2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2

Last updated
2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2
CountriesFlag of England.svg  England
Date5 May - 27 May 2018
Champions Durham County (1st title)
Runners-up Warwickshire
Promoted Durham County, Hampshire
Relegated Cumbria, North Midlands
Top point scorer Flag of England.svg Joel Knight (Hampshire)
45 points
Top try scorer Flag of England.svg Callum Dacey (Leicestershire)
Flag of England.svg Oliver Hodgson (Durham)
Flag of England.svg Sean Moloney (Durham)
5 tries
←  2017
2019  →

The 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2, was the 17th version of the competition that is part of the annual English rugby union County Championship organised 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 North or National League 2 South). The counties were divided into two regional pools (north/south) with four teams in each and the winners of each pool meeting in the final at Twickenham Stadium. Leicestershire were the reigning champions, having won the 2017 final. [1] [2]

Contents

At the end of the group stage, Durham County won the northern group with ease despite having another strong side, and 2017 winners, Leicestershire, in their pool. They were joined by southern winners Warwickshire who beat off stiff competition from Hampshire to qualify. At the Twickenham final, Durham showed that they were best side in the division by comfortably beating Warwickshire, 46-12, for what would be the county's first ever Division 2 victory and first county silverware since 2009. [3] [4]

By showing the best form over two years, Durham County were promoted from the northern group, just edging Leicestershire by virtue of a better for/against record, while Hampshire were promoted from the southern group despite missing out on the final. Both counties will play in the 2019 Bill Beaumont Cup. At the opposite end of the tables, Cumbria (north) and North Midlands (south) were relegated to the 2019 County Championship Shield. In the case of Cumbria they actually finished above Staffordshire on points/for against over the two years, but still went down for reasons that are not yet clear.

Competition format

The competition format was two regional group stages divided into north and south with four teams in each group. This means that two teams in the pool had two home games, while the other two had just one. The RFU took fixtures from the previous year into account so that county sides that only played one home game in that competition now get two games and vice versa. At the end of the group stage the top teams with the best record from each group (north and south) advance to the final held on 27 May 2018 at Twickenham Stadium.

A continuation from the 2017 competition was that promotion/relegation occurred every two seasons instead of one, with points accumulated over the two seasons (2017 and 2018) taken into consideration. The two highest ranked counties (one from the north/one from the south) were promoted into the 2019 Bill Beaumont Cup competition, replacing the lowest ranked aggregate sides who dropped down into Division 2. Relegation was also introduced with the bottom two ranked sides (again one north/one south) over the two years dropping to the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 and being replaced by the top two teams from the 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3.

Participating counties and ground locations

Group stage

Division 2 North

2018 Bill Beaumont Division 2 North Table
CountyPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTry BonusLosing BonusPoints
1 Durham County (Q, P)3300195221732014
2 Leicestershire 320110668382010
3 Staffordshire 310265248-183116
4 Cumbria (R)300329149-120011
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. 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. (P) means promoted. Updated: 19 May 2018
Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com.

Round 1

5 May 2018
15:00
Cumbria5 - 64Durham (BP)
Cumbria
Durham
Lowmoor Road, Wigton
5 May 2018
15:00
(2BP) Staffordshire29 - 33Leicestershire (BP)
Peel Croft, Burton upon Trent

[5]

Round 2

12 May 2018
14:30
(BP) Durham99 – 7Staffordshire
Durham
Hollow Drift, Durham
12 May 2018
15:00
(BP) Leicestershire63 – 7Cumbria
Leicestershire
Westleigh Park, Blaby

[6]

Round 3

19 May 2018
14:30
Durham32 – 10Leicestershire
Durham
Greenwood Road, Billingham
19 May 2018
15:00
(BP) Cumbria17 – 22Staffordshire
Mint Bridge Stadium, Kendal

[7]

Division 2 South

2018 Bill Beaumont Division 2 South Table
CountyPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTry BonusLosing BonusPoints
1 Warwickshire (Q)33008741463015
2 Hampshire (P)320114671752111
3 Somerset 310256119-63105
4 North Midlands (R)300371129-58202
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. 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. (P) means promoted. Updated: 19 May 2018
Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com.

