The 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 119th 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 its m ...

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

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

(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 ...

. 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, N ...

). The counties were divided into two regional sections 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 play ...

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 Lancashi ...

were the reigning champions having defeated

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

in the previous year's final. At the end of the group stage,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

overcame stiff challenges from Lancashire and

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

to top Division 1 North. Although they beat Yorkshire in a razor tight game during round 2, they had to rely on the same side to beat favourites Lancashire on the final match day, before they were assured of a place in the competition final. The tournament structure was perhaps slightly unkind to Yorkshire as they had to play the top two sides, while Cheshire and Lancashire avoided playing one another.

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 ...

made amends for a terrible tournament the previous year by topping Division 1 South with an resounding victory over

being probably the most impressive of their three wins. Again, due to the rather bizarre tournament structure the top two sides in the group did not meet, although

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

failed to get the 100% record needed to qualify for the final, thanks to a defeat against

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 ...

. In an incredibly tight Twickenham final Cornwall defeated Cheshire 14–12. Cornwall had a 7–0 lead at the end of the first half thanks to a solo Alex Ducker converted try (his 4th of the tournament), when a moment of madness just before half-time saw Cornish scrum-half, Jack Oulton, red carded for an off-the-ball incident. The second half was all Cheshire as they looked to get back into the game against the 14 men of Cornwall, scoring two tries to eventually take a 12–7 lead with 10 minutes remaining. With a Cheshire win looking imminent, Cornwall were awarded a penalty inside the Cheshire 22. What followed was a series of Cornwall penalties and scrums, as Cheshire were reduced to 13 men for repeated infringements as the game went into injury time. Eight minutes into injury, the ball finally left the scrum and was found by Cornwall's Seti Raumakita, who dodged several tackles to go over for a try to make it 12-12. With the last kick of the game

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 ...

held his nerve to kick the conversion and win Cornwall the 2019 County Championship, and their sixth overall.

Competition format

The 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 consists of twelve county sides, with six counties in the northern group, and six in the southern group. Each county plays three games per group, which means that certain counties get two home games, while others just the one home game. The RFU have taken 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 2 June 2019 at

. It is the top tier of county championship rugby. Promotion into the division and relegation from it occurs every two seasons, with accumulated points taken into consideration. At the end of the 2017–18 season,

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

(north) and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

(south) were relegated due to pool results accumulated over the

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 ser ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

competitions, although in East Midlands' case they actually took voluntary relegation due to difficulties in getting the top eligible clubs in their union to provide players for future competitions. They are replaced by

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

(north) and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

(south), who were the highest ranked counties during the

and

Division 2 competitions, with Durham being the 2018 champions. This also means that there will be no promotion or relegation until the end of the 2020 competition.

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

*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 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 also include final.

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Competition records

Team

;Largest home win — 56 points 59 – 3 Yorkshire at home to Northumberland on 4 May 2019 ;Largest away win — 66 points 73 – 7 Lancashire away to Durham County on 4 May 2019 ;Most points scored — 73 points 73 – 7 Lancashire away to Durham County on 4 May 2019 ;Most tries in a match — 11 Lancashire away to Durham County on 4 May 2019 ;Most conversions in a match — 9 Lancashire away to Durham County on 4 May 2019 ;Most penalties in a match — 4 Yorkshire away to Lancashire on 18 May 2019 ;Most drop goals in a match — 1 Lancashire at home to Yorkshire on 18 May 2019

Attendances

;Highest — 3,500 Cheshire v Cornwall on 2 June 2019 (Final) ;Lowest — 247 Cheshire at home to Eastern Counties on 4 May 2019 ;Highest Average Attendance — 1,780 Cornwall ;Lowest Average Attendance — 250 Kent

Player

;Most points in a match — 29 Leo Fielding for Gloucestershire at home to Devon on 4 May 2019 ;Most tries in a match — 3 (3) Leo Fielding for Gloucestershire at home to Devon on 4 May 2019

Tom Grimes Tom Grimes is an American novelist, playwright, and creative writing instructor. He currently teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Texas State University in San Marcos, and served as the program's director from 1996 to 2015. Grimes wa ...

for Lancashire away to Durham County on 4 May 2019
Henry Roberts for Yorkshire at home to Northumberland on 4 May 2019 ;Most conversions in a match — 9 Chris Johnson for Lancashire away to Durham County on 4 May 2019 ;Most penalties in a match — 4 Lewis Minikin for Yorkshire away to Lancashire on 18 May 2019 ;Most drop goals in a match — 1 Chris Johnson for Lancashire at home to Yorkshire on 18 May 2019

Notes

References

External links

NCA Rugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bill Beaumont Cup

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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

Attendances

Player

Notes

See also

References

External links