16 August 2005
Warwickshire hope to emulate the success of cricket's Twenty20 Cup by introducing a TwentyTwenty rugby competition for the forthcoming season.

The Twenty20 Cup has helped to rejeuvenate county cricket, pulling in large crowds and raising the profile of the sport.

The Warwickshire RFU hope that their new competition will give encouragement for other than first team players, keen aspiring players, those who have had their heyday, those in their twilight and for those who just are not available to play on Saturdays.

"The Twenty20 Cup has done a lot to revitalise county cricket and we believe that a similar format offers much for players and spectators in rugby," said competition organiser Bob Jones.

The TwentyTwenty competition will be played as a Double Header session of matches of 20 minutes each way midweek or on Sunday.  It is proposed that the competition will begin towards towards the end of September each of Warwickshire’s four districts will have a ‘pool’ of club sides playing for their District cup with finals scheduled for the early spring.

At the end of this stage, depending on their ‘pool’ rankings clubs will be invited to either the Warwickshire Twenty Twenty Knock-out Cup or the Shield competition.

The new competition will be launched at Stratford's Peracecroft ground on Wednesday September 21 with a Double Header involving Under-21 sides.

Further information about Warwickshire's TwentyTwenty Rugby Cup can be obtained from:

South Warwickshire RFU – Bob Jones 01789 292610
Coventry and Mid Warwickshire RFU – John Alford 012476 670082
Rugby and District RFU – Terry Wootton 01788 814846
Nuneaton and North Warwickshire – Keith Brown 01455 230840