2014–15 RFU Championship

2014–15 RFU Championship
Countries	England  Jersey
Date	5 September 2014 – 27 May 2015
Champions	Worcester Warriors
Runners-up	Bristol
Relegated	Plymouth Albion
Matches played	138
Attendance	377,794 (average 2,738 per match)
Highest attendance	12,024 Worcester Warriors at home to Bristol on 27 May 2015
Lowest attendance	631 Moseley at home to London Scottish on 8 November 2014
Top point scorer	Dougie Flockhart (Doncaster Knights) 229 points
Top try scorer	Mark Bright (London Scottish) 26 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] The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also competed in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales.^[2] Matches in the RFU Championship were broadcast on Sky Sports.

Worcester Warriors finished second during the regular season and became champions after beating Bristol 59 – 58 in the two-legged final. The Warriors overcame third-place London Scottish in the semifinal play-off, while Bristol (who finished first in the league table) beat fourth-place Rotherham Titans in the other semi-final. After thirteen seasons in the second tier of English rugby union, Plymouth Albion are relegated to the 2015–16 National League 1 for next season, after finishing in last place.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.^[5] There are no relegation play–offs; the bottom team is automatically relegated.^[4] Following an agreement with the RFU in 2012, each RFU Championship club will receive £365,000 in funding from the RFU for the season.^[6]

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 in the play-off final after being relegated into the RFU Championship the previous year.^[7] They are replaced by Worcester Warriors after they were relegated to the RFU Championship after finishing last in the 2013–14 English Premiership.^[8] Ealing Trailfinders were relegated into National League 1 after finishing bottom of the 2013–14 RFU Championship by one point.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[10]

Below is a list of the teams participating in the 2014–15 RFU Championship.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}

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	Dwayne Peel	Andy Robinson
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	4,000 (2,200 Seats)	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 Abbeydale Park[n 1]	2,500 3,200	Rotherham, South Yorkshire Sheffield, 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

2014–15 RFU Championship Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Bristol (F)	22	21	0	1	774	399	+375	18	1	103	Promotion play-off
2	Worcester Warriors (W)	22	19	0	3	858	335	+523	18	3	97
3	London Scottish (SF)	22	12	2	8	534	498	+36	10	2	64
4	Rotherham Titans (SF)	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	−126	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
12	Plymouth Albion (R)	22	3	2	17	314	630	−316	1	5	22	Relegation

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The semifinals followed a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 system – with the games being played over two-legs with the higher placed team deciding who played at home in the first leg.

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• Worcester Warriors won 65 – 37 on aggregate

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• Bristol Rugby won 56 – 36 on aggregate

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

FB 15 Jack Wallace RW 14 Charlie Amesbury OC 13 Gareth Maule IC 12 Gavin Henson  70' LW 11 David Lemi FH 10 Matthew Morgan  56' SH 9 Dwayne Peel (c)  73' N8 8 Mitch Eadie OF 7 Jack Lam BF 6 Ryan Jones  18'  35'  50' RL 5 Mark Sorenson LL 4 Glen Townson  50' TP 3 Gaston Cortes 18' to 28'  70' HK 2 Chris Brooker  70' LP 1 Kyle Traynor Replacements: HK 16 Max Crumpton  70' TP 17 Anthony Perenise  18' 25' to 35'  70' LK 18 Ben Glynn  50' FL 19 Marco Mama  50' SH 20 Tom Kessell  73' FB 21 Nicky Robinson  56' CE 22 Jack Tovey  70' Coach: Andy Robinson

FB 15 Chris Pennell RW 14 Tom Biggs OC 13 Alex Grove IC 12 Ryan Mills LW 11 Cooper Vuna  75' FH 10 Ryan Lamb SH 9 Jean-Baptiste Bruzulier N8 8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze (c) OF 7 Sam Betty BF 6 Mike Williams RL 5 Jonathan Thomas LL 4 James Percival  64' TP 3 Nick Schonert  73' HK 2 Agustín Creevy  76' LP 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin  62' Replacements: HK 16 Niall Annett  76' LP 17 Ryan Bower  62' TP 18 Joe Rees  73' FL 19 Leonardo Senatore  64' SH 20 Jamie Shillcott CE 21 Ravai Fatiaki WG 22 Ben Howard  75' Coach: Dean Ryan

