Director Of Rugby: Features

Director of Rugby News Desk


There are over 80 clubs and their players represented in the DOR game and most are now available to manage. At the moment you can choose clubs from the English Premiership, English Championship, Celtic League and French Top league.

English Premiership and Championship
Playing in English Premiership or Championship, English Cup, European Cup or Shield

Bath, Bedford, Birmingham & Solihull, Bristol, Cornish Pirates, Doncaster, Esher, Exeter, Gloucester, Harlequins, Leeds, Leicester, London Irish, London Wasps, London Welsh, Moseley, Newcastle, Northampton, Nottingham, Plymouth, Rotherham, Sale, Saracens, Worcester.

In the Premiership and Championship the teams play 22 regular season games in a standard DOR league format (each team plays all the others home and away, with 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries, 1 bonus point for losing by 7 or less). This is followed by knock out play-offs for the top four finishers, with the top two hosting the next two in the semi finals (1v4 and 2v3). The final is played at a pre-determined, neutral venue.

The teams finishing in the top 5 league places in the Premiership are automatically entered into the European Cup for the following season. The teams finishing in positions 6 to 9 inclusive are automatically entered into the European Shield for the following season. The teams finishing in positions 10 to 12 inclusive are not entered into European competition for the following season but enter the English Cup at an earlier stage together with the Championship teams.

The team finishing in position 12 is relegated to the English Championship and is replaced by the Championship winner.

Celtic League
Playing in Celtic League, Celtic Cup, European Cup or Shield

Aironi, Cardiff, Connacht, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leinster, Scarlets, Munster, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys, Treviso, Ulster

The teams play 22 regular season games in a standard DOR league format (each team plays all the others home and away, with 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries, 1 bonus point for losing by 7 or less). This is followed by knock out play-offs for the top four finishers, with the top two hosting the next two in the semi finals (1v4 and 2v3). The final is played at a pre-determined, neutral venue.

The teams finishing in the top 5 league places are automatically entered into the European Cup for the following season. The teams finishing in positions 6 to 9 inclusive are automatically entered into the European Shield for the following season. The teams finishing in positions 10 to 12 are not entered into European competition for the following season. Qualification for European competition therefore depends on league performance and not nationality

There is no relegation from the Celtic League.All teams in this competition also play in the Celtic Cup. 

French Top League
Playing in French League, European Cup and European Shield

Agen, Bayonne, Biarritz, Bourgoin, Brive, Castres, Clermont Auvergne, La Rochelle, Montpellier, Stade Francais, Perpignan, Racing Metro, Toulon, Toulouse.

The teams play 26 regular season games in a standard DOR league format (each team plays all the others home and away, with 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries, 1 bonus point for losing by 7 or less). This is followed by knock out play-offs for the top four finishers, with the top two hosting the next two in the semi finals (1v4 and 2v3). The final is played at a pre-determined, neutral venue.

The teams finishing in the top 5 league places are automatically entered into the European Cup for the following season. The teams finishing in positions 6 to 9 inclusive are automatically entered into the European Shield for the following season. The teams finishing in positions 10 to 14 are not entered into European competition for the following season.