stringtranslate.com

2019–20 RFU Championship

The 2019–20 RFU Championship, known as the 2019–20 Greene King IPA Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the eleventh season of the RFU Championship, the professional second tier of rugby union in England. It featured eleven English teams and one from Jersey. The competition was sponsored by Greene King for the seventh successive season.[1]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the Rugby Football Union officially cancelled the season on 20 March 2020, after initially postponing all rugby in England including training from 17 March until 14 April 2020.[2][3] As a result, Newcastle Falcons were declared champions for the season, and promoted to the Premiership on 2 April 2020 on the basis of a best playing record formula, having been undefeated and top of the table when the league was suspended, while Yorkshire Carnegie were relegated to National League 1 at the bottom.[4][5]

Structure

The team that finished first was promoted to Premiership Rugby as their ground met the RFU Minimum Standards Criteria. The team that finished last was relegated to National League 1. Each club received £530,000 in funding from the RFU in the last year of a deal with the RFU.[6]

Plans to expand Premiership Rugby from 12 to 13 teams for the 2019–20 season, which would have reprieved Newcastle Falcons from being relegated to the Championship, were blocked by the RFU.[7] Plans to abolish promotion and relegation were under discussion prior to the season,[7] and drew complaints and threats of legal action from the Cornish Pirates.[8] There were also plans for the RFU Championship to have a delayed start until October due to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.[9]

The season began on 20 September 2019 with the Championship Rugby Cup after which the first round of matches started on 11 October 2019 and the final round of matches were scheduled to be played on 9 May 2020.

Teams

2019–20 RFU Championship is located in England
Ampthill
Bedford
Cornish Pirates
Coventry
Doncaster
Ealing
Hartpury
Jersey Reds
London Scottish
Newcastle
Nottingham
Yorkshire Carnegie
class=notpageimage|
Locations of the 2019–20 RFU Championship teams

Richmond were relegated to National League 1 after finishing bottom of the 2018-19 RFU Championship.[10] They are replaced by Ampthill who were promoted from 2018-19 National League 1 in their fifth promotion in twelve years, playing in the Championship for the first time.[11][12] London Irish were promoted back to Premiership Rugby at the first attempt.[6] They are replaced in the RFU Championship by Newcastle Falcons who were relegated after finishing last in 2018-19 Premiership Rugby.[13]

Tables

Round 1

[15]

Round 2

[16]

Round 3

[17]

Round 4

[18]

Round 5

[19]

Round 6

[20]

Round 7

[21]

Round 8

[22]

Round 9

[23]

Round 10

[24]

Round 11

[25]

Round 12

[28]

Round 13

[29]

Round 12 (rescheduled game)

[30]

Round 14

[31]

Round 15

[32]

Attendances

Individual statistics

Season records

Notes

  1. ^ Yorkshire Carnegie's attendance v Nottingham on 31 January 2020 was incorrectly given as 826 in The Rugby Paper, with the official figure provided by Yorkshire Carnegie instead being 882.
  2. ^ Ealing Trailfinders attendance v Bedford Blues on 15 February 2020 was incorrectly given as 680 in The Rugby Paper, with the official figure provided by Ealing instead being 780.

References

  1. ^ "Greene King IPA extends RFU partnership". SportsPro Media. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  2. ^ "Greene King IPA Championship games postponed". Green King Championship. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Greene King IPA Championship season Cancelled". www.championshiprugby.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2020-03-25. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  4. ^ "RFU confirms league positions". England Rugby. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  5. ^ Newcastle Falcons' promotion to Premiership confirmed by RFU, from BBC Sport.
  6. ^ a b Kitson, Robert (17 May 2016). "'The RFU Championship has become the wild west of professional rugby'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  7. ^ a b "RFU warned of 'internal revolt' over plans to increase Premiership to 13 clubs and end relegation". Daily Telegraph. 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  8. ^ Daniel Schofield (2019-01-07). "Exclusive: Cornish Pirates vow to fight 'tooth and nail' against Premiership clubs' plans to scrap promotion and relegation". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  9. ^ "Premiership 'P Shares' system is cartel, says Doncaster Knights chief Tony De Mulder". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  10. ^ Rees, Paul (25 April 2019). "London Irish's top-flight return highlights gulf between rugby's rich and poor". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  11. ^ Anthony Woolford (2019-04-29). "Welsh rugby's winners and losers amid high drama and one town's humiliation". Wales Online. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  12. ^ "Ampthill hope to continue 'inspiring' rise up rugby pyramid". BBC Sport. 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  13. ^ Harrison, Paul (2019-05-04). "Premiership: Newcastle Falcons relegated from Premiership with 28-19 defeat at Gloucester". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  14. ^ FINAL LEAGUE STANDINGS 2019/20
  15. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 578. Rugby Paper Ltd. 13 October 2019. pp. 28–29 & 38.
  16. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 579. Rugby Paper Ltd. 20 October 2019. pp. 28–29 & 38.
  17. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 580. Rugby Paper Ltd. 27 October 2019. pp. 28–29 & 38.
  18. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 581. Rugby Paper Ltd. 3 November 2019. pp. 34–35 & 42.
  19. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 582. Rugby Paper Ltd. 10 November 2019. pp. 28–29 & 38.
  20. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 583. Rugby Paper Ltd. 17 November 2019. pp. 28–29 & 38.
  21. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 588. Rugby Paper Ltd. 22 December 2019. pp. 26–27 & 38.
  22. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 591. Rugby Paper Ltd. 12 January 2020. pp. 26–27 & 38.
  23. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 592. Rugby Paper Ltd. 19 January 2020. pp. 26–27 & 38.
  24. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 593. Rugby Paper Ltd. 26 January 2020. pp. 16–17 & 39.
  25. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 594. Rugby Paper Ltd. 2 February 2020. pp. 26–27 & 38.
  26. ^ "Yorkshire Carnegie v Ampthill game postponed". Yorkshire Carnegie. 9 February 2020. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  27. ^ "Fixture Rescheduled – Yorkshire Carnegie v 1st XV". Ampthill RUFC. 11 February 2020.
  28. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 595. Rugby Paper Ltd. 9 February 2020. pp. 22–23 & 32.
  29. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 596. Rugby Paper Ltd. 16 February 2020. pp. 28–29 & 36.
  30. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 597. Rugby Paper Ltd. 23 February 2020. pp. 31 & 39.
  31. ^ "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 598. Rugby Paper Ltd. 1 March 2020. pp. 28–29 & 38.
  32. ^ a b c "RFU Championship". The RUGBYPaper. No. 600. Rugby Paper Ltd. 15 March 2020. pp. 16–17 & 27.