2015–16 RFU Championship

2015–16 RFU Championship
Countries	England  Jersey
Date	4 September 2015 – May 2016
Champions	Bristol
Runners-up	Doncaster Knights
Relegated	Moseley
Matches played	138
Attendance	298,010 (average 2,159 per match)
Highest attendance	16,084 Bristol Rugby v Doncaster Knights on 25 May 2016
Lowest attendance	310 Ealing Trailfinders v Nottingham Rugby on 28 November 2015
Tries scored	848 (average 6.1 per match)
Top point scorer	Gavin Henson Bristol 193 points
Top try scorer	Paul Grant Nottingham Rugby 19 tries
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the seventh 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 third year of the competition's sponsorship with Greene King Brewery, which runs until 2017.^[1] The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also compete in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales. Some matches in the RFU Championship are broadcast on Sky Sports.

Moseley are relegated into the 2016–17 National League 1 after finishing bottom of the table.^[2] After seven years of trying for promotion (five of which they actually topped the league stage including during this season), Bristol finally did it. In front of a divisional and club record crowd of 16,084, Bristol managed to gain promotion to the Aviva Premiership despite losing 32–34 to away side (and league stage runners up), Doncaster Knights, due to an emphatic first leg victory, to go up 60 - 47 on aggregate.^[3][4]

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.^[5] The top four teams at the end of the home-and-way 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. There is no promotion if grounds fail to meet the criteria.^[6] There are no relegation play-offs; the bottom team is automatically relegated.^[5] This the last year of a 2012 funding agreement with the RFU, where each club would have been given a grant of £380,000.^[7] Following claims, by Championship teams, including Plymouth Albion, that the current arrangement was not enough to sustain professional clubs, the RFU increased the annual funding to over £500,000 per club in a new agreement which will last until 2020.^[8]

Ten of the teams, listed below, played in the championship last season. Worcester Warriors were promoted to the English Premiership defeating Bristol in the 2014–15 RFU Championship play-off final and are replaced by London Welsh, following their relegation from the 2014–15 English Premiership, after finishing bottom of the table and earning only one point.^[9][10] Plymouth Albion were relegated from the Championship after finishing bottom in the 2014–15 RFU Championship, ending a thirteen-year spell in the second tier of English rugby.^[11] They are replaced by Ealing Trailfinders who were promoted as champions of 2014–15 National League 1, returning to the RFU Championship after relegation the previous year.^[12]

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Area	Captain	DOR/Head Coach
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire	Nick Fenton-Wells	Mike Rayer
Bristol	Ashton Gate Stadium	16,600[a 1]	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
Ealing Trailfinders	Trailfinders Sports Ground	3,020 (1,020 seats)	West Ealing, London	Danny Kenny	Ben Ward
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
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850 (1,000 seats)	Richmond, London	Matt Corker	Rowland Phillips
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham, West Midlands	Mike Powell	Kevin Maggs
Nottingham Rugby	Lady Bay Sports Ground	2,000 (est)	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire	Daniel Montagu	Martin Haag
Rotherham Titans	Clifton Lane Herringthorpe Playing Fields	2,500 Unknown capacity	Rotherham, South Yorkshire	Tom Holmes	Lee Blackett
Yorkshire Carnegie	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	21,062	Leeds, West Yorkshire	Ryan Burrows	Ian McGeechan

2015–16 RFU Championship table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Bristol (C)	22	20	0	2	718	397	+321	14	1	95	Promotion play-off place
2	Doncaster Knights (F)	22	15	2	5	588	470	+118	10	5	79
3	Yorkshire Carnegie (SF)	22	14	0	8	655	466	+189	15	7	78
4	Bedford Blues (SF)	22	12	0	10	623	599	+24	10	6	64
5	London Welsh	22	11	1	10	442	528	−86	9	3	58
6	Jersey	22	11	1	10	465	466	−1	5	6	57
7	Nottingham Rugby	22	10	0	12	494	483	+11	9	7	56
8	London Scottish	22	10	0	12	463	453	+10	2	7	49
9	Cornish Pirates	22	8	1	13	530	570	−40	8	7	49
10	Rotherham Titans	22	8	0	14	454	621	−167	3	3	38
11	Ealing Trailfinders	22	6	1	15	523	605	−82	5	6	37
12	Moseley (R)	22	4	0	18	416	715	−299	6	4	26	Relegation place

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• Moseley are relegated after Ealing beat Jersey during the Saturday fixture.^[2]

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The semifinals follow a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 system – with the games being played over two legs and the higher placed team choosing which leg they play at home. Both Bristol and Doncaster elected to play the second leg at home and therefore visited Bedford Blues and Yorkshire Carnegie respectively in the first legs on 1 May. The grounds of three of the teams met the minimum standards required to play in the Premiership next season. If Doncaster Knights were promoted they would initially play their matches at the Keepmoat Stadium, the home of Doncaster Rovers while Bristol and Yorkshire Carnegie would continue to their current stadia. Bedford Blues did not apply to have their ground audited and, therefore, could not win promotion; if they had won the play-off final, the last-placed team in the Premiership (London Irish) would not have been relegated.^[40]

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• Doncaster Knights won 44–34 on aggregate

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• Bristol Rugby won 90–35 on aggregate

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

• Bristol won 60–47 on aggregate

• Includes playoff games.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	12	31,333	2,611	4,341	2,077	44%
Bristol Rugby	13	100,129	7,702	16,084	4,560	46%
Cornish Pirates	11	15,705	1,428	2,340	1,025	36%
Doncaster Knights	13	29,937	2,303	4,797	1,019	46%
Ealing Trailfinders	11	7,338	667	874	310	22%
Jersey	11	22,790	2,072	2,613	1,526	41%
London Scottish	11	12,809	1,164	1,850	884	26%
London Welsh	11	13,214	1,201	2,032	730	24%
Moseley	11	11,509	1,046	1,431	726	35%
Nottingham Rugby	11	11,202	1,018	1,864	623	51%
Rotherham Titans	11	12,980	1,180	1,721	887	48%
Yorkshire Carnegie	12	28,520	2,377	3,672	1,329	11%

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• 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). Stats also cover playoff games.

• 2015–16 British and Irish Cup

• RFU Championship news