2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2

2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2
Countries	England
Date	5 May - 27 May 2018
Champions	Durham County (1st title)
Runners-up	Warwickshire
Promoted	Durham County, Hampshire
Relegated	Cumbria, North Midlands
Top point scorer	Joel Knight (Hampshire) 45 points
Top try scorer	Callum Dacey (Leicestershire) Oliver Hodgson (Durham) Sean Moloney (Durham) 5 tries
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2, was the 17th version of the competition that is part of the annual English rugby union County Championship organised by the RFU for the tier 2 English counties. 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 League 2 North or National League 2 South). The counties were divided into two regional pools (north/south) with four teams in each and the winners of each pool meeting in the final at Twickenham Stadium. Leicestershire were the reigning champions, having won the 2017 final.^[1]^[2]

At the end of the group stage, Durham County won the northern group with ease despite having another strong side, and 2017 winners, Leicestershire, in their pool. They were joined by southern winners Warwickshire who beat off stiff competition from Hampshire to qualify. At the Twickenham final, Durham showed that they were best side in the division by comfortably beating Warwickshire, 46-12, for what would be the county's first ever Division 2 victory and first county silverware since 2009.^[3]^[4]

By showing the best form over two years, Durham County were promoted from the northern group, just edging Leicestershire by virtue of a better for/against record, while Hampshire were promoted from the southern group despite missing out on the final. Both counties will play in the 2019 Bill Beaumont Cup. At the opposite end of the tables, Cumbria (north) and North Midlands (south) were relegated to the 2019 County Championship Shield. In the case of Cumbria they actually finished above Staffordshire on points/for against over the two years, but still went down for reasons that are not yet clear.

Competition format

The competition format was two regional group stages divided into north and south with four teams in each group. This means that two teams in the pool had two home games, while the other two had just one. The RFU took 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 27 May 2018 at Twickenham Stadium.

A continuation from the 2017 competition was that promotion/relegation occurred every two seasons instead of one, with points accumulated over the two seasons (2017 and 2018) taken into consideration. The two highest ranked counties (one from the north/one from the south) were promoted into the 2019 Bill Beaumont Cup competition, replacing the lowest ranked aggregate sides who dropped down into Division 2. Relegation was also introduced with the bottom two ranked sides (again one north/one south) over the two years dropping to the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 and being replaced by the top two teams from the 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3.

Participating counties and ground locations

County	Stadium(s)	Capacity	City/Area
Cumbria	Lowmoor Road Mint Bridge Stadium	N/A 3,500 (258 seats)	Wigton, Cumbria Kendal, Cumbria
Durham County	Hollow Drift Greenwood Road	1,500 (500 seats) N/A	Durham, County Durham Billingham, County Durham
Hampshire	Gosport Park	N/A	Gosport, Hampshire
Leicestershire	Westleigh Park	2,000	Blaby, Leicestershire
North Midlands	Finstall Park	N/A	Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
Somerset	Hyde Park	2,000	Taunton, Somerset
Staffordshire	Peel Croft	5,500	Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire
Warwickshire	Liberty Way Webb Ellis Road	4,314 1,000	Nuneaton, Warwickshire Rugby, Warwickshire

Kendal (Cumbria)

Wigton (Cumbria)

Durham City (Durham)

Billingham (Durham)

Gosport (Hampshire)

Blaby (Leicestershire)

Bromsgrove (N Midlands)

Taunton (Somerset)

Burton (Staffordshire)

Nuneaton (Warwickshire)

Rugby (Warwickshire)

class=notpageimage|

Locations of the 2018 Division 2 county teams

Group stage

Division 2 North

2018 Bill Beaumont Division 2 North Table

County

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points For

Points Against

Points Difference

Try Bonus

Losing Bonus

Points

Durham County (Q, P)

195

173

Leicestershire

106

Staffordshire

248

-183

Cumbria (R)

149

-120

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Number of matches won
Difference between points for and against
Total number of points for
Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Green background means the county qualified for the final. (P) means promoted. Updated: 19 May 2018
Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com.

