2013–14 RFU Championship

2013–14 Greene King IPA Championship
Countries	England  Jersey
Date	14 September 2013 – 4 June 2014
Champions	London Welsh
Runners-up	Bristol
Relegated	Ealing Trailfinders
Matches played	144
Attendance	289,423 (average 2,010 per match)
Tries scored	807 (average 5.604 per match)
Top point scorer	Juan Pablo Socino (Rotherham) 300 points[1]
Top try scorer	Miles Mantella (London Scottish) 19 tries[2]
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

The 2013–14 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, was 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 was held between 14 September 2013 and 4 June 2014. It was contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. It was also 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.^[3]

After being promoted after an appeal in the previous season, London Welsh were relegated back into the RFU Championship after finishing last in the 2012-13 English Premiership.^[4] As a result of relegation, they remained at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford instead of returning to their home ground of Old Deer Park in London in order to strengthen their support base.^[5] London Welsh replaced Newcastle Falcons who were promoted into the English Premiership after winning the play-off final against Bedford Blues.^[6] Doncaster Knights were relegated to National League 1^[7] and were replaced by the champions of National League 1, Ealing Trailfinders who played in the RFU Championship for the first time.^[8]

The twelve clubs in the 2013–14 RFU Championship also participated in the 2013–14 edition of the British and Irish Cup along with clubs from Wales, Scotland and Ireland.^[9] Matches in the RFU Championship were broadcast on Sky Sports.^[10]

Structure

The Championship's structure had all the teams playing each other on a home and away basis. In a change to previous years, this season commenced with an extra round of games in the "Greene King IPA Big Rugby Weekend". Matches were 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.^[11]

The play–off structure remained the same as the previous year.^[12] The top four teams at the end of the home–and–away season qualified for the promotion play–offs, which followed a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 system. The winners had to meet the RFU's Minimum Standards Criteria in order to be promoted to the Premiership. If they had failed to meet the criteria, then there would have been no promotion from the RFU Championship.^[13] However, on 9 May 2014, the RFU announced that all four play-off participants had met the Minimum Standards Criteria, assuring that the champion would indeed be promoted to the 2014–15 Premiership.^[14] There was no relegation play–off; the bottom team was automatically relegated.^[12] Following an agreement with the RFU in 2012, each RFU Championship club received £355,000 in funding from the RFU for the season.^[15]

Participating teams

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol, Avon
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	3,500	Penzance, Cornwall
Ealing Trailfinders	Trailfinders Sports Ground		West Ealing, London
Jersey	St. Peter	5,000	Saint Peter, Jersey
Leeds Carnegie	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	20,250	Leeds, West Yorkshire
London Scottish	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London
London Welsh	Kassam Stadium	12,500	Oxford, Oxfordshire[n 1]
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham, West Midlands
Nottingham	Meadow Lane	19,588	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	8,500	Plymouth, Devon
Rotherham Titans	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Notes

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	Bristol Rugby (RU)	23	19	0	4	786	505	281	18	3	96[n 1]
2	London Welsh (CH)	23	19	0	4	724	348	376	10	2	88
3	Leeds Carnegie (SF)	23	18	0	5	700	387	313	10	2	84
4	Rotherham Titans (SF)	23	17	0	6	718	474	244	11	1	80
5	London Scottish	23	14	0	9	554	423	131	10	2	66
6	Cornish Pirates	23	10	2	11	456	554	-98	4	3	51
7	Moseley	23	9	1	13	449	575	-126	4	2	44
8	Plymouth Albion	23	6	1	16	467	588	-121	5	9	40
9	Bedford Blues	23	7	0	16	472	624	-152	5	5	38
10	Nottingham	23	5	1	17	413	610	-197	3	9	34
11	Jersey	23	6	0	17	423	629	-206	1	6	29[n 2]
12	Ealing Trailfinders (R)	23	5	1	17	365	810	-445	5	1	28
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.[17] ↑ Jersey were deducted 2 competition points for fielding an ineligible player.[18]
Green background are promotion play-off places. Pink background is the relegation place. Updated 5 June 2014 — Current English Leagues source: RFU

Regular season

The 2013–14 RFU Championship kicked 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.^[11] Thereafter, each team played 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.^[19][20] It was rescheduled to 23 February.^[21]

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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.^[22] It has been rescheduled to 21 February.^[23]

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Round 16

• This match was postponed as the pitch was deemed unplayable. It has been rescheduled to 22 February.^[24]

• This match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.^[25]

• This match was postponed after a pitch inspection at The Mennaye.^[26] It has been rescheduled to 16 March.^[27]

