2015 County Championship Plate

For the first tier of the English Counties competition, see 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup. For the third tier of the English Counties competition, see 2015 County Championship Shield.

2015 County Championship Plate
Countries	England
Date	15 May 2016 - 31 May 2015
Champions	Surrey (1st title)
Runners-up	Eastern Counties
Attendance	2,310 (average 247 per match)
Highest attendance	640 Devon v North Midlands (16 May 2015)
Lowest attendance	112 North Midlands v Surrey (9 May 2015)
Top point scorer	Matt Noble Surrey 39
Top try scorer	Ryan Jeffrey Surrey 6
←  2014 2016  →

The 2015 County Championship Plate, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division 2, was the 14th version of the annual English rugby union, County Championship organized by the RFU for the tier 2 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 (north/south) with three teams in the north division and four in the south, with the winners of each pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the division included North Midlands and Northumberland who were demoted from the 2014 Bill Beaumont Cup while Surrey came up from the 2014 County Championship Shield having beaten Leicestershire the previous year in the Shield final having won the competition three years in a row. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

At the end of the group stage the northern division was won by Eastern Counties who edged out Northumberland while the southern division was won with ease by Surrey who steamrolled through their group. The counties went through to the final and as group winners will be promoted to the top tier with Surrey making it two promotions in a row. Surrey then defeated Eastern Counties in the early kickoff at Twickenham Stadium, winning 17 – 3, in what was their fourth consecutive Twickenham appearance. ^[5] In terms of individual player performances the top try scorer was Surrey's Ryan Jeffrey who got six tries in the tournament – all coming in the one game against North Midlands.

Competition format

The competition format was two regional group stages divided into north and south, with each team playing each other once. In the north group each team played one home game (there were three teams in the group) while in the south group, two teams in the group had two home games, while the other two had just the one. The top side in each group went through to the final held at Twickenham Stadium on 31 May 2015, ^[6] with both teams also being promoted to the top tier for the following season. Typically there was no relegation although teams have dropped out of the division in the past.

Participating counties and ground locations

Brixham (Devon)

Okehampton (Devon)

Cambridge (Eastern Counties)

Bedford (East Midlands)

Stourbridge (North Midlands)

Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Northumberland)

Taunton (Somerset)

Sunbury-on-Thames (Surrey)

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Locations of the 2015 County Championship Plate county teams

County	Stadium(s)	Capacity	City/Area
East Midlands	Putnoe Woods	500	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Eastern Counties	University Football Ground	1,500	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Devon	Astley Park Showground	1,800 1,120 (120 seats)	Brixham, Devon Okehampton, Devon
North Midlands	Stourton Park	3,500 (499 seats)	Stourbridge, West Midlands
Northumberland	Kingston Park	10,200	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Somerset	Hyde Park	2,000 (198 seats)	Taunton, Somerset
Surrey	Hazelwood	2,000	Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey

Group stage

Division 2 North

2015 County Championship Plate Division 2 North Table
	County	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Eastern Counties (P)	2	2	0	0	64	37	27	1	0	9
2	Northumberland	2	1	0	1	55	36	19	1	1	6
3	East Midlands	2	0	0	2	28	74	−46	0	0	0
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 and is also promoted to the Division 1 North of the Bill Beaumont Cup for the following season. Updated: 13 May 2015 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com.

Round 1

9 May 2015 15:00

East Midlands	10–36	Northumberland (BP)
	Report

Putnoe Woods, Bedford Attendance: 152 Referee: Robbie Bourke

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Round 2

16 May 2015 15:00

(BP) Eastern Counties	38–18	East Midlands
	Report

University Football Ground, Cambridge Attendance: 250 Referee: Veryan Boscawen

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Round 3

23 May 2015 15:00

(BP) Northumberland	19–26	Eastern Counties
	Report

Kingston Park, Newcastle upon Tyne Attendance: 258 Referee: Mick Harris

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Division 2 South

2015 County Championship Plate Division 2 South Table
	County	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Surrey (P)	3	3	0	0	152	81	71	3	0	15
2	North Midlands	3	2	0	1	99	103	−4	2	0	10
3	Somerset	3	1	0	2	86	138	−52	2	0	6
4	Devon	3	0	0	3	86	101	−13	2	2	4
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 and is also promoted to the Division 1 South of the Bill Beaumont Cup for the following season. Updated: 13 May 2015 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com.

Round 1

9 May 2015 15:00

North Midlands	17–60	Surrey (BP)
	Report

Stourton Park, Stourbridge Attendance: 112 Referee: Chris Bennett

9 May 2015 15:00

(BP) Somerset	34–31	Devon (2BP)
	Report

Hyde Park, Taunton Attendance: 203 Referee: Phil Davies

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Round 2

16 May 2015 15:00

(BP) Devon	24–34	North Midlands (BP)
	Report

Astley Park, Brixham Attendance: 640 Referee: Benedict Wiles

16 May 2015 15:00

(BP) Surrey	59–33	Somerset (BP)
	Report

Hazelwood, Sunbury-on-Thames Attendance: 278 Referee: John Scully

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Round 3

23 May 2015 15:00

(BP) Devon	31–33	Surrey (BP)
	Report

Showground, Okehampton Attendance: 242 Referee: Adam Leal

23 May 2015 15:00

(BP) North Midlands	48–19	Somerset

Stourton Park, Stourbridge Attendance: 175 Referee: Alex Thomas

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Final

31 May 2015 10:00

Surrey	17–3	Eastern Counties
	Report

Twickenham Stadium, London

^[8]

Total season attendances

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

County	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Devon	2	882	441	640	242	29%
Eastern Counties	1	250	250	250	250	17%
East Midlands	1	152	152	152	152	30%
North Midlands	2	287	144	175	112	4%
Northumberland	1	258	258	258	258	3%
Somerset	1	203	203	203	203	10%
Surrey	1	278	278	278	278	14%

Individual statistics

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances comes 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 also include final.

Top points scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Points 1 Matt Noble Surrey Dorking 4 39 2 Joe Simmons Devon Teignmouth 3 36 3 Ryan Jeffrey Surrey Dorking 1 30 4 Joe Hall Somerset Cleve 3 26 5 James Stokes Eastern Counties Cambridge 3 22

Top try scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Tries 1 Ryan Jeffrey Surrey Dorking 1 6 2 Will Crow Surrey Dorking 3 3 Tom Goodman Devon Brixham 3 3 Sam Montieri North Midlands Bromsgrove 3 3 5 Mike Terelak Surrey Dorking 4 3

See also

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

References

1. "North Midlands relegated". North Midlands RFU. 24 May 2014.
2. "Northumberland 22 Yorkshire 36: Relegation blow for beaten North". Chronicle Live. 25 May 2014.
3. "Surrey make it three County Championship Shield titles in a row at Twickenham". Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser. 1 June 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
4. "Surrey Enters The Bill Beaumont Cup". Surrey Rugby. 30 April 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
5. "Super Surrey call Twickenham their home once again". Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser. 31 May 2015. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
6. "ENGLAND V BARBARIANS SUNDAY 31 MAY 2015 K.O. 3pm". Tunbridge Wells RFC. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
7. "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 347. Rugby Paper Ltd. 10 May 2015. pp. 32–33 & 36.
8. "County Championships Results: 2015". englandrugby.com. 31 May 2015.
9. "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 38. Rugby Paper Ltd. 17 May 2015. pp. 28–30.
10. "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 349. Rugby Paper Ltd. 24 May 2015. pp. 24–26.

External links

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