2009–10 RFU Championship explained

2009–10 RFU Championship
Champions:	Exeter Chiefs
Runnersup:	Bristol
Relegated:	Coventry
Highest Attendance:	11,550 Bristol at home to Exeter Chiefs on 26 May 2010
Attendance:	402,209 (average 2,260 per match)
Lowest Attendance:	200 Birmingham & Solihull at home to Doncaster Knights on 17 February 2010
Top Point Scorer:	Gareth Steenson (Exeter Chiefs) 280 points
Top Try Scorer:	Blair Cowan (Cornish Pirates) Errie Claassens (London Welsh) Matthew Jess (Exeter Chiefs) 14 tries
Prevseason:	2008–09
Nextseason:	2010–11

The 2009–10 RFU Championship was the 1st season (of the professionalised format) of the second division of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between August 2009 and May 2010. The league had been restructured from the 16 teams of the previous season down to just 12.^[1] New teams included Bristol who had been relegated from the Guinness Premiership 2008–09 and Birmingham and Solihull who had been promoted from National Division Two 2008–09.^{[2] [3]} As well as a decrease in teams, the league would now consist of three parts - a standard league section, promotion/relegation pools and then playoffs to determine who would go up as champions.

During this season, Exeter Chiefs won promotion to the Aviva Premiership 2010–11 by beating Bristol in the playoff final.^[4] This marked Exeter's first ever promotion to the Premiership, which they would later win in 2017.

Despite finishing 11th of 12 after the first stage Coventry were relegated to the 2010–11 National League 1 as they finished bottom of the relegation pool.^[5]

Participating teams

width=25%	Team	width=25%	Stadium	width=25%	Capacity	width=25%	City/Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Birmingham & Solihull	Sharmans Cross	2,500	Solihull, West Midlands
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol
Cornish Pirates	Recreation Ground	9,000	Camborne, Cornwall
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000	Coventry, West Midlands
Doncaster Knights	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Exeter Chiefs	Sandy Park	10,000	Exeter, Devon
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	Richmond, London
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham, West Midlands
Nottingham	Meadow Lane	19,588	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	6,500	Plymouth, Devon
Rotherham Titans	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Notes

Results

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

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 2 February 2010.

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Round 15

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 January 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 January 2010.

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Round 16

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 10 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 11 February 2010.

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Round 17

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 24 February 2010.

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Round 15 (Rescheduled Games)

• Game rescheduled from 28 December 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 28 December 2009.

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Round 18

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Round 19

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 17 February 2010.

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Round 14 (Rescheduled Game)

• Game rescheduled to 19 December 2009.

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Round 20

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Round 16 & 19 (Rescheduled Games)

• Game rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 30 January 2010.

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Round 21

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Round 17 (Rescheduled Game)

• Game rescheduled from 15 January 2010.

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Round 22

Stage 2: Playoffs

Promotion

Winner of Pool A to play Runner-Up of Pool B, and Winner of Pool B to play Runner-Up of Pool A.

Group A:

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	BP	PTS
1	Bristol	6	5	0	1	189	86	4	24
2		6	4	0	2	154	125	4	20
3	Cornish Pirates	6	2	0	4	98	158	2	10
4	Plymouth Albion	6	1	0	5	57	129	1	5

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

Group B:

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	BP	PTS
1		6	4	0	2	181	86	4	20
2	London Welsh	6	4	0	2	108	110	2	18
3	Nottingham	6	2	0	4	98	141	2	10
4	Doncaster	6	2	0	4	108	158	1	9

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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Relegation

Bottom club in Group C relegated to National League 1

Group C:

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	BP	PTS
1		6	5	0	1	188	116	7	27
2	Moseley	6	2	0	4	153	132	7	15
3	Birmingham & Solihull	6	3	0	3	158	169	3	13*
4	Coventry (R)	6	2	0	4	82	164	2	10

• Birmingham & Solihull deducted 2 points for fielding an unregistered player

Coventry are relegated to National League 1.

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 24 April 2010.

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Round 5

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Round 4 (Rescheduled Game)

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Round 6

Stage 3

Semi-finals

The semifinals were one-off single ties held between the winner of Group A and the runner-up of Group B, and the winner of Group B and the runner-up of Group A. The matches took place at the home ground of the group winners.

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Final

The two-legged final took place at the home grounds of the two clubs involved, rather than at Twickenham.

