The 2021–22 RFU Championship was the thirteenth season of the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

, the professional second tier of rugby union in England. It featured ten English teams and one from

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

are the reigning champions and were promoted to the Premiership.

Structure

In a return to the structure used prior to 2020–21, the eleven teams will play each of the other teams twice. There is no end of season play-off and as no team has met the minimum standards criteria, no team will be promoted to

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. For the second consecutive year no team will be relegated from the league.

RFU funding

For the second year in a row each club will receive approximately £161,500 in funding from the

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the 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 (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

as part of the reduction of funding introduced ahead of the 2016–17 season. Last season, following news of the funding change, several clubs announced a switch to a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

business model.

Teams

Ten of the eleven teams played in last season's competition.

having beaten

Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the current champions of the RFU Championship but will remain in that league due to ineligibility for promotion to Premi ...

in the 2020–21 final were promoted into

with no team relegated. London Scottish returned to the league following a one-year hiatus due to the costs associated with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. They intended to leave the Athletic Ground ahead of this season, however it was later confirmed they would remain at the Athletic Ground.

Table

Fixtures & results

Fixtures for the season were announced by the RFU on 22 July 2021. The season commenced on 17 September and the final round of matches are due to take place in mid-March. All fixtures are subject to change.

Structure

RFU funding

Teams

Table

Fixtures & results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Rounds 10, 12 & 14 (rescheduled matches)

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Rounds 13 & 17 (rescheduled matches)

Round 21

Rescheduled matches

Rescheduled matches

Rescheduled matches

Notes

References