The European Shield was a reprechage tournament for teams knocked out in the first round of the European Challenge Cup in 2002-03 and 2003-04. The name "European Shield" had previously been used for the now renamed European Challenge Cup.
In 2004-05 the twelve teams who failed to progress from the qualifying round of the European Challenge Cup were joined in the draw for the European Shield by Bucureşti (Romania), UCM Madrid (Spain), Bera Bera (Spain) and Lisboa Rugby Club (Portugal).
The Shield competition has not been held since 2005 due to restructuring of the European Challenge Cup.
Read more about European Shield: Previous Winners of The European Shield
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“European society has always been divided into classes in a way that American society never has been. A European writer considers himself to be part of an old and honorable tradition—of intellectual activity, of letters—and his choice of a vocation does not cause him any uneasy wonder as to whether or not it will cost him all his friends. But this tradition does not exist in America.”
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