1990–91 Pilkington Cup

The 1990–91 Pilkington Cup was the 20th edition of England's, premier (at that time) rugby union club competition. Harlequins won the competition, for the second time, defeating Northampton 25 – 13 at Twickenham. The event was sponsored by Pilkington.

1990–91 Pilkington Cup
Countries	England
Champions	Harlequins (2nd title)
Runners-up	Northampton
Matches played	74

First round

Home	Away	Score
Aspatria	Vale of Lune	3–9
Chesterfield	Northern	9–19
Fylde	Hereford	22–3
Kettering	Hartlepool Rovers	6–18
Lichfield	West Park Bramhope	21–7
Morley	Newark	9–3
Nuneaton	Preston Grasshoppers	16–21
Sheffield	Old Yardleians	22–0
Syston	Roundhay	22–6
Winnington Park	Broughton Park	15–19
West Hartlepool	Bedworth	38–3
Wigan	Harrogate	13–15
Clifton	Basingstoke	31–27
Exeter	Askeans	36–6
Gordon League	Camborne	10–21
High Wycombe	Ealing	28–13
Lewes	Banbury	21–13
London Welsh	Tabard	16–7
North Walsham	Metropolitan Police	13–7
Parkhouse	Lydney	9–10
Reading	Midsomer Norton	31–4
Salisbury	Brixham	26–6
Spartans	Gravesend	21–6
Sudbury	Sutton & Epsom	30–24
Torquay Albion	Old Whitgiftians	12–15

Second round

Home team	Away team	Score
Broughton Park	Lichfield	24–19
Harrogate	Bedford	16–0
Hartlepool Rovers	Northern	20–9
Morley	Rugby	12–40
Gosforth	Fylde	22–9
Preston Grasshoppers	West Hartlepool	3–20
Sheffield	Headingley	13–9
Syston	Waterloo	6–12
Vale of Lune	Coventry	6–22
Wakefield	Sale	20–21
Blackheath	Salisbury	24–3
Clifton	Reading	20–15
Exeter	Camborne	20–10
Lewes	Spartans	6–10
London Welsh	Plymouth Albion	19–12
Lydney	High Wycombe	10–12
North Walsham	London Irish	11–26
Richmond	Sudbury	25–9

Third round

Home team	Away team	Score
Bath	Leicester	0–12
Bristol	Waterloo	18–9
Coventry	Rosslyn Park	7–21
Gloucester	Broughton Park	52–0
Harlequins	Clifton	56–4
Harrogate	Northampton	4–18
High Wycombe	Moseley	10–18
London Irish	Sale	20–16
Newcastle Gosforth	Blackheath	19–10
Nottingham	London Scottish	10–9
Orrell	Spartans	69–13
Richmond	Liverpool St Helens	13–12
Saracens	Hartlepool Rovers	36–0
Rugby	London Welsh	29–3
Sheffield	Exeter	3–0
West Hartlepool	Wasps	3–7

Fourth round

Home team	Away team	Score
Bristol	Moseley	6–9
Gloucester	Harlequins	13–15
Leicester	Wasps	13–15
London Irish	Rugby	22–11
Northampton	Saracens	15–10
Nottingham	Richmond	24–6
Orrell	Newcastle Gosforth	26–9
Rosslyn Park	Sheffield	36–0

Quarter-finals

Home team	Away team	Score
Harlequins	Rosslyn Park	24–12
Northampton	Moseley	10–6
Nottingham	London Irish	48–9
Wasps	Orrell	9–15

Semi-finals

Home team	Away team	Score
Harlequins	Nottingham	22–18 (aet)
Northampton	Orrell	18–10

Final

4 May 1991

Harlequins	25–13 (a.e.t.)	Northampton
Try: Langhorn Harriman Halliday Glenister Con: Pears 3 Pen: Pears		Try: Moss Pen: Steele 3

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 53,000 Referee: Ed Morrison (Bristol)

Harlequins

Northampton

15 Stuart Thresher 14 Andrew Harriman 13 Will Carling 12 Simon Halliday 11 Everton Davis 10 David Pears 9 Rob Glenister 8 Richard Langhorn 7 Peter Winterbottom (c) 6 Mick Skinner 5 Paul Ackford 4 Troy Coker 3 Andy Mullins 2 Brian Moore 1 Jason Leonard Replacements: 16 Nick Kilick 17 Craig Luxton 18 Gavin Thompson 19 Paul Challinor 20 Mark Russell 21 Martin Hobley Coach: Dick Best

15 Ian Hunter 14 Frank Packman 13 John Thame 12 Peter Moss 11 Harvey Thorneycroft 10 John Steele 9 Richard Nancekivell 8 Tim Rodber 7 Phil Pask 6 Paul Alston 5 John Etheridge 4 Colin Hall 3 Gary Pearce (c) 2 John Olver 1 Gavin Baldwin Replacements: 16 David Elkington for Nancekivell 17 Ben Ward for Packman 18 Matthew Ebsworth 19 Peter Roworth 20 Vasey Pocklington 21 David Newman Coach: Paul Bryant, St. Luke's College & Northampton Saints

Notes

Sponsorship

The competition was sponsored by Pilkington who had provided £700,000 over the first three seasons and agreed to a further three years worth £1,000,000.