2016–17 RFU Championship

2016–17 RFU Championship
Countries	England  Jersey
Date	3 September 2016 – 24 May 2017
Champions	London Irish (1st title)
Runners-up	Yorkshire Carnegie
Relegated	none
Matches played	129
Attendance	229,202 (average 1,777 per match)
Highest attendance	11,671 London Irish v Cornish Pirates (18 March 2017)
Lowest attendance	438 Ealing Trailfinders v Jersey Reds (17 September 2016)
Tries scored	742 (average 5.8 per match)
Top point scorer	Tommy Bell (London Irish) 253
Top try scorer	Jonah Holmes (Yorkshire Carnegie) 16
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

The 2016–17 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the eighth 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 will be the fourth year of the competition's sponsorship with Greene King Brewery.^[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.

On 24 January 2017 London Welsh were expelled from the championship after failing to meet the conditions required by the RFU to extend a temporary licence granted after their liquidation. The club's record for the season was expunged. The RFU announced that no team would be relegated from the Championship at the end of the season.^[2]

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.^[3] 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 English Premiership. There is no promotion if a ground fails to meet the criteria.^[4] Unlike previous seasons there will be no relegation from the league this year.

In 2015 the RFU increased annual funding to over £500,000 per club, an agreement which will last until 2020.^[5] Despite this, Cornish Pirates stated more money was needed in RFU grants to support a fully professional second tier.^[6]

The 2016–17 season was also the last for play-offs in the Championship for three seasons. Starting with the 2017–18 season, the play-offs will be replaced by automatic promotion for the team that finishes first in the home-and-away season, provided said team meets the Minimum Standards Criteria.^[7]

Teams

After ten seasons in the Championship Birmingham Moseley were relegated following their last place finish in 2016. They are replaced by Richmond, who won the National League 1 and return to the second tier for the first time since 1997.^[8] Richmond subsequently entered administration and dropped eight tiers following two seasons in the premiership between 1997 and 1999.^[8] As a result, Richmond stated that they would remain semi-professional and not sign any professional players despite the RFU Championship being fully professional.^[8] London Irish, an original founder of the professional English Premiership, join the league after relegation from the 2015–16 Aviva Premiership, finishing bottom of the table.^[9]

On 7 December 2016 London Welsh RFC went into liquidation. They were deducted 20 points but allowed to continue in the Championship until January when the RFU would decide on their future.^[10] On 24 January 2017 London Welsh were expelled from the championship after failing to meet the conditions required by the RFU to extend the temporary licence. The club's record for the season was expunged and there would be no relegation from the Championship at the end of season.^[2]

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Area	Captain	DOR/Head Coach[a]
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire	Michael Le Bourgeois	Mike Rayer
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	4,000 (2,200 Seats)	Penzance, Cornwall	Chris Morgan	Gavin Cattle Alan Paver
Doncaster Knights	Castle Park	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 Reds	St Peter	4,000	Saint Peter, Jersey	Pierce Philips	Harvey Biljon
London Irish	Madejski Stadium	24,161[b]	Reading, Berkshire	Luke Narraway	Nick Kennedy
London Scottish	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London	Rory Bartle	Sean Lineen
London Welsh[c]	Old Deer Park	5,850 (1,000 seats)	Richmond, London	Matt Corker	James Buckland
Nottingham	Lady Bay Sports Ground	3,000	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire	Matt Everard	Ian Costello
Richmond	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London	Will Warden	Steve Hill
Rotherham Titans	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire	Tom Holmes	Justin Burnell
Yorkshire Carnegie	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	21,062	Leeds, West Yorkshire	Ryan Burrows	Ian McGeechan

Notes

Table

2016–17 RFU Championship table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	London Irish (C)	20	19	0	1	712	290	+422	14	1	91	Promotion play-off
2	Yorkshire Carnegie (F)	20	15	0	5	619	461	+158	12	3	75
3	Ealing Trailfinders (SF)[a]	20	12	1	7	584	427	+157	7	3	60
4	Doncaster Knights (SF)[a]	20	12	0	8	514	424	+90	9	1	58
5	Jersey Reds	20	11	0	9	459	451	+8	7	7	58
6	Cornish Pirates	20	9	2	9	559	497	+62	8	7	55
7	Bedford Blues	20	6	1	13	496	569	−73	10	5	41
8	London Scottish	20	7	0	13	465	605	−140	7	5	40
9	Nottingham Rugby	20	7	1	12	419	542	−123	4	5	39
10	Richmond	20	5	0	15	347	585	−238	4	2	26
11	Rotherham Titans	20	4	1	15	333	656	−323	2	2	22

Fixtures

Fixtures for the season were announced by the RFU on 8 July 2016.

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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 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. The matches are due to be played on 28/30 April 2017 and 5/6 May 2017.^[3] London Irish and Yorkshire finished 1st and 2nd respectively and both chose to play the second leg at home.^[40][41] It was announced on 27 April that both London Irish and Yorkshire Carnegie were eligible for promotion while Doncaster Knights and Ealing Trailfinders did not apply for audit for minimum standards criteria and therefore will not be promoted should they win the championship.^[42]

First leg

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Second leg

• Yorkshire Carnegie won 52 – 36 on aggregate

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• London Irish won 74 – 25 on aggregate

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Final

The final is played over two legs – with the higher placed team deciding which leg they play at home.

First leg

Second leg

• London Irish won 84 – 66 on aggregate and are promoted to the Premiership

Attendances

• Includes playoff games.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	10[b 1]	25,152	2,515	4,621	1,901	42%
Cornish Pirates	11	16,132	1,467	2,043	1,056	37%
Doncaster Knights	11[b 2]	19,110	1,737	2,748	1,079	35%
Ealing Trailfinders	12[b 3]	10,973	914	2,630	438	30%
Jersey Reds	10[b 4]	17,687	1,769	3,317	1,235	44%
London Irish	13[b 5]	57,149	4,396	11,671	1,786	18%
London Scottish	11	14,414	1,310	2,339	951	29%
London Welsh	6[b 6]	5,827	971	1,683	531	17%
Nottingham	10[b 7]	11,144	1,114	1,538	924	37%
Richmond	11	12,275	1,116	2,891	624	25%
Rotherham Titans	11	12,408	1,128	1,872	773	45%
Yorkshire Carnegie	13[b 8]	26,931	2,072	4,126	1,164	10%

^[45][43][44]

Notes

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). Stats also cover playoff games.

Season records

• Updated to 17 May 2017

See also

• 2016–17 British and Irish Cup
• List of English Rugby Union stadiums by capacity

References

External links

• RFU Championship news