2016–17 RFU Championship

2016–17 RFU Championship
Countries	England  Jersey
Date	3 September 2016 – May 2017
Matches played	60
Attendance	95,482 (average 1,591 per match)
Highest attendance	4,067 London Irish v Yorkshire Carnegie (5 November 2016)
Lowest attendance	438 Ealing Trailfinders v Jersey Reds (17 September 2016)
Tries scored	210 (average 3.5 per match)
Top point scorer	Tommy Bell (London Irish) 147
Top try scorer	Tyson Lewis (Doncaster Knights) 8
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

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.^[4]

In 2015 the RFU increased annual funding to over £500,000 per club, an agreement which will last until 2020.^[5] Despite this, Cornish Pirates stated more money was needed in RFU grants to support a fully professional second tier.^[6]

Teams

After ten seasons in the Championship Birmingham Moseley were relegated following their last place finish in 2016. They are replaced by Richmond, who won the National League 1 and return to the second tier for the first time since 1997.^[7] Richmond subsequently entered administration and dropped eight tiers following two seasons in the premiership between 1997 and 1999.^[7] As a result, Richmond stated that they would remain semi-professional and not sign any professional players despite the RFU Championship being fully professional.^[7] London Irish, an original founder of the professional English Premiership, join the league after relegation from the 2015–16 Aviva Premiership, finishing bottom of the table.^[8]

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Area	Captain	DOR/Head Coach
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire	Michael Le Bourgeois	Mike Rayer
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	4,000 (2,200 Seats)	Penzance, Cornwall	Chris Morgan	Gavin Cattle Alan Paver
Doncaster Knights	Castle Park	5,000	Doncaster, South Yorkshire	Michael Hills	Clive Griffiths
Ealing Trailfinders	Trailfinders Sports Ground	3,020 (1,020 seats)	West Ealing, London	Danny Kenny	Ben Ward
Jersey Reds	St Peter	5,000	Saint Peter, Jersey	Pierce Philips	Harvey Biljon
London Irish	Madejski Stadium	24,161[lower-alpha 1]	Reading, Berkshire	Luke Narraway	Nick Kennedy
London Scottish	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London	Rory Bartle	Sean Lineen
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850 (1,000 seats)	Richmond, London	Matt Corker	James Buckland
Nottingham Rugby	Lady Bay Sports Ground	3,000	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire	Matt Everard	Ian Costello
Richmond	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London	Will Warden	Steve Hill
Rotherham Titans	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire	Tom Holmes	Justin Burnell
Yorkshire Carnegie	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	21,062	Leeds, West Yorkshire	Ryan Burrows	Ian McGeechan

• The Director of Rugby/Head Coach list updated 2 September 2016^[9]

Notes

Current standings

2016–17 RFU Championship Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Try bonus	Loss bonus	Points
1	London Irish	11	11	0	0	399	158	241	9	0	53
2	Yorkshire Carnegie	11	10	0	1	333	259	74	7	0	47
3	Ealing Trailfinders	11	6	1	4	259	237	22	3	1	30
4	Nottingham Rugby	11	5	1	5	230	259	−29	3	3	28
5	London Welsh	11	5	0	6	244	226	18	4	3	27
5	Doncaster Knights	11	5	0	6	252	249	3	5	2	27
7	London Scottish	11	5	0	6	244	294	−50	3	3	26
8	Jersey Reds	11	4	0	7	255	279	−24	4	5	25
9	Cornish Pirates	10	4	1	5	267	251	16	2	4	24
10	Rotherham Titans	11	4	1	6	233	297	−64	2	2	22
11	Bedford Blues	11	3	0	8	242	256	−14	4	5	21
12	Richmond	10	1	0	9	139	332	−193	1	0	5
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 are promotion play-off places. Pink background is the relegation place. Updated: 3 December 2016 Source: "Greene King IPA Championship". NCA Rugby.

Fixtures

Fixtures for the season were announced by the RFU on 8 July 2016.

^[2]

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

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Round 8

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Round 9

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Round 10

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Round 11

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Round 12

Round 13

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. The matches are due to be played on 29 April 2017 and 6 May 2017.^[2]

Final

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

Attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	6	13,851	2,309	2,585	2,009
Cornish Pirates	4	6,362	1,591	2,043	1,347
Doncaster Knights	5	8,365	1,673	2,748	1,079
Ealing Trailfinders	6	3,921	654	792	438
Jersey Reds	5	7,836	1,567	1,723	1,277
London Irish	6	21,715	3,619	4,067	3,303
London Scottish	5	7,075	1,415	2,339	951
London Welsh	5	4,144	829	1,025	531
Nottingham Rugby	6	6,569	1,095	1,538	924
Richmond	6	4,975	829	1,108	654
Rotherham Titans	6	7,054	1,176	1,382	918
Yorkshire Carnegie	5	9,610	1,922	2,617	1,378

^[23]

Individual statistics

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances is placed first (if they have the same number of games, then the less minutes played will rank 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). Stats also cover playoff games.

Season records

• Updated to 27 November 2016

See also

• 2016–17 British and Irish Cup

References

External links

• RFU Championship news