Exeter Chiefs win the Championship and earn promotion to the 2010–11 Premiership.^[4]

Total Season Attendances

• Figures include playoff semi finals and final

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	14	39,364	2,812	4,067	1,642	47%
Birmingham & Solihull	12	7,984	665	1,407	200	23%
Bristol	16	94,752	5,922	11,550	4,305	49%
Cornish Pirates	14	42,157	3,011	5,654	1,560	33%
Coventry	14	17,473	1,248	2,003	618	29%
Doncaster Knights	14	20,243	1,446	2,174	1,011	47%
Exeter Chiefs	16	77,670	4,854	10,021	3,477	49%
London Welsh	14	18,604	1,329	2,240	520	23%
Moseley	14	13,652	975	1,564	749	33%
Nottingham	14	16,978	1,213	1,796	790	6%
Plymouth Albion	14	37,448	2,675	4,430	1,384	41%
Rotherham Titans	14	15,884	1,135	1,610	521	45%

^{[6] [7]}

Individual statistics

• Player stats include playoff games as well as regular season games. Also note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

Top points scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Appearances	Points
1			26	280
2			31	274
3			26	267
4			29	226
5			22	209
6			24	196
7			21	166
8	Jonathan West		24	159
9			25	135
			26	135

^{[8] [9]}

Top try scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Appearances	Tries
1			21	14
			26	14
			28	14
2			19	13
3			24	12
			28	12
			29	12
4			21	11
			27	11
			29	11

^{[10] [11]}

Season records

Team

Largest home win — 52 pts62 - 10 Cornish Pirates at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 25 October 2009

Largest away win — 45 pts60 - 15 Bristol away to Cornish Pirates on 1 May 2010

Most points scored — 62 pts (x2)62 - 10 Cornish Pirates at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 25 October 2009
62 - 12 Exeter Chiefs at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 13 March 2010

Most tries in a match — 10Bristol away to Cornish Pirates on 1 May 2010

Most conversions in a match — 7Cornish Pirates at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 25 October 2009

Most penalties in a match — 6 (x4)Exeter Chiefs at home to Doncaster Knights on 12 September 2009
Rotherham Titans at home to Cornish Pirates on 31 October 2009
Moseley at home to Bristol on 13 March 2010
Exeter Chiefs away to Bristol on 26 May 2010

Most drop goals in a match — 2 (x3)Doncaster Knights at home to Bristol on 24 October 2009
Rotherham Titans at home to Cornish Pirates on 31 October 2009
Exeter Chiefs away to Bristol on 26 May 2010

^{[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]}

Player

Most points in a match — 24 (x2) James Pritchard for Bedford Blues at home to Nottingham on 16 January 2010
Gareth Steenson for Exeter Chiefs away to Bristol on 26 May 2010

Most tries in a match — 4 (x2) Ian Davey for Bedford Blues at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 10 October 2009
Callum MacBurnie for Moseley at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 1 May 2010

Most conversions in a match — 7 James Moore for Cornish Pirates at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 25 October 2009

Most penalties in a match — 6 (x4) Gareth Steenson for Exeter Chiefs at home to Doncaster Knights on 12 September 2009
Jonathan West for Rotherham Titans at home to Cornish Pirates on 31 October 2009
Tristan Roberts for Moseley at home to Bristol on 13 March 2010
Gareth Steenson for Exeter Chiefs away to Bristol on 26 May 2010

Most drop goals in a match — 2 Gareth Steenson for Exeter Chiefs away to Bristol on 26 May 2010

^{[20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]}

Attendances

Highest — 11,550 Bristol at home to Exeter Chiefs on 26 May 2010

Lowest — 200 Birmingham & Solihull at home to Doncaster Knights on 17 February 2010

Highest Average Attendance — 5,922Bristol

Lowest Average Attendance — 665Birmingham & Solihull

^{[6] [7]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Championship plan gains support . BBC News . 14 November 2008 .
2. Web site: Bristol relegated after defeat at London Irish . Reuters . 4 April 2009 .
3. Web site: Birmingham & Solihull win promotion on glorious day . Birmingham Post . 27 April 2009 .
4. News: Bristol 10–29 Exeter (Exeter win 38–16 on aggregate). Phil. Tuckett. Memorial Stadium, Bristol. 2010-05-26. BBC Sport. BBC. 2010-05-27.
5. Web site: Coventry promise to play on despite relegation from the Championship . The Telegraph . 2 May 2010 .
6. Web site: Championship 09/10 Home attendance . Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.
7. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Home attendance . Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.
8. Web site: Championship 09/10 Leading top scorers . Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.
9. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Leading top scorers . Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.
10. Web site: Championship 09/10 Leading try scorers . Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.
11. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Leading try scorers . Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.
12. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most tries in a match (Team) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
13. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most tries in a match (Team) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .
14. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most conversions in a match (Team) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
15. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most conversions in a match (Team) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .
16. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most penalties in a match (Team) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
17. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most penalties in a match (Team) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .
18. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most drop goals in a match (Team) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
19. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most drop goals in a match (Team) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .
20. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most points in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
21. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most points in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .
22. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most tries in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
23. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most tries in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .
24. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most conversions in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
25. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most conversions in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .
26. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most penalties in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
27. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most penalties in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .
28. Web site: Championship 09/10 Most drop goals in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 13 March 2010 .
29. Web site: Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most drop goals in a match (Player) . Rugby Statbunker . 26 May 2010 .