2013 Bill Beaumont Cup

For the second tier of the English Counties competition, see 2013 County Championship Plate. For the third tier of the English Counties competition, see 2013 County Championship Shield.

2013 Bill Beaumont Cup (County Championship)
Countries	England
Date	4 May 2013 - 26 May 2013
Champions	Lancashire (22nd title)
Runners-up	Cornwall
Relegated	Durham County, Kent
Matches played	13
Attendance	27,346 (average 2,104 per match)
Highest attendance	20,000 Lancashire v Cornwall (26 May 2013)
Lowest attendance	175 Gloucestershire v Kent (18 May 2013)
Top point scorer	Paul Thirlby (Cornwall) 47
Top try scorer	Nick Royle (Lancashire) 5
←  2012 2014  →

The 2013 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 113th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organized by the RFU for the top tier English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system (typically National League 1, National League 2 South or National League 2 North). The counties were divided into two regional pools with the winners of each pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the competition included Durham County (north) and Kent (south) who won their respective groups in the 2012 County Championship Plate. ^[1] Hertfordshire were the defending champions. ^[2]

The northern group was won by last year's runners up, Lancashire, who booked a place in their fifth successive final in what was a very close group, edging Cheshire and Yorkshire by virtue of a superior bonus points record. They were joined by southern group winners, Cornwall, who were appearing in their first Twickenham final since 1999. Cornwall had perhaps an easier route through to the final, winning all three games, but looked very impressive in their six try demolition of last year's winners, Hertfordshire, in their final pool game to book their place. Both promoted counties, Durham County and Kent, were relegated to the 2014 County Championship Plate. ^{[3] [4]}

Over 10,000 Cornish fans made the journey to Twickenham but were unable to help their team to victory as Lancashire emerged victorious by defeating Cornwall, 35 - 26, in what was an exciting game. ^{[5] [6]} Lancashire's Nick Royle had an excellent tournament by finishing top try scorer with 5 including 1 in the final, while Cornwall's Paul Thirlby was the tournament's top scorer with 47 points.

Competition format

The competition format was two regional group stages divided into north and south, with each team playing each other once. This meant that two teams in the pool had two home games, while the other two had just one. The top side in each group went through to the final held at Twickenham Stadium on 26 May 2013.

Participating Counties and ground locations

Macclesfield (Cheshire)

Camborne (Cornwall)

Hartlepool (Durham)

Gateshead (Durham)

Cinderford (Gloucestershire)

Ware (Hertfordshire)

Aylesford (Kent)

Rochester (Kent)

Lytham Saint Annes (Lancashire)

Bingley (Yorkshire)

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Locations of the 2013 Bill Beaumont Cup county teams

County	Stadium(s)	Capacity	City/Area
Cheshire	Priory Park	1,000	Macclesfield, Cheshire
Cornwall	Recreation Ground	7,000 (780 seats)	Camborne, Cornwall
Durham County	New Friarage Eastwood Gardens	N/A N/A	Hartlepool, County Durham Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
Gloucestershire	Dockham Road	2,500	Cinderford, Gloucestershire
Hertfordshire	Highfields	N/A	Ware, Hertfordshire
Kent	Jack Williams Ground Priestfields	N/A N/A	Aylesford, Kent Rochester, Kent
Lancashire	Woodlands Memorial Ground	9,000	Lytham St Annes, Lancashire
Yorkshire	Wagon Lane Silver Royd	4,000 1,950 (322 seats)	Bingley, West Yorkshire Scalby, North Yorkshire

Group stage

Division 1 North

2013 Beaumont Cup Division 1 North Table
	County	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Lancashire (Q)	3	2	0	1	88	74	14	2	1	11
2	Cheshire	3	2	0	1	66	63	3	1	1	10
3	Yorkshire	3	2	0	1	66	55	11	0	0	8
4	Durham County (R)	3	0	0	3	63	91	-28	2	1	3
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background means the county qualified for the final. Pink background means the county were demoted to Division 2 North of the County Championship Plate for the following season. Updated: 18 May 2013 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com.

Round 1

4 May 2013 15:00

(BP) Durham County	29 - 40	Lancashire (BP)
	Report

New Friarage, Hartlepool Attendance: 310 Referee: Marcus Caton

4 May 2013 15:00

Yorkshire	21 - 15	Cheshire (BP)

Wagon Lane, Bingley Attendance: 295 Referee: Will Halford

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Round 2

11 May 2013 15:00

(2BP) Durham County	29 - 31	Cheshire (BP)

Eastwood Gardens, Gateshead Attendance: 194 Referee: Graham Dickens

11 May 2013 15:00

(BP) Lancashire	35 - 25	Yorkshire

Woodlands Memorial Ground, Lytham St Annes Attendance: 740 Referee: Wayne Falla

^{[9] [8]}

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Round 3

18 May 2013 15:00

Cheshire	20 - 13	Lancashire (BP)

Priory Park, Macclesfield Attendance: 479 Referee: Andrew Jackson

18 May 2013 15:00

Yorkshire	20 - 5	Durham County
	Report

Silver Royd, Scalby Attendance: 1,100 Referee: Andrew Rawson

^{[10] [8]}

Division 1 South

2013 Beaumont Cup Division 1 South Table
	County	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Cornwall (Q)	3	3	0	0	88	65	23	1	0	13
2	Hertfordshire	3	2	0	1	135	89	46	3	0	11
3	Gloucestershire	3	1	0	2	77	100	-23	2	1	7
4	Kent (R)	3	0	0	3	63	109	-46	0	1	1
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background means the county qualified for the final. Pink background means the county were demoted to Division 2 South of the County Championship Plate for the following season. Updated: 18 May 2013 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com.

