2012–13 British and Irish Cup
Open-knowledge reference entry
The 2012–13 British and Irish Cup was the fourth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. The final was contest on 17 May 2013 and won by Leinster A with a 78th minute penalty by Noel Reid to beat Newcastle Falcons 18–17 at their home ground Kingston Park. The defending champions Munster A were eliminated in the semi–finals by the eventual winners and Bedford Blues was the other losing semi–finalists.
There has been four different winners and four different losing finalist of the competition. The format of the competition has been considerably revamped, with expansion to 32 teams playing each other home and away in the pool stages. Previously, 24 teams played home or away in the pool stages. First round matches began on the weekend of 13/14 October 2012 and the final was held on 17 May 2013.
Teams
The allocation of teams was as follows:
– 12 clubs from RFU Championship
– 4 Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
– 4 top clubs from the Scottish Premiership
– 12 clubs from the Welsh Premier Division
Competition format
The pool stage saw a considerable change in format and consisted of eight pools of four teams playing home and away matches. Pool matches took place on the same weekends as the Heineken and Amlin Cups. The top team from each pool qualified for the quarter-finals.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “2012–13 British and Irish Cup” is open-knowledge reference entry. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through British, Irish and Open-knowledge, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “open-knowledge reference entry” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3647315. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2012 and 2013.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “2012–13 British and Irish Cup”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 2012–13 British and Irish Cup primary sources, 2012–13 British and Irish Cup archive and British research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2012–13 British and Irish Cup”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “2012–13 British and Irish Cup” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.