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Postponed matches

• This match – originally scheduled to be played in Round 15 on 7 February 2014 – was postponed as many parts of the pitch was under water.^[22]

• This match – originally scheduled to be played in Round 16 on 14 February 2014 – was postponed as the pitch was deemed unplayable.^[28] The match was again postponed due to an unplayable pitch.^[24] It will now be played on 15 March.^[29]

• This match – originally scheduled to be played in Round 13 on 26 January 2014 – was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.^[19][20]

Round 17

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Round 18

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Postponed matches (2)

• This match – originally scheduled to be played in Round 16 on 14 February 2014 – was postponed as the pitch was deemed unplayable.^[28] The pitch was again found to be unplayable on the new date of 22 February, and the match was postponed for the second time.^[24]

• This match – originally scheduled to be played in Round 16 on 15 February 2014 – was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.^[25]

• This match – originally scheduled to be played in Round 16 on 16 February 2014 – was postponed after a pitch inspection at The Mennaye.^[26]

Round 19

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Round 20

• This result means that London Welsh will finish in the top four and therefore are into the playoffs.

• This result means that Bristol will finish in the top four and therefore are into the playoffs.

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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 followed 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.^[3]

First leg

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Second leg

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Final

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Total attendances

• Note attendance statistics include 1st round with each team playing at the neutral venue considered the 'home team'

Club	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity	Home Matches
Bedford Blues	27,137	2,261	2,754	1,550	37%	12
Bristol	79,264	5,662	10,908	3,752	47%	14
Cornish Pirates	21,558	1,797	3,752	1,127	45%	12
Ealing Trailfinders	10,085	840	1,571	473	N/A	12
Jersey	27,184	2,265	3,752	1,592	42%	12
Leeds Carnegie	30,028	2,310	3,902	1,098	13%	13
London Scottish	15,269	1,272	2,155	797	27%	12
London Welsh	24,121	1,723	5,021	999	16%	14
Moseley	11,363	947	1,437	626	29%	12
Nottingham	15,843	1,320	1,614	1,098	9%	12
Plymouth Albion	22,999	1,917	3,752	1,036	22%	12
Rotherham Titans	22,395	1,723	3,267	1,050	64%	13

Top scorers

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Points[1] 1 Juan Pablo Socino Rotherham 300 2 Matthew Jarvis Nottingham 191 3 James Pritchard Bedford Blues 175 4 Glyn Hughes Leeds Carnegie 156 5 Alex Lozowski Leeds Carnegie 143 6 Declan Cusack Plymouth Albion 134 7 Alex Davies London Welsh 132 8 Kieran Hallett Cornish Pirates 131 9 Niall O'Connor Jersey 128 Gordon Ross London Welsh

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Tries[2] 1 Miles Mantella London Scottish 19 2 George Watkins Bristol 18 3 Mark Bright London Scottish 16 4 Tom Bowen Plymouth Albion 14 5 Phil Chesters Ealing 12 6 Seb Stegmann London Welsh 11 7 David Doherty Leeds Carnegie 10 Jonah Holmes Leeds Carnegie Michael Keating Rotherham Nick Scott London Welsh Matthew Williams Moseley

See also

• 2013–14 British and Irish Cup

References

External links

• RFU Championship news

RFU Championship 2014–15 Teams Bedford Blues Bristol Cornish Pirates Doncaster Knights Jersey London Scottish Moseley Nottingham Plymouth Albion Rotherham Titans Worcester Warriors Yorkshire Carnegie Former clubs Birmingham-Solihull Blackheath Bracknell Cornish All Blacks Coventry Ealing Trailfinders Esher Exeter Chiefs Fylde Gosforth Harlequins Henley Liverpool St Helens London Irish London Welsh Manchester Morley Newbury Newcastle Falcons Northampton Saints Orrell Otley Richmond Rosslyn Park Rugby Sale Sharks Saracens Sedgley Park Wakefield Waterloo West Hartlepool Seasons National Division Two 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 Premiership 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 2014–15 Representative team RFU Championship XV

RFU Championship Venues 2014–15 Current grounds Ashton Gate Athletic Ground, Richmond Billesley Common Brickfields Castle Park Clifton Lane Goldington Road Headingley Carnegie Stadium Lady Bay Sports Ground Meadow Lane Mennaye Field Sixways Stadium St. Peter 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) College Grove Coundon Road County Ground (Exeter) Cross Green Damson Park Franklin's Gardens Heywood Road Ireland Avenue Kassam Stadium Kenwyn Kingston Park Memorial Stadium 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) The Sycamores (West Park Leeds RUFC) Trailfinders Sports Ground Twickenham Stoop Webb Ellis Road Wharfeside Avenue (Threshfield)

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