Exeter Chiefs were England’s last European rugby cup winners but when did they lift the big prize?
This weekend sees two English sides trying to win a European rugby cup, as Northampton Saints and Bath Rugby head to the Principality Stadium, Cardiff, for their respective Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals.
Both sides rank among the most successful in English Premiership history, with Saints the reigning champions, and Bath flying high at the top of this year’s table. English clubs also have an enviable record in European competition, sitting just behind France in the all-time winners list.
But when was the last time an English club won a European rugby cup?
Read more: How to watch European Rugby Champions Cup
Who were the last English European champions?
It’s a whole five years since an English club last etched their name on a European trophy, though it’s worth noting that Premiership clubs did the double in the Covid-disrupted 2019-2020 season.
Exeter Chiefs claimed the Champions Cup, beating Racing 92 in Bristol, while Bristol Bears overcame Toulon in Aix-en-Provence.
Exeter’s win was the fourth English victory in five seasons, marking the end of a period of Premiership dominance in the Champions Cup. Saracens took the title in 2016, 2017 and 2019.
Since that English clean sweep in 2020, French clubs have dominated both European competitions – in fact, the only non-French side to claim a European trophy in that time were South Africa’s Sharks, who lifted the Challenge Cup at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season.
Northampton Saints last won European rugby’s biggest prize in 2000 (Laurent Baheux/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
When did Northampton last win the European Champions Cup?
There’ll be generations of Saints fans who can’t remember the last time their team won the Champions Cup (or Heineken Cup, as it was known back then).
A Northampton team captained by current Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam lifted the trophy at the end of the 1999-2000 season. But that’s still not as long as Bath have been waiting to win European club rugby’s biggest prize – the blue, black and whites were last champions of Europe in 1998.
Read more: How to watch the European Champions Cup Final
That said, both teams have won the slightly less prestigious Challenge Cup since – Bath in 2008, and Northampton in 2009 and 2014.
Bordeaux-Bègles, Northampton’s opponents on Saturday, have never picked up European silverware. Bath’s Friday night rivals, Lyon, won the Challenge Cup in 2022.
How many times have English clubs won the European trophies?
Premiership teams have won the European Champions Cup on 10 occasions: Saracens (three times), Leicester Tigers and Wasps (twice), and Bath Rugby, Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs (once apiece) have all taken the big prize.
The Challenge Cup has come back to England on 12 occasions: Harlequins (three times), Gloucester Rugby, Sale Sharks and Northampton Saints (twice), and Bath Rugby, Wasps and Bristol Bears (once apiece).
French clubs currently have 12 wins in both competitions.