| 2017 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 | |
| Date: | 6 May 2017 - 28 May 2017 |
| Count: | 24 |
| Runnersup: | Cornwall |
| Matches: | 19 |
| Attendance: | 27548 |
| Highest Attendance: | 7,000 Lancashire v Cornwall on 28 May 2017 |
| Lowest Attendance: | 150 Gloucestershire v Devon on 6 May 2017 |
| Tries: | 149 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Sam Goatley (Gloucestershire) / Calum Irvine (Yorkshire) 35 |
| Top Try Scorer: | Sam Goatley (Gloucestershire) 7 |
| Prevseason: | 2016 |
| Nextseason: | 2018 |
The 2017 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 117th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organised by the RFU for the top tier English counties. This was the first season it would be officially known as Bill Beaumont Division 1 having previously been known as the Bill Beaumont Cup.[1] 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. Cornwall were the defending champions.[2] [3]
Due to changes to the County Championship format (more detail of this below) four new teams were added to the competition, with East Midlands and Northumberland joining the northern section, while Kent and Devon joined the south. East Midlands (winners) and Kent (runners up) were promoted after reaching the final of the 2016 County Championship Plate, while Northumberland and Devon were promoted by virtue of their performances in the competition over the past couple of seasons. It also saw a lucky escape for the likes of Yorkshire, who would have been playing tier 2 rugby this year were it not for the competition restructuring.[4] [5] [6]
By the end of the group stages, Lancashire and Cornwall came top of their respective pools, winning all three of their games with a bonus point in each to qualify for the final in what would be the fourth county championship final between the two sides. Lancashire possibly had the harder time of it as they edged rivals Yorkshire by just one point with neither side playing each other due to the new format, while Cornwall won all their games. In the Twickenham final, the first half started with Cornwall dominant in taking an 8-0 lead into the break - although they perhaps should have capitalized more on a Lancashire yellow card towards the end of the half. The second half was a completely different story, however, as Lancashire played some breath-taking rugby scoring three delightful tries to take the game 19-8, ending Cornwall's hope of a treble of championships, and claiming the 24th county championship title for the Red Rose.[7]
The 2017 County Championships saw a new competition structure introduced across all three divisions. In tier 1 there were now twelve teams instead of the eight from 2016, with six counties in the northern group, and six in the southern group. To complicate matters further, each county only played three games per group instead of five. This meant that some counties had two home games, while the others had just one. The RFU plans to switch this around the following year so that teams that played one home game in 2017 will get two during the 2018 competition - it is assumed that this is against the three teams in the group they did not play the previous season.
At the end of the group stage the top teams with the best record from each group (north and south) advanced to the final held on 28 May 2017 at Twickenham Stadium. A further change will see relegation occur every two seasons instead of one, with points accumulated over the two seasons taken into consideration. This system will also apply to promoted teams in tier 2.[4]
| County | Stadium(s) | Capacity | City/Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheshire | Paton Field Heywood Road | 4,000 3,387 | Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside Sale, Greater Manchester |
| Cornwall | Recreation Ground | 7,000 (780 seats) | Camborne, Cornwall |
| Devon | Cross-in-Hand Pottington Road | N/A 2,000 (600 seats) | Ivybridge, Devon Barnstaple, Devon |
| East Midlands | Dillingham Park | 3,000 | Ampthill, Bedfordshire |
| Eastern Counties | Grantchester Road University Football Ground | 1,250 1,000 | Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Cambridge, Cambridgeshire |
| Gloucestershire | The Hayfields Regentsholm | N/A 1,500 | Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire Lydney, Gloucestershire |
| Hertfordshire | N/A | Ware, Hertfordshire | |
| Kent | Broad Walk | N/A | Kidbrooke, London |
| Lancashire | Woodlands Memorial Ground | 9,000 | Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire |
| Northumberland | Greensfield | 1,200 (200 in stand) | Alnwick, Northumberland |
| Surrey | Athletic Ground The Big Field | 4,500 (1,000 seats) 1,000 | Richmond, London Dorking, Surrey |
| Yorkshire | Lockwood Park Brantingham Park | 1,500 (500 seats) 1,500 (240 seats) | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire Brantingham, East Riding of Yorkshire |
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| County | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||||||||
| 1 | Lancashire (Q) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 115 | 46 | 69 | 3 | 0 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 121 | 54 | 67 | 2 | 0 | 14 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 84 | 67 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |||||||||||
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 54 | 79 | -25 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |||||||||||
| 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 62 | 118 | -56 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 51 | 123 | -72 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
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| Green background means the county qualified for the final.Updated: 20 May 2017 Source: Web site: County Championships . englandrugby.com. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| County | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points for | Points against | Points difference | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Points | |||||||||||
| 1 | Cornwall (Q) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 135 | 53 | 82 | 3 | 0 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 130 | 70 | 60 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 56 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |||||||||||
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 93 | 76 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 8 | |||||||||||
| 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 43 | 108 | -65 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 43 | 139 | -96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
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| Green background means the county qualified for the final.Updated: 20 May 2017 Source: Web site: County Championships . englandrugby.com.
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| County | Home Games | Total | Average | Highest | Lowest | % Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheshire | 2 | 775 | 388 | 450 | 325 | 11% |
| Cornwall | 1 | 3,525 | 3,525 | 3,525 | 3,525 | 50% |
| Devon | 2 | 1,437 | 719 | 1,025 | 412 | 21% |
| East Midlands | 1 | 350 | 350 | 350 | 350 | 12% |
| Eastern Counties | 2 | 614 | 307 | 314 | 300 | 28% |
| Gloucestershire | 2 | 350 | 175 | 200 | 150 | 13% |
| Hertfordshire | 1 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | |
| Kent | 1 | 452 | 452 | 452 | 452 | |
| Lancashire | 1 | 545 | 545 | 545 | 545 | 6% |
| Northumberland | 1 | 256 | 256 | 256 | 256 | 21% |
| Surrey | 2 | 874 | 437 | 643 | 231 | 19% |
| Yorkshire | 2 | 920 | 460 | 484 | 436 | 31% |
| Rank | Player | County | Club Side | Appearances | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 35 | |||
| 3 | 35 | ||||
| 2 | 3 | 28 | |||
| 3 | 28 | ||||
| 3 | 3 | 25 | |||
| Rank | Player | County | Club Side | Appearances | Tries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 7 | |||
| 2 | 3 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 4 | 4 | |||
| 3 | 4 | ||||
| 3 | 4 | ||||