2014–15 RFU Championship

2014–15 RFU Championship
Countries	England  Jersey
Date	5 September 2014 – June 2015
Top point scorer	Dougie Flockhart (Doncaster Knights) 223 points
Top try scorer	Mark Bright (London Scottish) 24 tries
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

The 2014–15 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the sixth 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 is the second year of the competition's sponsorship with Greene King Brewery, which runs until 2017.^[1]

Teams

Ten of the teams that competed in the 2013–14 RFU Championship remain in the competition for the 2014–15 RFU Championship. London Welsh were promoted back into the English Premiership after defeating Bristol Rugby in the play-off final after being relegated into the RFU Championship the previous year.^[2] They are replaced by Worcester Warriors after they were relegated to the RFU Championship after finishing last in the 2013–14 English Premiership.^[3] Ealing Trailfinders were relegated into National League 1 after finishing bottom of the 2013–14 RFU Championship by one point.^[4] They are replaced by Doncaster Knights, who returned to the RFU Championship at the first opportunity by finishing top of the 2013–14 National League 1 after being relegated in 2013.^[5] This was the first time that a relegated team returned to the RFU Championship after being relegated the previous season since the RFU Championship was formed.^[5] The twelve teams in the RFU Championship will also compete in the British and Irish Cup.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8] There are no relegation play–offs; the bottom team is automatically relegated.^[7] Following an agreement with the RFU in 2012, each RFU Championship club will receive £365,000 in funding from the RFU for the season.^[9]

Participating teams and locations

Below is a list of the teams participating in the 2014–15 RFU Championship.^{[2][3][4][5][10][11]}

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Area	Captain	DOR/Head Coach
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire	Nick Fenton-Wells	Mike Rayner
Bristol	Ashton Gate Stadium	21,497	Bristol, Avon	Dwayne Peel	Andy Robinson
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	3,500	Penzance, Cornwall	Chris Morgan	Ian Davies
Doncaster Knights	Castle Park rugby stadium	5,000	Doncaster, South Yorkshire	Michael Hills	Clive Griffiths
Jersey	St. Peter	5,000	Saint Peter, Jersey	Alex Rae	Harvey Biljon
London Scottish	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London	Mark Bright	Mike Friday
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham, West Midlands	Mike Powell	Kevin Maggs
Nottingham Rugby	Meadow Lane Lady Bay Sports Ground	19,588 2,000 (est)	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire	Brent Wilson	Martin Haag
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	8,500	Plymouth, Devon	Iain Grieve	Graham Dawe
Rotherham Titans	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire	Tom Holmes	Lee Blackett
Worcester Warriors	Sixways Stadium	12,024	Worcester, Worcestershire	GJ van Velze	Dean Ryan
Yorkshire Carnegie	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	21,062	Leeds, West Yorkshire	Ryan Burrows	Ian McGeechan

League table

2014–15 RFU Championship Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Loss Bonus	Points
1	Bristol	22	21	0	1	774	399	375	18	1	103
2	Worcester Warriors	22	19	0	3	858	335	523	18	3	97
3	London Scottish	22	12	2	8	534	498	36	10	2	64
4	Rotherham Titans	22	13	1	8	505	488	17	5	2	61
5	Nottingham	22	12	0	10	461	578	–117	5	3	56
6	Yorkshire Carnegie	22	10	1	11	494	462	32	7	5	54
7	Jersey	22	8	2	12	495	621	–127	5	7	48
8	Cornish Pirates	22	9	0	13	436	464	–28	4	5	45
9	Doncaster Knights	22	8	1	13	429	481	–52	3	6	43
10	Bedford Blues	22	7	0	15	433	604	–171	6	4	38
11	Moseley	22	5	1	16	441	637	–196	4	5	31
R	Plymouth Albion	22	3	2	17	314	630	–316	1	5	21
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: 19 April 2015 Source: "Greene King IPA Championship". NCA Rugby.

Fixtures

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

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Round 13

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Round 14

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Round 15

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Round 16

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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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Play–offs

Semi–finals

The semi–finals followed a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 system, with the games being played over two legs.

First leg

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Second leg

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Final

The final will be played over two legs.

First leg

Second leg

Total Season Attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	11	27,454	2,496	4,401	1,833	42%
Bristol Rugby	11	85,319	7,756	10,701	6,428	36%
Cornish Pirates	11	16,270	1,479	2,390	1,010	42%
Doncaster Knights	11	18,024	1,639	3,676	1,252	33%
Jersey	11	22,997	2,091	2,909	1,630	42%
London Scottish	11	18,110	1,646	2,108	1,087	37%
Moseley	11	12,077	1,098	2,306	631	37%
Nottingham Rugby	11	14,053	1,278	1,650	1,046	34%
Plymouth Albion	11	18,727	1,702	3,982	1,175	20%
Rotherham Titans	11	15,658	1,423	2,500	1,018	57%
Worcester Warriors	11	65,694	5,972	10,395	3,826	50%
Yorkshire Carnegie	11	20,286	1,844	2,705	1,145	9%

Individual statistics

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances will come first. Also note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 Dougie Flockhart Doncaster Knights 22 227 2 Peter Lydon London Scottish 21 201 3 Kieran Hallett Cornish Pirates 21 199 4 Harry Leonard Yorkshire Carnegie 21 167 5 James McKinney Rotherham Titans 20 158 6 Matthew Morgan Bristol Rugby 17 152 7 Mark Bright London Scottish 20 120 8 James Pritchard Bedford Blues 15 117 9 Andy Symons Worcester Warriors 17 115 10 Lawrence Rayner Plymouth Albion 22 101 [34]

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Mark Bright London Scottish 20 24 2 Sam Betty Worcester Warriors 16 19 3 Max Stelling Worcester Warriors 19 16 4 Sam Smith Worcester Warriors 16 13 5 Tom Biggs Worcester Warriors 19 13 7 Oliver Robinson Bristol Rugby 12 11 7 Brent Wilson Nottingham Rugby 18 11 8 Mitch Eadie Bristol Rugby 20 10 9 Matt Williams London Scottish 20 10 10 David Lemi Bristol Rugby 14 9 [32]

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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