Round 1

5 May 2018
15:00
(BP) Hampshire56 - 35North Midlands (BP)
North Midlands
Hampshire
Gosport Park, Gosport
5 May 2018
15:00
(BP) Warwickshire29 - 5Somerset
Warwickshire
Liberty Way, Nuneaton

[5]

Round 2

12 May 2018
15:00
North Midlands12 – 27Warwickshire (BP)
North Midlands
Warwickshire
Finstall Park, Bromsgrove
12 May 2018
15:00
Somerset5 – 66Hampshire (BP)
Hampshire
Hyde Park, Taunton

[6]

Round 3

19 May 2018
15:00
(BP) Somerset46 – 24North Midlands (BP)
North Midlands
Hyde Park, Taunton
19 May 2018
15:00
(BP) Warwickshire31 – 24Hampshire (BP)
Warwickshire
Hampshire
Ellis Road, Rugby

[7]

Final

27 May 2018
17:15
Durham County46 – 12Warwickshire
Twickenham Stadium, London

[3] [4]

Promotion/relegation aggregate table

In order to determine promotion to the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 and relegation to the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3, results from the 2017 and 2018 competitions will be combined, with the highest and lowest ranked sides from each group being promoted or relegated.

Individual statistics

Competition records

Notes

  1. ↑ Despite finishing 3rd overall during two seasons, Cumbria were relegated to the 2019 County Championship Shield instead of Staffordshire.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2005 when it known as the County Championship Plate —changing to Shield by 2010 and Bill Beaumont Division 3 by 2017. It is contested by third tier teams in the RFU County Championship. From 2010 Division 3 involves counties that are only able to select players from clubs at level five and below. The eight teams involved are divided roughly on geographic terms into two pools and play three games each.

The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2002 as the County Championship Shield - changing to Plate by 2010 and then to Bill Beaumont Division 2 by 2017. Division 2 is contested for by second tier teams in the RFU County Championship. Each county draws its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system.

The 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 115th 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. 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 were the two finalists from the 2014 County Championship Plate – Kent (winners) and Durham County (runners-up) who replaced North Midlands and Northumberland. Lancashire were the defending champions.

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. 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.

The 2015 County Championship Shield was the 11th version of the annual English rugby union County Championship, organized by the RFU for the tier 3 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into three pools of four teams each, based roughly on regional lines, with the winner of each group plus the best runner-up going through to the semi-finals, with the winners of those games meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. At the moment there is no promotion or relegation out of or into the County Championship Shield, although the 2014 champions Surrey moved up into tier 2, having won the competition three years in a row.

The 2016 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 116th 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. The counties were divided into two regional pools with the winners of each meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the competition were the two finalists from the 2015 County Championship Plate – Surrey (winners) and Eastern Counties (runners-up) who replaced Kent and Durham who were relegated from their respective groups. Cornwall were the defending champions.

The 2016 County Championship Plate, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division 2, was the 15th version of the annual English rugby union, County Championship organised 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. The counties were divided into two regional pools (north/south) with four teams in each and the winners of each pool meet in the final to be held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the division included Kent and Durham County who were relegated from the 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup while Leicestershire were promoted as the winners of the 2015 County Championship Shield.

The 2016 County Championship Shield was the 12th version of the annual English rugby union County Championship, organised by the RFU for the tier 3 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into three pools - one pool with four teams, the others with three teams each, with the winner of each group plus the best runner-up going through to the semi-finals, and the winners of those games meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. Due to competition changes for the 2017 season a number of teams in the division would be promoted to tier 2 for the following season, joining the 2015 Shield champions Leicestershire who had already been promoted at the start of this season.

