2016–17 RFU Championship

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2016–17 RFU Championship
Countries  England
 Jersey
Date 3 September 2016 – May 2017

The 2016–17 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, will be the eighth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. This will be the fourth and final year of the competition's sponsorship with Greene King Brewery.[1] The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also compete in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales. Some matches in the RFU Championship are broadcast on Sky Sports.

Structure

The Championship's structure has all the teams playing each other on a home and away basis. The play-off structure will remain the same as the previous year.[2] The top four teams at the end of the home-and-way season qualify for the promotion play-offs which follow a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 system. The winners have to meet the RFU's Minimum Standards Criteria in order to be promoted to the English Premiership. There is no promotion if a ground fails to meet the criteria.[3] There is no relegation play-off; the bottom team is automatically relegated.[2] In 2015 the RFU increased the annual funding to over £500,000 per club, an agreement which will last until 2020.[4] Despite this, Cornish Pirates stated more money was needed in RFU grants to support a fully professional second tier.[5]

Teams

After spending ten seasons in the Championship Moseley were relegated following their last place finish, last season. They are replaced by Richmond, who won the National League 1 and return to the second tier for the first time since their promotion in 1997.[6] Richmond subsequently entered administrated and dropped eight tiers.[6] As a result, Richmond stated that they would remain semi-professional and not sign any professional players despite the RFU Championship being fully professional.[6] London Irish, one of the original founders of the professional English Premiership, join the league after being relegated from the 2015–16 Aviva Premiership after finishing bottom of the table.[7]

Locations of the 2016–17 RFU Championship teams
Greater London RFU Championship teams clubs
Club Stadium Capacity Area Captain DOR/Head Coach
Bedford Blues Goldington Road 6,000 Bedford, Bedfordshire Wales Mike Rayer
Cornish Pirates Mennaye Field 4,000 (2,200 Seats) Penzance, Cornwall England Chris Morgan
Doncaster Knights Castle Park 5,000 Doncaster, South Yorkshire England Michael Hills Wales Clive Griffiths
Ealing Trailfinders Trailfinders Sports Ground 3,020 (1,020 seats) West Ealing, London Ireland Danny Kenny England Ben Ward
Jersey St Peter 5,000 Saint Peter, Jersey England Alex Rae South Africa Harvey Biljon
London Irish Madejski Stadium 7,579[lower-alpha 1] Reading, Berkshire England George Skivington
England Luke Narraway		 New Zealand Tom Coventry
London Scottish Athletic Ground, Richmond 4,500 Richmond, London England Mark Bright England Mike Friday
London Welsh Old Deer Park 5,850 (1,000 seats) Richmond, London England Matt Corker Wales Rowland Phillips
Nottingham Rugby Lady Bay Sports Ground 2,000 (est) Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Australia Daniel Montagu England Martin Haag
Richmond Athletic Ground, Richmond 4,500 Richmond, London England Steve Hill
Rotherham Titans Clifton Lane 2,500 Rotherham, South Yorkshire England Tom Holmes England Lee Blackett
Yorkshire Carnegie Headingley Carnegie Stadium 21,062 Leeds, West Yorkshire England Ryan Burrows Scotland Ian McGeechan

Current standings

2016–17 RFU Championship Table watch · edit · discuss
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Loss bonus Points
1 Bedford Blues
2 Cornish Pirates
3 Doncaster Knights
4 Ealing Trailfinders
5 Jersey
6 London Irish
7 London Scottish
8 London Welsh
9 Nottingham Rugby
10 Richmond
11 Rotherham Titans
12 Yorkshire Carnegie
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background are promotion play-off places. Pink background is the relegation place.
Updated: 30 April 2016
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Fixtures

Fixtures will be announced later in the year

Play-offs

Semi-finals

The semi-finals follow a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 system – with the games being played over two-legs and the higher placed team choosing which leg they play at home.

Final

The final is played over two legs – with the higher placed team deciding who plays at home in the first leg.


See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Although Madejski's full capacity is 24,161, for most matches only West Stand will be open with capacity of 7,579.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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