best side in the competition, and was their second win in a cup competition in two seasons, having won the British and Irish Cup the previous season. Runner-up London Irish, who had won the Championship league title a few weeks earlier, missed out on a notable double.

Competition format
The competition format was a group stage followed by a knockout stage. The group stage consisted of three (roughly) regional groups of four teams each playing home and away matches. Group matches ran for six consecutive weeks from November through to December following a break in the RFU Championship league campaign.

The top two sides in each group, plus the two best third-placed teams, progressed to the knockout stage, with the best ranked sides receiving home advantage in the quarter-finals. The four winning quarter-finalists progressed to the semi-finals with the winners playing in the final in May 2019.

Knock-out stage
The eight qualifiers were seeded according to performance in the pool stage - with the three pool winners making the top three seeds along with the best runner-up as seed number 4, and the next two runners-up and two best 3rd-placed teams making up the other four seeds. The top four seeds hosted the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5 format. However, if two teams qualified from the same pool they could not be drawn together.

Teams were 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, greatest number of tries scored
 * 4 – where the number of tries are equal, aggregate points difference
 * 5 – where the aggregate points difference are equal, greatest number of points scored
 * 6 – where the greatest number of points are equal, least red cards
 * 7 – if red cards are equal, then ranking will be decided by the toss of a coin

Individual statistics

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

Team
59 – 5 London Irish at home to Hartpury College on 9 December 2018 38 – 7 Jersey Reds away to Richmond on 1 December 2018 64 – 17 London Irish at home to Cornish Pirates on 18 November 2018 London Irish at home to Cornish Pirates on 18 November 2018 London Irish at home to Hartpury College on 9 December 2018 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Cornish Pirates on 24 February 2019 London Irish at home to Cornish Pirates on 18 November 2018 London Irish at home to Hartpury College on 9 December 2018 Cornish Pirates at home to Bedford Blues on 11 November 2018 Jersey Reds at home to Ealing Trailfinders on 8 December 2018
 * Largest home win — 54 points
 * Largest away win — 31 points
 * Most points scored — 64
 * Most tries in a match — 9 (3)
 * Most conversions in a match — 7 (2)
 * Most penalties in a match — 5
 * Most drop goals in a match — 1

Player
Jack Macfarlane for Jersey Reds at home to Richmond on 24 November 2018 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jordan Burns for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Cornish Pirates on 24 February 2019 Jack Macfarlane for Jersey Reds at home to Richmond on 24 November 2018 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jordan Burns for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Cornish Pirates on 24 February 2019 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jacob Atkins for London Irish at home to Hartpury College on 9 December 2018 🇦🇷 Javier Rojas Alvarez for Cornish Pirates at home to Bedford Blues on 11 November 2018 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Aaron Penberthy for Jersey Reds at home to Ealing Trailfinders on 8 December 2018
 * Most points in a match — 20 (2)
 * Most tries in a match — 4 (2)
 * Most conversions in a match — 7
 * Most penalties in a match — 5
 * Most drop goals in a match — 1

Attendances
Ealing Trailfinders at home to London Irish on 4 May 2019 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Nottingham on 2 February 2019 Bedford Blues Yorkshire Carnegie
 * Highest — 3,627
 * Lowest — 267
 * Highest average attendance — 2,147
 * Lowest average attendance — 506