Round 1

5 May 2018
15:00

Cumbria	5 - 64	Durham (BP)
	Cumbria Durham

Lowmoor Road, Wigton

5 May 2018
15:00

(2BP) Staffordshire	29 - 33	Leicestershire (BP)

Peel Croft, Burton upon Trent

^[5]

Round 2

12 May 2018
14:30

(BP) Durham	99 – 7	Staffordshire
	Durham

Hollow Drift, Durham

12 May 2018
15:00

(BP) Leicestershire	63 – 7	Cumbria
	Leicestershire

Westleigh Park, Blaby

^[6]

Round 3

19 May 2018
14:30

Durham	32 – 10	Leicestershire
	Durham

Greenwood Road, Billingham

19 May 2018
15:00

(BP) Cumbria	17 – 22	Staffordshire

Mint Bridge Stadium, Kendal

^[7]

Division 2 South

2018 Bill Beaumont Division 2 South Table

County

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points For

Points Against

Points Difference

Try Bonus

Losing Bonus

Points

Warwickshire (Q)

Hampshire (P)

146

Somerset

119

-63

North Midlands (R)

129

-58

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Number of matches won
Difference between points for and against
Total number of points for
Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Green background means the county qualified for the final. (P) means promoted. Updated: 19 May 2018
Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com.

Round 1

5 May 2018
15:00

(BP) Hampshire	56 - 35	North Midlands (BP)
	North Midlands Hampshire

Gosport Park, Gosport

5 May 2018
15:00

(BP) Warwickshire	29 - 5	Somerset
	Warwickshire

Liberty Way, Nuneaton

^[5]

Round 2

12 May 2018
15:00

North Midlands	12 – 27	Warwickshire (BP)
	North Midlands Warwickshire

Finstall Park, Bromsgrove

12 May 2018
15:00

Somerset	5 – 66	Hampshire (BP)
	Hampshire

Hyde Park, Taunton

^[6]

Round 3

19 May 2018
15:00

(BP) Somerset	46 – 24	North Midlands (BP)
	North Midlands

Hyde Park, Taunton

19 May 2018
15:00

(BP) Warwickshire	31 – 24	Hampshire (BP)
	Warwickshire Hampshire

Ellis Road, Rugby

^[7]

Final

27 May 2018
17:15

Durham County	46 – 12	Warwickshire

Twickenham Stadium, London

^[3]^[4]

Promotion/relegation aggregate table

In order to determine promotion to the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 and relegation to the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3, results from the 2017 and 2018 competitions will be combined, with the highest and lowest ranked sides from each group being promoted or relegated.

2017 and 2018 Beaumont Cup Division 2 North Table

County

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points For

Points Against

Points Difference

Try Bonus

Losing Bonus

Points

Durham County (P)

312

216

Leicestershire

258

107

151

Cumbria (R)^{[a 1]}

285

-195

Staffordshire

108

372

-264

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Number of matches won
Difference between points for and against
Total number of points for
Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Green background means the county is promoted. Pink background means the county were demoted to Division 3 for the following season. Updated: 19 May 2018

2017 and 2018 Beaumont Cup Division 2 South Table

County

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points For

Points Against

Points Difference

Try Bonus

Losing Bonus

Points

Hampshire (P)

283

130

153

Warwickshire

167

179

-12

Somerset

173

189

-16

North Midlands (R)

160

285

-125

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Number of matches won
Difference between points for and against
Total number of points for
Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Green background means the county is promoted. Pink background means the county were demoted to Division 3 for the following season. Updated: 19 May 2018

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 will also include final.