Round 1

4 May 2013 15:00

(BP) Gloucestershire	19 - 24	Cornwall
	Report

Dockham Road, Cinderford Attendance: 407 Referee: Rowan Kitt

4 May 2013 15:00

Kent	26 - 50	Hertfordshire (BP)

Jack Williams Ground, Aylesford Attendance: 305 Referee: Richard Kelly

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Round 2

11 May 2013 15:00

(BP) Hertfordshire	56 - 22	Gloucestershire (BP)
	Report

Highfields, Ware Attendance: 426 Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys

11 May 2013 15:00

(BP) Kent	17 - 23	Cornwall
	Report

Priestfields, Rochester Attendance: 700 Referee: Tom Davis

^{[9] [8]}

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Round 3

18 May 2013 15:00

(BP) Cornwall	41 - 29	Hertfordshire (BP)
	Report

Recreation Ground, Camborne Attendance: 2,215 Referee: Nick Williams

18 May 2013 15:00

(BP) Gloucestershire	36 - 20	Kent
	Report

Dockham Road, Cinderford Attendance: 175 Referee: Phillip Davis

^{[10] [8]}

Final

26 May 2013 15:15

Lancashire	35–26	Cornwall
Try: Royle (2), Moon, Rath Con: Johnson (3) Pen: Johnson (2) Drop: Johnson	Report	Try: Webber, Penalty try, Vinnicombe Con: Thirlby Pen: Thirlby (3)

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 20,000 [11] Referee: Wayne Falla

15 Sean Taylor Preston Grasshoppers 14 Nick Royle Vale of Lune 13 Chris Briers Fylde 12 Jack Ward Preston Grasshoppers 11 Ben Rath Fylde 10 Chris Johnson (capt) Fylde 9 Steve Collins Sedgley Park 1 Dan Birchall Fylde 2 Jon Matthews Otley 3 Simon Griffiths Fylde 4 Paul Arnold Fylde 5 Louis McGowan (capt) Sedgley Park 6 Jon Nugent Stade Dijon 7 Steve McGinnis Fylde 8 Dominic Moon Preston Grasshoppers Replacements: 16 Pete Altham Preston Grasshoppers 17 Gareth Gore Preston Grasshoppers 18 Phil Mills Preston Grasshoppers 19 Evan Stewart Fylde 20 Phil Baines Preston Grasshoppers 21 Tom Webb Fylde 22 Grant Eddlestone Sedgley Park

15 Jake Murphy Cornish All Blacks 14 Richard Bright Cornish All Blacks 13 Steve Johns Coventry 12 Nielson Webber Cornish All Blacks 11 Tom Notman Redruth 10 Paul Thirlby Redruth 9 Greg Goodfellow Redruth 1 Darren Jacques Redruth 2 Richard Brown Redruth 3 Craig Williams Redruth 4 Damien Cook Redruth 5 Ben Hilton (capt) Cornish All Blacks 6 Chris Fuca Redruth 7 Sam Hocking Plymouth Albion 8 Ashley Lawton Camborne Replacements: 16 Neal Turner Redruth 17 Jon Drew Redruth 18 Luke Collins Redruth 19 Tom Rawlings Cornish All Blacks 20 Matthew Shepherd St Austell 21 Steve Perry Unattached 22 Lewis Vinnicombe Redruth

Total season attendances

• Does not include final at Twickenham which is a neutral venue and involves teams from all three county divisions on the same day

County	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Cheshire	1	479	479	479	479	48%
Cornwall	1	2,215	2,215	2,215	2,215	32%
Durham County	2	504	252	310	194
Gloucestershire	2	582	291	407	175	12%
Hertfordshire	1	426	426	426	426
Kent	2	1,005	503	700	305
Lancashire	1	740	740	740	740	8%
Yorkshire	2	1,395	698	1,100	295	32%

Individual statistics

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances will come first. Also note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included). Statistics will also include final.

Top points scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Points 1 Paul Thirlby Cornwall Redruth 4 47 2 Chris Johnson Lancashire Fylde 3 37 3= Mike Barlow Cheshire Stockport 2 31 3= Sam Stanley Hertfordshire Old Albanian 2 31 4 Nick Royle Lancashire Fylde 4 25

Top try scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Tries 1 Nick Royle Lancashire Fylde 4 5 2 Stefan Liebenberg Hertfordshire Old Albanian 3 4 3 Lloyd Stapleton Gloucestershire Cinderford 3 3 4= Sam Hocking Cornwall Plymouth Albion 4 3 4= Dominic Moon Lancashire Preston Grasshoppers 4 3

See also

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

References

1. "County Championships Results: 2011-12". englandrugby.com. 19 May 2012.
2. "Cup delight for Hertfordshire at Twickenham". The Hearts Advertiser. 28 May 2012. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
3. "YORKSHIRE AVOID RELEGATION WITH WIN OVER DURHAM". BBC Sport. 26 May 2013. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
4. "Gloucestershire defeat Kent to avoid relegation". Gloucestershire Echo. 19 May 2013.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
5. "County Championship: Cornwall 25-36 Lancashire". BBC Sport. 26 May 2013.
6. "Trelawny's Army: Memorable Matches". Trelawny's Army. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
7. "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 242. Rugby Paper Ltd. 5 May 2014. pp. 34–35 & 37.
8. "County Championships Results: 2012-13". englandrugby.com. 26 May 2013.
9. "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 243. Rugby Paper Ltd. 11 May 2014. pp. 28–29 & 32.
10. "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 244. Rugby Paper Ltd. 19 May 2014. pp. 28–29 & 32.
11. "JOHNSON MASTERMINDS LANCASHIRE'S TRIUMPH". Trelawny's Army. 27 May 2013.

External links

• NCA Rugby Archived 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine