County Championships
Competition Overview
The longest standing competition run by the RFU, the County Championship has a long and distinguished history of over 100 years and has featured many of the great names of English Rugby.
The County Championships have been revamped in recent years and now consists of two competitions which are open to County Constituent Body’s full representative teams. The County Championship provides players with a unique opportunity to play representative rugby and players who shine in the competition can be selected to represent the England Counties XV.
Following review during the 2008/09 season, the County Championship has now been realigned to promote a far more enjoyable and rewarding competition. The two fundamental changes to this season’s Championship are that it has been reduced to a two tier competition (cup and shield) and is based on voluntarily participation.
The Bill Beaumont Cup is the highest level of the County Championship and is contested this season by 16 counties, which are split into two divisions of eight. The eight teams in Division One and Two are split into two pools of four and play each other once either home or away with the top team from each pool contesting in the finals. At the end of the season the team at the bottom of each pool in Division One are relegated to the next tier of the competition (Division Two of the Bill Beaumont Cup), whilst the top teams from each pool in Division Two are promoted to Division One.
The County Championship Shield involves counties that are only able to select players from clubs at level five and below. The 11 teams involved are divided geographically into three pools and play each other once either home or away with the top teams in each pool and the runner up with the best record, progressing to the semi finals.
Player eligibility is based on the birth of a player within the geographical county boundary, place of residence, or by having played for the county in a previous tournament.
For additional information take a look at the fixtures and results section on RFU.com. For images and poster templates for the County Championships please take a look in the resources and downloads page.