Top points scorers

Rank	Player	County	Club Side	Appearances	Points
1	Joel Knight	Hampshire	Havant	3	45
2	Mitch McGahan	North Midlands	Bournville	3	26
3	Rickie Aley	Leicestershire	South Leicester	3	25
	Callum Dacey	Leicestershire	Hinckley	3	25
	Oliver Hodgson	Durham County	Darlington Mowden Park	3	25
	Sean Moloney	Durham County	Middlesbrough	4	25

^[5]^[6]^[7]^[3]^[4]

Top try scorers

Rank	Player	County	Club Side	Appearances	Tries
1	Callum Dacey	Leicestershire	Hinckley	3	5
	Oliver Hodgson	Durham County	Darlington Mowden Park	3	5
	Sean Moloney	Durham County	Middlesbrough	3	5
2	Conor Foley	Durham County	Middlesbrough	3	4
	Joel Knight	Hampshire	Havant	3	4

^[5]^[6]^[7]^[3]^[4]

Competition records

Team

Largest home win — 92 points

99 - 7 Durham County at home to Staffordshire on 12 May 2018

Largest away win — 60 points

66 - 5 Hampshire away to Somerset on 12 May 2018

Most points scored — 99 points

99 - 7 Durham County at home to Staffordshire on 12 May 2018

Most tries in a match — 15

Durham County at home to Staffordshire on 12 May 2018

Most conversions in a match — 12

Durham County at home to Staffordshire on 12 May 2018

Most penalties in a match — 2 (4)

Hampshire at home to North Midlands on 5 May 2018
Hampshire away to Somerset on 12 May 2018
Durham County at home to Leicestershire on 19 May 2018
Durham County versus Warwickshire at Twickenham on 27 May 2018

Most drop goals in a match — 0

^[5]^[6]^[7]^[3]^[4]

Player

Most points in a match — 26

Joel Knight for Hampshire away to Somerset on 12 May 2018

Most tries in a match — 3 (4)

Grant Connon for Durham County at home to Staffordshire on 12 May 2018
Callum Dacey for Leicestershire at home to Cumbria on 12 May 2018
Oliver Hodgson for Durham County at home to Staffordshire on 12 May 2018
Kemp Price for Hampshire away to Somerset on 12 May 2018

Most conversions in a match — 12

Warren Seals for Durham County at home to Staffordshire on 12 May 2018

Most penalties in a match — 2 (4)

Grant Hancox for Hampshire at home to North Midlands on 5 May 2018
Joel Knight for Hampshire away to Somerset on 12 May 2018
Peter Evans for Durham County at home to Leicestershire on 19 May 2018
Josh Bragman for Durham County versus Warwickshire at Twickenham on 27 May 2018

Most drop goals in a match — 0

^[5]^[6]^[7]^[3]^[4]

Notes

^ Despite finishing 3rd overall during two seasons, Cumbria were relegated to the 2019 County Championship Shield instead of Staffordshire.

References

^ "DOMINANT LEICESTERSHIRE CRUISE TO DIVISION TWO FINAL WIN". England Rugby. 28 May 2017.
^ "LEICESTERSHIRE 39 HAMPSHIRE 7". Hampshire RFU. 28 May 2017. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "County Championships: As it happened". England RFU. 27 May 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Durham Men triumphant at Twickenham to take Bill Beaumont Division Two Championship title". Durham County RFU. 27 May 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 503. Rugby Paper Ltd. 6 May 2018. pp. 28–30.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 504. Rugby Paper Ltd. 13 May 2018. pp. 28–30.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 505. Rugby Paper Ltd. 20 May 2018. pp. 28–30.

External links

NCA Rugby Archived 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine

Rugby union in England

Governing body

Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union for Women (merged into the RFU)

National teams

Men's	England England A 7's U-21 U-20 U-18 British & Irish Lions England Counties XV
Women's	Women's 7's

International competitions

Men's	World Cup Six Nations Rugby World Cup Sevens Sevens World Series Sevens Grand Prix Series Commonwealth Games
Women's	World Cup Six Nations World Series Sevens

Competition divisions

Men's	Premiership Championship National Leagues London and SE Division Northern Division Midland Division South West Division United Hospitals Cup
Women's	Premiership Women's Rugby