2013–14 RFU Championship

2013–14 Greene King IPA Championship
Countries	England  Jersey
Matches played	84
Attendance	155,945 (average 1,856 per match)
Tries scored	407 (average 4.845 per match)
Top point scorer	Juan Pablo Socino (Rotherham) 206 points[3]
Top try scorer	Miles Mantella (London Scottish) 13 tries[4]
← 2012–13 2014–15 →
v t e

The 2013–14 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the fifth 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 will be held between 14 September 2013 and May 2014. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. It will also be the first Championship season with a title sponsor, as the Rugby Football Union and Greene King Brewery reached a deal by which the brewery would become the competition's main sponsor from 2013–14 through to 2016–17.^[5]

After being promoted after an appeal in the previous season, London Welsh are relegated back into the RFU Championship after finishing last in the 2012-13 English Premiership.^[6] As a result of relegation, they are planning to remain at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford or groundshare with Oxford University RFC, instead of returning to their home ground of Old Deer Park in London in order to strengthen their support base.^[7] London Welsh are replacing Newcastle Falcons who were promoted into the English Premiership after winning the play-off final against Bedford Blues.^[8] Doncaster Knights are relegated to National League 1^[9] and are replaced by the champions of National League 1, Ealing Trailfinders who will be playing in the RFU Championship for the first time.^[10]

The twelve clubs in the 2013–14 RFU Championship will also participate in the 2013–14 edition of the British and Irish Cup along with clubs from Wales, Scotland and Ireland.^[11] Matches in the RFU Championship will be broadcast on Sky Sports.^[12]

Structure

The Championship's structure has all the teams playing each other on a home and away basis. In a change to previous years, this season will commence with an extra round of games in the "Greene King IPA Big Rugby Weekend". Matches will be played on the weekend of 14 and 15 September with three double headers at neutral grounds: Saracens' Allianz Park, Doncaster's Castle Park and Exeter's Sandy Park.^[13]

The play–off structure will remain the same as the previous year.^[14] The top four teams at the end of the home–and–away 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 Premiership. If they fail to meet the criteria then there is no promotion from the RFU Championship.^[15] There are no relegation play–offs; the bottom team will now be automatically relegated.^[14] Following an agreement with the RFU in 2012, each RFU Championship club will receive £355,000 in funding from the RFU for the season.^[16]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	7,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	3,500	Penzance
Ealing Trailfinders	Trailfinders Sports Ground		West Ealing, London
Jersey	St. Peter	5,000	Saint Peter, Jersey
Leeds Carnegie	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	20,250	Headingley, Leeds
London Scottish	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	London
London Welsh	Kassam Stadium	12,500	Oxford
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham
Nottingham	Meadow Lane	19,588	Nottingham
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	8,500	Plymouth
Rotherham	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham

League table

2013–14 Greene King IPA Championship Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Rotherham Titans	14	11	0	3	446	272	174	7	1	52
2	London Welsh	14	11	0	3	385	227	158	4	1	49
3	Leeds Carnegie	14	10	0	4	383	253	130	6	1	47
4	Bristol Rugby	13	9	0	4	378	260	118	9	3	47[n 1]
5	London Scottish	14	9	0	5	325	202	123	5	1	42
6	Cornish Pirates	14	7	2	5	277	290	-13	2	3	37
7	Plymouth Albion	13	4	1	8	274	294	-20	4	5	27
8	Bedford Blues	14	5	0	9	266	354	-88	3	3	26
9	Moseley	14	5	1	8	251	334	-83	2	0	24
10	Nottingham	14	4	1	9	250	326	-76	1	4	23
11	Jersey	14	3	0	11	252	391	-139	0	3	13[n 2]
12	Ealing Trailfinders	14	2	1	11	170	454	-284	1	0	11
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
↑ Bristol were deducted 1 competition point for failing to reduce to 14 men when going to uncontested scrums against Bedford on 6 October.[2] ↑ Jersey were deducted 2 competition points for fielding an ineligible player.[1]
Green background are promotion play-off places. Pink background is the relegation place. Updated 4 February 2014 — Current English Leagues source: RFU

Regular season

The 2013–14 RFU Championship will kick off on the weekend of 14 and 15 September with the "Greene King IPA Big Rugby Weekend", an extra round of matches played as three double headers at neutral grounds.^[13] Thereafter, each team will play the other twice on a home and away basis with the top four qualifying for the promotion phase.

