2017 County Championship Shield

2017 County Championship Shield
Countries	England
Date	6 May 2017 - 28 May 2017
Champions	Oxfordshire (1st title)
Runners-up	Sussex
Matches played	9
Tries scored	51 (average 5.667 per match)
Top point scorer	Carles Casanova (Sussex) Ed Phillips (Oxfordshire) 23 points
Top try scorer	Bradley Burr (Essex) 3 tries
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The 2017 County Championship Shield, also known as Bill Beaumont Division Three, was the 13th version of the annual English rugby union County Championship, organised by the RFU for the tier 3 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. Due to changes to the competition across the board, the Shield competition was reduced to eight teams (see the section below for more detail on this), divided into two pools (north and south) with the pool winners meeting in the final to be held at Twickenham Stadium.^[1] New teams to the division include Middlesex, who returned to the Shield competition after missing the previous year, and Sussex who last took part in 2013.^[2][3] The reigning champions, Hampshire, were one of the promoted counties who were playing in tier 2 in 2017.^[4]

At the end of the pool stage Oxfordshire and Sussex topped both of their groups to qualify for the final. This was not without some controversy as Oxfordshire managed to make the final despite only playing 2 of their 3 group games. With pool 1 on a knife edge going into the final game, Oxfordshire's opponents, Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire, were unable to field a front row and the game was awarded to Oxfordshire and 5 points. By gaining the extra bonus point, Oxfordshire edged out group rivals, Buckinghamshire and Essex, who both had a superior for and against records.^[5] Having said all this had Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire played it was probably likely that Oxfordshire would have won by a bonus point anyway. At the Twickenham final an exciting game finished 29-29 after 80 minutes, with Oxfordshire crowned Shield champions for the first time in the county's history by virtue of scoring more tries (5) than Sussex (4).^[6][7]

Competition format

The Shield competition format was changed for the 2017 season. Where before there were ten teams playing in three pools, this was narrowed down to seven teams playing in two pools. The first pool had four teams with two of the counties playing two home games and the others just one - the RFU plans to switch this around the following year so that teams that played one home game in 2017 will get two during the 2018 competition. Pool 2 only had three teams due to the withdrawal of Middlesex who were supposed to take part, meaning that each team played one home game each. The top side in each group went through to the final held at Twickenham Stadium.^[1] Although there was promotion and relegation between tier 1 and tier 2 (now taking place every two years), as of yet it is not clear whether this will take place between tier 2 and 3. As this is the lowest level in the county championships there is no relegation.

Participating counties and ground locations

Reading (Berkshire)

Aylesbury (Bucks)

Wootton Bassett (D&W

West Ham, London (Essex)

Mansfield (NLD)

Henley (Oxon)

Thame (Oxon)

Crawley (Sussex)

Locations of the 2017 County Championship Shield county teams

Group stage

Division 3 Pool 1

Round 1

^[8]

Round 2

^[9]

Round 3

• Oxfordshire awarded 5 point win by default as Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire were unable to field a team due to a lack of front-row forwards.^[5]

^[10]

Division 3 Pool 2

Round 1

^[8]

Round 2

^[9]

Round 3

^[10]

Final

• Oxfordshire champions by virtue of scoring more tries (5) than Sussex (4).^[6]

Individual statistics

• 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). Statistics will also include final.

Top points scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Points 1 Carlos Casanova Sussex Hove 3 23 Ed Phillips Oxfordshire Banbury 3 23 2 Alex Shearer Buckinghamshire Aylesbury 3 22 3 Henry Bird Essex Brentwood 2[a 1] 20 4 Bradley Burr Essex Southend Saxons 2 17 [8][9][10][6] ↑ Henry Bird may have also played in Essex's 17-22 loss to Buckinghamshire but press coverage is very poor so it not certain if he played in this game.

Top try scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Tries 1 Bradley Burr Essex Southend Saxons 2 3 2 Marcus Bloomberg Essex Southend Saxons 2[b 1] 2 Ed Bowden Sussex Alleynian 2[b 2] 2 Bami Coker Essex Romford & Gidea 3 2 Max Morris Sussex Brighton 2[b 3] 2 Pat Ockendon Buckinghamshire Buckingham 3 2 Tom Simpson Essex Brentwood 2[b 4] 2 Ed Yeats Oxfordshire Oxford Harlequins 3 2 [8][9][10][6] ↑ Marcus Bloomberg may have also played in Essex's 37-8 win over Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire but press coverage is very poor so it not certain if he played in this game. ↑ Ed Bowden may have also played in Sussex's 19-13 win over Berkshire but press coverage is very poor so it not certain if he played in this game. ↑ Max Morris may have also played in Sussex's 19-13 win over Berkshire but press coverage is very poor so it not certain if he played in this game. ↑ Tom Simpson may have also played in Essex's 17-22 Loss to Buckinghamshire but press coverage is very poor so it not certain if he played in this game.

Competition records

See also

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

References

External links

• NCA Rugby