The 2014 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 114th 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. 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 were the two finalists from the 2013 County Championship Plate final – Northumberland (winners) and North Midlands (runners-up) who replaced Durham and Kent. Lancashire were the defending champions.

The 2014 County Championship Plate, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division 2, was the 13th 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. The counties were divided into two regional pools (north/south) with three teams in the north division and three in the south, with the winners of each pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New teams to the division included Durham County and Kent who were relegated from the 2013 Bill Beaumont Cup.

The 2017 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 117th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organised by the RFU for the top tier English counties. This was the first season it would be officially known as Bill Beaumont Division 1 having previously been known as the Bill Beaumont Cup. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into two regional sections with the winners of each meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. Cornwall were the defending champions.

The 2017 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 was the 16th version of the annual English rugby union, County Championship organised by the RFU for the tier 2 English counties. This was the first season it would be officially known as Bill Beaumont Division 2 having previously been known as the County Championship Plate. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into two regional pools (north/south) with four teams in each and the winners of each pool meeting in the final at Twickenham Stadium.

The 2017 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 was the 13th version of the annual English rugby union County Championship, organised by the RFU for the tier 3 English counties. This was the first season it would be officially known as Bill Beaumont Division 3, having previously been known as the County Championship Shield. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. Due to changes to the competition across the board, the Division 3 competition was reduced to eight teams, divided into two pools with the pool winners meeting in the final to be held at Twickenham Stadium. New teams to the division include Middlesex, who returned to Division 3 after missing the previous year, and Sussex who last took part in 2013. The reigning champions, Hampshire, were one of the promoted counties who were playing in tier 2 in 2017.

The 2014 County Championship Shield was the 10th version of the annual English rugby union County Championship, organized by the RFU for the tier 3 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into three pools of four teams each, based roughly on regional lines, with the winner of each group plus the best runner-up going through to the semi-finals, with the winners of those games meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. Typically there is no promotion or relegation out of or into the County Championship Shield, although Surrey's dominance over the past couple of competitions meant that they had a chance of being invited to take part in tier 2 the following season. The competition would also welcome Staffordshire, who did not play in the county championship last year, replacing Sussex. Surrey were the reigning champions.

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. 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. Hertfordshire were the defending champions.

The 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 118th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organised by the Rugby Football Union (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. The counties were divided into two regional sections with the winners of each meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. Lancashire are the reigning champions having defeated Cornwall in the previous year's final.

The 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 was the 14th version of the competition that is part of the annual English rugby union County Championship, organised by the RFU for the tier 3 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into two regional pools (east/west) with the winners of each pool meeting in the final at the Athletic Ground in Richmond, London - a change from previous seasons, where the final was held at Twickenham Stadium. Oxfordshire were the reigning champions, having won last year's final.

The 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 119th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organised by the Rugby Football Union (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. The counties were divided into two regional sections with the winners of each meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. Lancashire were the reigning champions having defeated Hertfordshire in the previous year's final.

The 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 was the 18th version of the competition that is part of the annual English rugby union County Championship organised 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. The counties were divided into two regional sections with the winners of each meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium.

The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 was the 15th version of the competition that is part of the annual English rugby union County Championship, organised by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for the tier 3 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into two regional pools (north/south) with the winners of each pool meeting in the final at Twickenham Stadium, London.

References

  1. ↑ "DOMINANT LEICESTERSHIRE CRUISE TO DIVISION TWO FINAL WIN". England Rugby. 28 May 2017.
  2. ↑ "LEICESTERSHIRE 39 HAMPSHIRE 7". Hampshire RFU. 28 May 2017. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "County Championships: As it happened". England RFU. 27 May 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Durham Men triumphant at Twickenham to take Bill Beaumont Division Two Championship title". Durham County RFU. 27 May 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 503. Rugby Paper Ltd. 6 May 2018. pp. 28–30.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 504. Rugby Paper Ltd. 13 May 2018. pp. 28–30.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 505. Rugby Paper Ltd. 20 May 2018. pp. 28–30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.