Round 1 (Big Rugby Weekend)

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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

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Round 13

• This match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.^[17][18] It was rescheduled to 23 February.^[19]

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Round 14

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Round 15

• This match was postponed, as the surface of many parts of the pitch is under water. It is likely to be played on the free weekend of 21 February.^[20]

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Round 16

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Postponed Round 13 match

• This match – originally scheduled to be held during Round 13, on 26 January 2014 – was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.^[17][18] It was rescheduled to 23 February.^[19]

Round 17

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

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Round 21

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Round 22

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Round 23

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Play–offs

Semi–finals

The semi–finals will follow a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 system - with the games being played over two legs and the higher placed team deciding who played at home in the first leg.^[5]

First leg

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Second leg

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Final

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Top scorers

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Points[3] 1 Juan Pablo Socino Rotherham 195 2 Niall O'Connor Jersey 120 3 Matthew Jarvis Nottingham 118 4 Gordon Ross London Welsh 116 5 James Pritchard Bedford Blues 105 6 Glyn Hughes Leeds Carnegie 95 7 Kieran Hallett Cornish Pirates 89 8 Alex Lozowski Leeds Carnegie 83 9 Lee Millar London Scottish 77 10 Alex Davies London Welsh 72

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Tries[4] 1 Miles Mantella London Scottish 13 2 Tom Bowen Plymouth Albion 11 George Watkins Bristol 4 Tom Kessell Cornish Pirates 8 5 Mark Bright London Scottish 7 Rhys Buckley Moseley Phil Chesters Ealing Jonah Holmes Leeds Carnegie 9 Tom Brown Jersey 6 Tom Cruse Rotherham David Doherty Leeds Carnegie Michael Keating Rotherham Seb Stegmann London Welsh

See also

• 2013–14 British and Irish Cup

References

External links

• RFU Championship news

v t e RFU Championship 2013–14 Teams Bedford Blues Bristol Cornish Pirates Ealing Trailfinders Jersey Leeds Carnegie London Scottish London Welsh Moseley Nottingham Plymouth Albion Rotherham Titans Former clubs Birmingham-Solihull Blackheath Bracknell Cornish All Blacks Coventry Doncaster Knights Esher Exeter Chiefs Fylde Gosforth Harlequins Henley Liverpool St Helens London Irish Manchester Morley Newbury Newcastle Falcons Northampton Saints Orrell Otley Richmond Rosslyn Park Rugby Sale Sharks Saracens Sedgley Park Wakefield Waterloo West Hartlepool Worcester Warriors Seasons National Division Two 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 Premership Two 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 National Division One 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 Championship 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 Representative team RFU Championship XV

v t e RFU Championship Venues 2013-14 Current grounds Athletic Ground, Richmond Billesley Common Brickfields Clifton Lane Goldington Road Headingley Carnegie Stadium Kassam Stadium Meadow Lane Memorial Stadium Mennaye Field St. Peter Trailfinders Sports Ground Previous grounds The Avenue Beacon Park (Plymouth) Bramley Sports Ground (Southgate) Brantingham Park (Hull Ionians R.U.F.C.) Bridge Road (Headingley) Brierton Lane (Hartlepool) Castle Park College Grove Coundon Road County Ground (Exeter) Cross Green Damson Park Franklin's Gardens Heywood Road Ireland Avenue Kenwyn Kingston Park Molesey Road Moss Lane (St Helens) New Ground (Gosforth) Old Deer Park Priory Lane (Roehampton) Recreation Ground (Camborne) The Reddings Rectory Field St Anthony's Road (Blundellsands) Sandy Park Scatcherd Lane (Morley) Sixways Stadium The Sycamores (West Park Leeds RUFC) Twickenham Stoop Webb Ellis Road (Rugby) Wharfeside Avenue (Threshfield)

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