2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1

2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1
Countries	England
Date	5 May 2017 - 27 May 2018
Champions	Lancashire (25th title)
Runners-up	Hertfordshire
Relegated	Northumberland, Surrey
Matches played	18
Attendance	6,967 (average 387 per match)
Highest attendance	1,515 Cornwall v Devon (6 May 2018)
Lowest attendance	150 Northumberland v East Midlands (19 May 2018)
Tries scored	150 (average 8.3 per match)
Top point scorer	Chris Johnson (Lancashire) 55 points
Top try scorer	Anthony Bingham (Lancashire) 5 tries
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 118th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organised by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for the top tier English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system (typically National League 1, National League 2 North or National League 2 South). The counties were divided into two regional sections (each divided into two pools, for a total of four) with the winners of each meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. Lancashire are the reigning champions having defeated Cornwall in the previous year's final.^[1]

Once again Lancashire finished as winners of the northern group stage with a 100% record to qualify for their second successive final, although group runners-up Yorkshire could feel aggrieved as they also had a 100% record, but lost out on points for/against. It showcased a real weakness in the new competition format as neither county had faced each other over the past two years, despite being the best sides in the northern group. Lancashire were joined by Hertfordshire who took advantage of a slip-up by Gloucestershire at Surrey to win the southern group and cement their place in the final - the county's first since 2012. By contrast last season's finalists Cornwall had a dire campaign, managing only one draw in their three games and finishing bottom of their group. Unlike Yorkshire, Cornwall can thank the RFU for the new format as promotion/relegation is over two seasons, saving Cornwall from the drop due to their excellent tournament the previous season.

In the Twickenham final Lancashire finished as deserving champions beating Hertfordshire 32-16, with 22 points coming from the boot Chris Johnson who also finished as the competition's top points scorer, while a try from his team-mate, Anthony Bingham, made him the top try scorer with 5 tries.^[2][3] It was the 25th cup win for a Lancashire side that has dominated the competition through its history. Relegated sides from the 2018 competition included East Midlands from the north and Surrey from the south. In Surrey's case they had actually looked safe, having finished a point clear of relegation rivals, Devon, but ultimately went down due to a 2 points deduction for fielding an ineligible player in their 15-15 draw with Cornwall earlier in the campaign.^[4] In East Midlands case they actually finished 3rd overall in the northern group competition over the two seasons but decided to take voluntary relegation due to difficulties in getting the top eligible clubs in their union to provide players for future competitions. Both East Midlands and Surrey will play in the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 next season.

The 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 consists of twelve county sides, with six counties in the northern group, and six in the southern group. Each county plays three games per group, which means that some counties get two home games, and the others just the one home game. The RFU have taken fixtures from the previous year into account so that county sides that only played one home game in that competition now get two games and vice versa. At the end of the group stage the top teams with the best record from each group (north and south) advance to the final held on 27 May 2018 at Twickenham Stadium.

A continuation from the 2017 competition is that promotion/relegation occurs every two seasons instead of one, with points accumulated over the two seasons (2017 and 2018) taken into consideration. The two lowest ranked counties (one from the north/one from the south) will be relegated into the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 competition, with the two highest aggregate ranked sides of that tournament being promoted to take their place.

County Stadium(s) Capacity City/Area Cheshire Hartsfield 2,000 Moreton, Merseyside Cornwall The Recreation Ground Recreation Ground 3,500 (580 seats) 7,000 (780 seats) Redruth, Cornwall Camborne, Cornwall Devon Astley Park 1,800 (300 in stand) Brixham, Devon East Midlands Dillingham Park Goldington Road 3,000 6,000 (1,700 seats) Ampthill, Bedfordshire Bedford, Bedfordshire Eastern Counties University Football Ground 1,500 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Gloucestershire Regentsholme 1,500 Lydney, Gloucestershire Hertfordshire Rosedale Sports Club Silver Leys N/A 1,600 Cheshunt, Hertfordshire Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire Kent Goddington Dene Jack Williams Ground 3,200 (200 seats) N/A Orpington, London Aylesford, Kent Lancashire Park Lane Woodlands Memorial Ground 3,000 9,000 Whitefield, Greater Manchester Lytham St Annes, Lancashire Northumberland Preston Avenue Tynedale Park N/A 2,000 (400 seats) North Shields, Tyne and Wear Corbridge, Northumberland Surrey Molesey Road 3,500 (1,200 seats) Hersham, Surrey Yorkshire Silver Royd 4,500 (425 seats) Scarborough, North Yorkshire

Hartsfield (Cheshire) Redruth (Cornwall) Camborne (Cornwall) Brixham (Devon) Ampthill (E Midlands) Bedford (E Midlands) Cambridge (E Counties) Lydney (Gloucestershire) Cheshunt (Herts) B Stortford (Herts) Orpington (Kent) Aylesford (Kent) Whitefield (Lancashire) Lytham St Annes (Lancashire) North Shields (Northumberland) Corbridge (Northumberland) Hersham (Surrey) Scarborough (Yorkshire) class=notpageimage| Locations of the 2018 Division 1 county teams

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In order to determine relegation to the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2, results from the 2017 and 2018 competitions will be combined, with the lowest ranked team from each group being relegated.

• Does not include final at Twickenham which is a neutral venue and involves teams from all three county divisions on the same day

^[5][6][7]

• 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 also include final.

Top points scorers [edit] Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Points 1 Chris Johnson Lancashire Sedgley Park 3 55 2 Sean Taylor Hertfordshire Hertford 4 44 3 Stephen Collins Lancashire Sedgley Park 3 29 4 Jack Blakeney-Edwards Yorkshire Darlington Mowden Park 3 24 5 Ben Jones Cheshire Caldy 2 23 [5][6][7][2][3]

Top try scorers [edit] Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Tries 1 Anthony Bingham Lancashire Sale FC 4 5 2 Lewis Minikin Yorkshire Hull Ionians 3 4 Phil Mills Lancashire Rossendale 4 4 3 Stephen Collins Lancashire Sedgley Park 3 3 Simon Frewin Yorkshire Sandal 3 3 Matt Hema Eastern Counties Cambridge 3 3 Steve Nolson Yorkshire Otley 3 3 Dan Smart Kent Canterbury 3 3 Scott Rawlings Lancashire Longton 4 3 Evan Stewart Lancashire Vale of Lune 4 3 [5][6][7][2][3]

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

• NCA Rugby Archived 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine