The 2017 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 117th version of the annual,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

organised by the RFU for the top tier

English counties The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

. 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 (typically

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, ...

). The counties were divided into two regional sections (each divided into two pools, for a total of four) with the winners of each meeting in the final held at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

were the defending champions. Due to changes to the County Championship format (more detail of this below) four new teams were added to the competition, with East Midlands and

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

joining the northern section, while

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

joined the south. East Midlands (winners) and Kent (runners up) were promoted after reaching the final of the 2016 County Championship Plate, while Northumberland and Devon were promoted by virtue of their performances in the competition over the past couple of seasons. It also saw a lucky escape for the likes of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, who would have been playing tier 2 rugby this year were it not for the competition restructuring. By the end of the group stages,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

and

came top of their respective pools, winning all three of their games with a bonus point in each to qualify for the final in what would be the fourth county championship final between the two sides. Lancashire possibly had the harder time of it as they edged rivals Yorkshire by just one point with neither side playing each other due to the new format, while Cornwall won all their games. In the

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

final, the first half started with Cornwall dominant in taking an 8-0 lead into the break - although they perhaps should have capitalized more on a Lancashire yellow card towards the end of the half. The second half was a completely different story, however, as Lancashire played some breath-taking rugby scoring three delightful tries to take the game 19-8, ending Cornwall's hope of a treble of championships, and claiming the 24th county championship title for the Red Rose.

Competition format

The 2017 County Championships saw a new competition structure introduced across all three divisions. In tier 1 there were now twelve teams instead of the eight from 2016, with six counties in the northern group, and six in the southern group. To complicate matters further, each county only played three games per group instead of five. This meant that some counties had two home games, while the others had just one. The RFU plans to switch this around the following year so that teams that played one home game in 2017 will get two during the 2018 competition - it is assumed that this is against the three teams in the group they did not play the previous season. At the end of the group stage the top teams with the best record from each group (north and south) advanced to the final held on 28 May 2017 at

. A further change will see relegation occur every two seasons instead of one, with points accumulated over the two seasons taken into consideration. This system will also apply to promoted teams in tier 2.

Participating Counties and ground locations

Group stage

Division 1 North

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

Division 1 South

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

Final

Total season attendances

*Does not include final at Twickenham which is a neutral venue and involves teams from all three county divisions on the same day

Individual statistics

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

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Competition records

Team

;Largest home win — 46 points 61 - 15 Yorkshire at home to Eastern Counties on 20 May 2017 ;Largest away win — 45 points 56 - 11 Cornwall away to Devon on 13 May 2017 ;Most points scored — 61 points 61 - 15 Yorkshire at home to Eastern Counties on 20 May 2017 ;Most tries in a match — 9 Yorkshire at home to Eastern Counties on 20 May 2017 ;Most conversions in a match — 8 Yorkshire at home to Eastern Counties on 20 May 2017 ;Most penalties in a match — 3 Yorkshire at home to Cheshire on 6 May 2017 ;Most drop goals in a match — 0

Player

;Most points in a match — 20 Sam Goatley for Gloucestershire at home to Devon on 6 May 2017 ;Most tries in a match — 4 Sam Goatley for Gloucestershire at home to Devon on 6 May 2017 ;Most conversions in a match — 5 (x3) Calum Irvine for Yorkshire at home to Northumberland on 20 May 2017
James Moffat for Gloucestershire at home to Surrey on 20 May 2017

Matthew Shepherd Matthew Joseph Shepherd (born February 21, 1976) is an attorney from his native El Dorado, Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for District 6, which includes western Union County. He was elected in the ...

for Cornwall at home to Hertfordshire on 20 May 2017 ;Most penalties in a match — 3 Calum Irvine for Yorkshire at home to Cheshire on 6 May 2017 ;Most drop goals in a match — 0

Attendances

;Highest — 3,525 Cornwall at home to Hertfordshire on 13 May 2017 ;Lowest — 150 Gloucestershire at home to Devon on 6 May 2017 ;Highest Average Attendance — 3,525 Cornwall ;Lowest Average Attendance — 150 Gloucestershire

References

External links

NCA Rugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Competition format

Participating Counties and ground locations

Group stage

Division 1 North

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Division 1 South

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Final

Total season attendances

Individual statistics

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Competition records

Team

Player

Attendances

See also

References

External links