| 2022–23 RFU Championship Cup | |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin and knockout |
| Date: | 4 November 2022 — 13 May 2023 |
| Teams: | 12 |
| Matches: | 39 |
| Highest Attendance: | 3,045 – Bedford v Coventry, 11 November 2022 |
| Lowest Attendance: | 483 – Ampthill v Caldy, 4 February 2023 |
| Top Point Scorer: | 44 – Russell Bennett (Jersey) |
| Top Try Scorer: | 6 – Arthur Relton (Pirates) Peter Roberts (Doncaster) Simon Uzokwe (Ealing) David Williams (Nottingham) |
| Champions: | Ealing Trailfinders |
| Count: | 3 |
| Runner-Up: | Jersey Reds |
| Previous Year: | 2021–22 |
| Next Year: | 2023–24 |
The 2022–23 RFU Championship Cup was the fourth and final season of the annual rugby union Championship Cup competition for second tier, professional English clubs playing in the RFU Championship. The competition was won by Ealing Trailfinders who defeated Jersey Reds 35 - 31 in the final.[1] It would be the third Championship Cup title for the London club. The competition would merge with the Premiership Rugby Cup for the following season.
The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of three pools of four teams each playing home and away matches. Pool matches ran from September through to February, on weekends when there is no RFU Championship league fixtures.[2] The three group winners, along with the best group runner up, qualify for the semi-finals to be held in May.
| Team | Ground | Capacity | City/Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dillingham Park | 3,000 | Ampthill, Bedfordshire | |
| 5,000 (1,700 seats) | |||
| 4,000 | Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside | ||
| 4,000 (2,200 seats) | Penzance, Cornwall | ||
| 4,000 (3,000 seats) | |||
| 5,000 (1,650 seats) | Doncaster, South Yorkshire | ||
| 4,000 (2,200 seats) | |||
| Gillman's Ground | 2,000 | Hartpury, Gloucestershire | |
| 4,000 | Saint Peter, Jersey | ||
| 4,500 (1,000 seats) | Richmond, London, London | ||
| Lady Bay Sports Ground | 3,500 | ||
| 4,500 (1,000 seats) | Richmond, London, London | ||
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| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||||||||
| 1 | Ealing Trailfinders (Q) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 248 | 112 | 136 | 5 | 1 | 26 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Jersey Reds (Q) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 212 | 102 | 110 | 5 | 0 | 25 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 114 | 247 | -133 | 3 | 0 | 7 | |||||||||||
| 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 98 | 211 | -113 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||||||||||
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| Green background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as group winner. Blue background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as the best runner up. Updated: 19 February 2023 Source: Web site: Championship Cup 2022-23 . englandrugby.com. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||||||||
| 1 | Doncaster Knights (Q) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 195 | 135 | 60 | 5 | 0 | 23 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 202 | 131 | 71 | 4 | 1 | 21 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 168 | 168 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 13 | |||||||||||
| 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 113 | 244 | -131 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||||
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| Green background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as group winner. Blue background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as the best runner up. Updated: 19 February 2023 Source: Web site: Championship Cup 2022-23 . englandrugby.com. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||||||||
| 1 | Cornish Pirates (Q) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 215 | 63 | 152 | 5 | 0 | 29 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 131 | 117 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 16 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 94 | 181 | -87 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |||||||||||
| 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 102 | 181 | -79 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |||||||||||
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| Green background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as group winner. Blue background means the club qualified for the semi-finals as the best runner up. Updated: 19 February 2023 Source: Web site: Championship Cup 2022-23 . englandrugby.com. | |||||||||||||||||||||
[4] ----
The four qualifiers were seeded according to performance in the pool stage - with the two best performing pool winners being ranked as seeds 1 and 2, while the third group winner and best group runner up were ranked as seeds 3 and 4. The top four seeds hosted the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 format. However, if two teams qualified from the same pool they could not be drawn together. For the final the highest ranked seed would have home advantage.
Teams were ranked by:
1 – competition points (4 for a win, 2 for a draw)
2 – where competition points are equal, greatest number of wins
3 – where the number of wins are equal, greatest number of tries scored
4 – where the number of tries are equal, aggregate points difference
5 – where the aggregate points difference are equal, greatest number of points scored
6 – where the greatest number of points are equal, least red cards
7 – if red cards are equal, then ranking will be decided by the toss of a coin[3]
| Rank | Pool | Pool leaders/best runner-up | Pts | Wins | TF | Diff | PF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C | 29 | 6 | 33 | 152 | 215 | |
| 2 | A | 26 | 5 | 38 | 136 | 248 | |
| 3 | A | 25 | 5 | 32 | 110 | 212 | |
| 4 | B | 23 | 4 | 30 | 60 | 195 | |
| 5 | B | 21 | 4 | 30 | 71 | 202 | |
| 6 | C | 16 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 131 | |
| Club | Home Games | Total | Average | Highest | Lowest | % Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ampthill | 3 | 1,546 | 515 | 537 | 483 | 17% |
| Bedford Blues | 3 | 8,041 | 2,680 | 3,045 | 2,459 | 54% |
| Caldy | 3 | 2,836 | 945 | 1,067 | 871 | 24% |
| Cornish Pirates | 4 | 5,531 | 1,383 | 1,642 | 1,252 | 35% |
| Coventry | 3 | 5,521 | 1,840 | 2,102 | 1,621 | 46% |
| Doncaster Knights | 3 | 2,641 | 880 | 1,026 | 726 | 17% |
| Ealing Trailfinders | 5 | 4,368 | 874 | 1,225 | 672 | 17% |
| Hartpury | 3 | 2,046 | 682 | 721 | 625 | 34% |
| Jersey Reds | 3 | 3,278 | 1,093 | 1,204 | 908 | 27% |
| London Scottish | 3 | 1,667 | 556 | 617 | 500 | 12% |
| Nottingham | 3 | 2,024 | 675 | 908 | 515 | 19% |
| Richmond | 3 | 1,943 | 648 | 700 | 619 | 14% |
Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.
Source: [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [14] [1]
| Rank | Player | Club | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | ||
| 2 | 37 | ||
| 3 | 32 | ||
| 4 | 31 | ||
| Coventry | |||
| 5 | 30 | ||
| Cornish Pirates | |||
| Doncaster Knights | |||
| Nottingham | |||
Source: [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [14] [1]
| Rank | Player | Club | Tries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | ||
| Doncaster Knights | |||
| Nottingham | |||
| 2 | 5 | ||
| Jersey Reds | |||
| 3 | 4 | ||
| Jersey Reds | |||
| Hartpury | |||
| Jersey Reds | |||
| Coventry | |||
| Cornish Pirates | |||
| Hartpury | |||
| Coventry | |||
| Ealing Trailfinders | |||