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 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.
Participating teams and locations
| Team | Ground | Capacity | City/Area |
| Bedford Blues | Goldington Road | 6,000 | Bedford, Bedfordshire |
| Cornish Pirates | Mennaye Field | 4,000 | Penzance, Cornwall |
| Coventry | Butts Park Arena | 4,000 | Coventry, West Midlands |
| Doncaster Knights | Castle Park | 5,000 | Doncaster, South Yorkshire |
| Ealing Trailfinders | Trailfinders Sports Ground | 4,000 | West Ealing, London |
| Hartpury College | Gillman's Ground | 2,000 | Hartpury, Gloucestershire |
| Jersey Reds | Stade Santander International | 4,000 | Saint Peter, Jersey |
| London Irish | Madejski Stadium | 24,161 | Reading, Berkshire |
| London Scottish | Athletic Ground | 4,500 | Richmond, London, London |
| Nottingham | Lady Bay Sports Ground | 3,000 | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire |
| Richmond | Athletic Ground | 4,500 | Richmond, London, London |
| Yorkshire Carnegie | Emerald Headingley Stadium Laund Hill Brantingham Park | 21,062 2,000 1,500 | Leeds, West Yorkshire Huddersfield, West Yorkshire Kingston upon Hull, East Riding |
Group stage
Group 1 (North)
Round 1
----Round 2
----Round 3
----Round 4
----Round 5
----Round 6
Group 2 (London & South East)
Round 1
----Round 2
----Round 3
----Round 4
----Round 5
----Round 6
Group 3 (South West & Midlands)
Round 1
----Round 2
----Round 3
----Round 4
----Round 5
----Round 6
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:
| Rank | Pool leaders/best runner-up | Pts | Wins | TF | Diff | PF |
| 1 | Ealing Trailfinders | 26 | 5 | 26 | 82 | 180 |
| 2 | London Irish | 24 | 5 | 33 | 150 | 222 |
| 3 | Yorkshire Carnegie | 22 | 5 | 20 | 30 | 165 |
| 4 | Jersey Reds | 25 | 5 | 28 | 93 | 194 |
| Rank | Pool runners-up/top two 3rd place | Pts | Wins | TF | Diff | PF |
| 5 | Cornish Pirates | 18 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 164 |
| 6 | Coventry | 17 | 3 | 26 | 11 | 175 |
| 7 | Bedford Blues | 15 | 3 | 19 | 13 | 131 |
| 8 | Nottingham | 12 | 2 | 20 | -24 | 141 |
| 9 | London Scottish | 6 | 1 | 7 | -63 | 69 |
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Attendances
Individual statistics
- Points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes.
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
Season records
Team
;Largest home win — 54 points59 – 5 London Irish at home to Hartpury College on 9 December 2018
;Largest away win — 31 points
38 – 7 Jersey Reds away to Richmond on 1 December 2018
;Most points scored — 64
64 – 17 London Irish at home to Cornish Pirates on 18 November 2018
;Most tries in a match — 9
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
;Most conversions in a match — 7
London Irish at home to Cornish Pirates on 18 November 2018
London Irish at home to Hartpury College on 9 December 2018
;Most penalties in a match — 5
Cornish Pirates at home to Bedford Blues on 11 November 2018
;Most drop goals in a match — 1
Jersey Reds at home to Ealing Trailfinders on 8 December 2018
Player
;Most points in a match — 20Jack 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
;Most tries in a match — 4
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
;Most conversions in a match — 7
Jacob Atkins for London Irish at home to Hartpury College on 9 December 2018
;Most penalties in a match — 5
Javier Rojas Alvarez for Cornish Pirates at home to Bedford Blues on 11 November 2018
;Most drop goals in a match — 1
Aaron Penberthy for Jersey Reds at home to Ealing Trailfinders on 8 December 2018
Attendances
;Highest — 3,627Ealing Trailfinders at home to London Irish on 4 May 2019
;Lowest — 267
Ealing Trailfinders at home to Nottingham on 2 February 2019
;Highest average attendance — 2,147
Bedford Blues
;Lowest average attendance — 506
Yorkshire Carnegie