Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2

For the top tier of the English Counties competition, see County Championship (rugby union). For the third tier of the English Counties competition, see Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3.

Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2

Current season, competition or edition: 2025 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	2002;23 years ago (2002)
No. of teams	12
Country	England
Most recent champion(s)	Cheshire (2025) (3rd title)
Most titles	Northumberland (4)
Related competitions	Bill Beaumont Division 1 Bill Beaumont Division 3

The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 (formerly known as County Championship Plate) is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2002 as the County Championship Shield (a competition which is now played by tier 3 sides) - changing to Plate by 2010 and then to Bill Beaumont Division 2 by 2017. ^{[1] [2]}

Division 2 is split into three regional groups (Pools 1,2 and 3) with each team alternating between 2 home games and 1 away game in one championship cycle, and 1 home game and 2 away games in the next, with the top teams and the best placed runner up playing in a Semi-final, with the winners meeting in a final held at Twickenham Stadium along with other county divisional finals. Since the covid pandemic and a decline in counties entering, Promotion and Relegation have been replaced by counties opting into a preferred division, with a Level cap preventing uneven games. Division 2's Level cap is level 5 of the English rugby union system, meaning counties can only select from Regional 1 and below.

Past winners

Year	Date	Winners	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance/Notes
2002	2 June	Warwickshire	34 - 12	Berkshire	Twickenham Stadium, London	[3]
2003	25 May	Northumberland	27 - 8	Oxfordshire	Twickenham Stadium, London	[4]
2004	29 May	North Midlands	58 - 5	Eastern Counties	Twickenham Stadium, London	[5] [6]
2005	29 May	Hertfordshire	20 - 13	North Midlands	Twickenham Stadium, London	[7] [8]
2006	29 May	Cheshire	32 - 17	Middlesex	Twickenham Stadium, London	[9] [10]
2007	27 May	Warwickshire	22 - 8	Somerset	Butts Park Arena, Coventry	[11] [12]
2008	31 May	Northumberland	25 – 11	Cornwall	Twickenham Stadium, London	1,500 [13] [14]
2009	30 May	Cheshire	30 - 22	Hertfordshire	Twickenham Stadium, London	[15]
2010 [n 1]	29 May	Kent	33 - 27	Warwickshire	Rectory Field, London	[16] [17]
2011	28 May	Northumberland	31 - 17	North Midlands	Greensfield, Alnwick	[18] [19]
2012	No Final [n 2]
2013	26 May	Northumberland	45 - 10	North Midlands	Twickenham Stadium, London	[20] [21]
2014	1 June	Kent	31 - 23	Durham County	Twickenham Stadium, London	[22] [23]
2015	31 May	Surrey	17 - 3	Eastern Counties	Twickenham Stadium, London	[24]
2016	29 May	East Midlands	33 - 27	Kent	Twickenham Stadium, London	[25]
2017 [n 3]	28 May	Leicestershire	39 - 7	Hampshire	Twickenham Stadium, London
2018	27 May	Durham County	46 - 12	Warwickshire	Twickenham Stadium, London
2019	8 June	Leicestershire	38 - 13	Surrey	Twickenham Stadium, London
2020-2021	No Competition due to COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom [26]
2022	4 June	Somerset	36 - 20	Staffordshire	Twickenham Stadium, London
2023	3 June	Dorset and Wilts	37 - 15	Durham	Twickenham Stadium, London
2024	15 June	Oxfordshire	38 - 37	Cheshire	Twickenham Stadium, London
2025	22 June	Cheshire	50 - 38	Devon	Twickenham Stadium, London

Number of wins

• Northumberland (4)
• Cheshire (3)
• Kent (2)
• Leicestershire (2)
• Warwickshire (2)
• Durham County (1)
• East Midlands (1)
• Hertfordshire (1)
• North Midlands (1)
• Surrey (1)
• Somerset (1)
• Dorset & Wilts (1)
• Oxfordshire (1)

Notes

1. Changed name from County Championship Shield to County Championship Plate.
2. This season there was no Plate final for the division two teams only promotion for the top sides in each group.
3. Changed name from County Championship Plate to Bill Beaumont Division 2.

References

1. "WRFU Handbook. - Warwickshire Society of Referees" (PDF). Warwickshire RFU. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
2. "County Championships renamed to honour rugby legends". England Rugby. 27 March 2017.
3. "Berks leave Twickenham with heads held high". Chronicle Live. 5 June 2002.
4. "Guthrie beats Twickers jinx". Chronicle Live. 26 May 2003.
5. "Tetley's County Shield 2004". englandrugby.com. 29 May 2004.
6. "RUGBY: Twickenham heartache". Bury Free Press. 3 June 2004. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
7. "County Championship Shield Final 2005". englandrugby.com. 29 May 2005.
8. "Herts rule Twickenham". Herts and Essex Observer. 2 June 2005.
9. "County Championship Shield Final 2006". englandrugby.com. 29 May 2006.
10. "Cheshire singing the Blues after final success". Macclesfield Express. 31 May 2006.
11. "County Championship Shield Final 2007". englandrugby.com. 27 May 2007.
12. "County stand tall to regain shield". Coventry Telegraph. 28 May 2007.
13. Caddy, Mike (5 June 2008). "Twickers nemesis continues for below-par Duchy". The Cornishman.
14. "County Championship Shield Final 2008". www.englandrugby.com. 31 May 2008.
15. "Rugby union: Cheshire lift County Championship Shield in thrilling final at Twickenham". Chester Chronicle. 3 June 2009.
16. "Division 2 Plate Final 2010". englandrugby.com. 29 May 2010.
17. "Warwickshire V Kent - County Championship Plate Final". rugbynetwork.net. 28 May 2010.
18. "Division 2 Plate Final 2011". englandrugby.com. 28 May 2011.
19. "Northumberland Win Plate". englandrugby.com. 28 May 2011. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
20. "Division 2 Plate Final 2013". englandrugby.com. 26 May 2013.
21. "North Midlands 10 Northumberland 45". yoursportpages.com. 27 May 2013. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015.
22. "Division 2 Plate Final 2014". englandrugby.com. 1 June 2014.
23. "Kent 31-23 Durham". newsshopper.co.uk. 3 June 2014.
24. "Super Surrey make it four from four". England Rugby. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
25. "Rugby: Bedfordshire players inspire East Midlands to Twickenham triumph". Bedfordshire News. 29 May 2016.
26. "No Championship until 2022. "County Championship: Rugby Football Union cancels competition until 2022."". BBC.

See also

2011_results.pdf