1970–71 Rugby Union County Championship Explained

1970–71 County Championship
Champions:	Surrey
Count:	2
Runnersup:	Gloucestershire
Prevseason:	1969–70
Nextseason:	1971–72

The 1970–71 Rugby Union County Championship was the 71st edition of England's premier rugby union club competition at the time. It would be the last season when the competition was viewed as the premier club competition because the following season would see the introduction of a National Knockout Competition.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

Surrey won their second title after defeating Gloucestershire in the final.^[4] ^[5]

First Round

width=20	Pos	width=250	Northern Group	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	F	width=20	A	width=20	Pts
1		5	5	0	0	65	34	10
2		5	4	0	1	90	41	8
3		5	2	0	3	73	70	4
4		5	2	0	3	51	51	4
5		5	1	0	4	22	50	2
6		5	1	0	4	44	99	2

width=20	Pos	width=250	Midland Group	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	F	width=20	A	width=20	Pts
1	Warwickshire +	5	4	0	1	49	27	8
2	Leicestershire	5	4	0	1	70	46	8
3		5	3	1	1	54	36	7
4		5	1	1	3	41	70	3
5		4	1	0	3	35	40	2
6		4	0	0	4	29	59	0

+ Won play off

width=20	Pos	width=250	South East Group	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	F	width=20	A	width=20	Pts
1	Surrey	5	5	0	0	99	26	10
2		5	4	1	0	69	41	8
3		5	3	0	2	86	52	6
4	Kent	5	2	0	3	55	80	4
5		5	1	0	4	55	92	2
6		5	0	0	5	32	105	0

width=20	Pos	width=250	South-West Group	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	F	width=20	A	width=20	Pts
1		3	3	0	0	32	11	6
2	Devon	3	2	0	1	47	29	4
3	Cornwall	3	1	0	2	25	34	2
4		3	0	0	3	14	44	0

width=20	Pos	width=250	Southern Group	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	F	width=20	A	width=20	Pts
1		4	4	0	0			8
2		4	1	2	1			4
3		4	2	0	2			4
4		4	1	1	2			3
5		4	0	1	3			1

Second Round

width=100	Date	width=120	Venue	width=150	Team One	width=150	Team Two	width=100	Score
9 Jan	Bristol	Gloucestershire	Dorset & Wilts	18-3

Semi finals

width=100	Date	width=120	Venue	width=150	Team One	width=150	Team Two	width=100	Score
23 Jan	Gosforth	Northumberland	Gloucestershire	6-9
20 Feb		Twickenham	Surrey	Warwickshire	11-9

Final


15	Eric Stephens	Gloucester
14		Bristol & St Luke's College
13	Pat Simmons	Rosslyn Park
12	Des Diamond	Loughborough College
11	Mike Collins	Bristol
10	Jonathan Gabitass	Bristol
9	John Spalding	Gloucester
1		Gloucester
2		Bristol
3		Bristol
4		Gloucester
5	N A Jackson	Gloucester
6		Bristol
7	Dick Smith	Gloucester
8	Dave Rollitt (capt)	Bristol


15	Bob Hiller (capt)	Harlequins
14	R C Cunis	Rosslyn Park
13	C T Gibbons	London Welsh
12
11		Harlequins
10		Northampton
9		Harlequins
1	Paddy Hinton	Richmond
2	B Russell	Richmond
3	Mike Roberts	London Welsh
4		London Scottish
5		London Welsh
6	A M Phillips	London Welsh
7
8

Notes and References

Book: Jenkins, Vivian. Rothmans Rugby Yearbook. 1976. 1975. 130-131. Brickfield Publications Ltd. 0362-00221-5.
Web site: English County Championship. Rugby Football History.
Web site: The County Finals. County Rugby.com.
Web site: Titley., U. A. "Hannaford awaits fitness report." Times, 6 Mar. 1971, p. 4. Times Digital Archives.
Web site: Titley, U. A. "Surrey's debt to a London Scot." Times, 8 Mar. 1971, p. 7. Times Digital Archives.