Touch judges: Luke Pearce Ian Tempest Television match official: Graham Hughes

FB 15 Chris Pennell RW 14 Tom Biggs OC 13 Alex Grove  70' IC 12 Ryan Mills LW 11 Cooper Vuna 60' to 70' FH 10 Ryan Lamb SH 9 Jean-Baptiste Bruzulier N8 8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze (c) OF 7 Sam Betty  67' BF 6 Mike Williams RL 5 Jonathan Thomas LL 4 James Percival TP 3 Nick Schonert  69' HK 2 Agustín Creevy  65' LP 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin  48' Replacements: HK 16 Niall Annett  65' LP 17 Ryan Bower  48' TP 18 Joe Rees  69' FL 19 Leonardo Senatore  67' SH 20 Jamie Shillcott CE 21 Ravai Fatiaki FB 22 Ben Howard  70' Coach: Dean Ryan

FB 15 Jack Wallace  57' RW 14 Charlie Amesbury OC 13 Jack Tovey IC 12 Ben Mosses LW 11 David Lemi FH 10 Nicky Robinson SH 9 Dwayne Peel (c) 79' to 80' N8 8 Mitch Eadie OF 7 Jack Lam 74' to 80' BF 6 Marco Mama RL 5 Mark Sorenson  74' LL 4 Ben Glynn TP 3 Gaston Cortes  54' HK 2 Chris Brooker  70' LP 1 Kyle Traynor Replacements: HK 16 Max Crumpton  70' TP 17 Anthony Perenise  54' LK 18 Glen Townson  74' FL 19 Olly Robinson SH 20 Tom Kessell FB 21 Matthew Morgan  57' CE 22 Gareth Maule Coach: Andy Robinson

Touch judges: Luke Pearce Greg Garner Television match official: David Grashoff

Worcester win 59 – 58 on aggregate

• Includes play-off games where applicable

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	11	27,454	2,496	4,401	1,833	42%
Bristol Rugby	13	104,710	8,055	12,010	6,428	37%
Cornish Pirates	11	16,270	1,479	2,390	1,010	37%
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	12	19,935	1,661	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	12	18,885	1,574	3,227	1,018	64%
Worcester Warriors	13	84,376	6,490	12,024	3,826	54%
Yorkshire Carnegie	11	20,286	1,844	2,705	1,145	9%

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• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Stats also include promotion play-offs.

The RFU Dream Team is picked by the coaches of the twelve championship teams. Bristol playmaker Morgan attracted the highest number of votes for an individual player with eight, one more than Cornish Pirates pair Tom Kessell and Darren Barry and Nottingham's Shaun Malton. Meanwhile, London Scottish number 8 Bright makes the Dream Team for the third year in a row and is the only player to retain his place from last season.^[40]

• 15 Paul Jarvis (Doncaster Knights)
• 14 Sam Smith (Worcester Warriors)
• 13 Max Stelling (Worcester Warriors)
• 12 Andy Symons (Worcester Warriors)
• 11 David Lemi (Bristol Rugby)
• 10 Matthew Morgan (Bristol Rugby)
•  9 Tom Kessell (Cornish Pirates)
•  1 Sam Lockwood (Jersey)
•  2 Shaun Malton (Nottingham Rugby)
•  3 Harry Williams (Jersey)
•  4 Mike Williams (Worcester Warriors)
•  5 Darren Barry (Cornish Pirates)
•  6 Alex Rieder (Rotherham Titans)
•  7 Jack Preece (Rotherham Titans)
•  8 Mark Bright (London Scottish)

• RFU Championship news