# 2016 Bill Beaumont Cup

The 2016 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 116th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organized by the RFU for the top tier English counties. 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 pools with the winners of each meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the competition were the two finalists from the 2015 County Championship Plate – Surrey (winners) and Eastern Counties (runners-up) who replaced Kent and Durham who were relegated from their respective groups. Cornwall were the defending champions.
The two pool winners, Cheshire (north) and holders Cornwall met in the final. Cheshire had beaten 2015's runners up, Lancashire, in the pool stage, but came up short against a Cornish side managed once more by Graham Dawe who had lost his job at Plymouth Albion at the end of the season. The bulk of his team were Albion players, and they beat Cheshire, 35–13, to retain their title, with Matthew Shepherd having another good final by getting 20 of Cornwall's points including a last minute try. Due to changes to the County Championship format for the 2017 competition, no teams would be relegated to the second tier of the county championships for the following season.

## Competition format

The competition format is two regional group stages divided into north and south, with each team playing each other once. This means that two teams in the pool have two home games, while the other two had just one. The top side in each group goes through to the final held at Twickenham Stadium. Unlike previous seasons, due to changes to the following seasons championships there would be no relegation.

## Participating Counties and ground locations

| County | Stadium(s) | Capacity | City/Area |
| Cheshire | Hare Lane Heywood Road | 2,000 5,400 | Chester, Cheshire Sale, Greater Manchester |
| Cornwall | The Recreation Ground Recreation Ground | 3,500 (580 seats) 7,000 (780 seats) | Redruth, Cornwall Camborne, Cornwall |
| Eastern Counties | University Football Ground | 1,500 | Cambridge, Cambridgeshire |
| Gloucestershire | Station Road | 2,500 (400 seats) | Cribbs Causeway, Patchway, Bristol |
| Hertfordshire | Woollam Playing Fields Silver Leys | 1,000 1,600 | St Albans, Hertfordshire Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire |
| Lancashire | Woodlands Memorial Ground Park Lane | 9,000 3,000 | Lytham St Annes, Lancashire Whitefield, Greater Manchester |
| Surrey | Hazelwood | 2,000 | Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey |
| Yorkshire | Silver Royd | 4,500 (425 seats) | Scalby, North Yorkshire |

## Group stage
### Division 1 North

2016 Beaumont Cup Division 1 North Table :
| | County | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Cheshire (Q) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 85 | 29 | 56 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| 2 | Lancashire | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 87 | 64 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| 3 | Eastern Counties | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 66 | 98 | -32 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | Yorkshire | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 67 | 114 | -47 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled |||||||||||||||
| Green background means the county qualified for the final. Pink background means the county were demoted to Division 2 North of the County Championship Plate for the following season. Updated: 21 May 2016 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com. |||||||||||||||

#### Round 1

* 7 May 2016 15:00
| (BP) Cheshire | 29 - 11 | Eastern Counties |
| | Report | |
* Hare Lane, Chester Attendance: 300 Referee: Matthew Turvey
* 7 May 2016 15:00
| Yorkshire | 27 - 40 | Lancashire (BP) |
| | Yorkshire Lancashire | |
* Silver Royd, Scalby Attendance: 1,896 Referee: Ben Blain

#### Round 2

* 14 May 2016 15:00
| (BP) Cheshire | 29 - 7 | Yorkshire |
| | Report | |
* Heywood Road, Sale Attendance: 523 Referee: Claire Hodnett
* 14 May 2016 15:00
| (BP) Lancashire | 36 - 10 | Eastern Counties |
| | Eastern Counties Lancashire | |
* Woodlands Memorial Ground, Lytham St Annes Attendance: 719 Referee: Will Halford

#### Round 3

* 21 May 2016 15:00
| (BP) Eastern Counties | 45 - 33 | Yorkshire (BP) |
| | Report | |
* University Football Ground, Cambridge Attendance: 250 Referee: Callum Howard
* 21 May 2016 15:00
| Lancashire | 11 - 27 | Cheshire |
* Park Lane, Whitefield Attendance: 500 Referee: Jamie Leahy

### Division 1 South

2016 Beaumont Cup Division 1 South Table :
| | County | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Cornwall (Q) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 88 | 56 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| 2 | Hertfordshire | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 69 | 56 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 3 | Gloucestershire | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 70 | 78 | -8 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | Surrey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 64 | 101 | -37 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled |||||||||||||||
| Green background means the county qualified for the final. Pink background means the county were en demoted to Division 2 South of the County Championship Plate for the following season. Updated: 21 May 2016 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com. |||||||||||||||

#### Round 1

* 7 May 2016 15:00
| Cornwall | 33 - 27 | Gloucestershire (BP) |
| | Report | |
* The Recreation Ground, Redruth Attendance: 1,850 Referee: Callum Howard
* 7 May 2016 15:00
| (BP) Hertfordshire | 31 - 28 | Surrey (BP) |
| | Report | |
* Woollam Playing Fields, St Albans Attendance: 490 Referee: David Clarkson

#### Round 2

* 14 May 2016 14:00
| Surrey | 22 - 38 | Gloucestershire (BP) |
| | Report | |
* Hazelwood, Sunbury-on-Thames Attendance: 200 Referee: Robbie Bourke
* 14 May 2016 15:00
| Hertfordshire | 15 - 23 | Cornwall |
| | Report | |
* Silver Leys, Bishop's Stortford Attendance: 360 Referee: Luis Caviglia

#### Round 3

* 21 May 2016 14:15
| Gloucestershire | 5 - 23 | Hertfordshire |
| | Report | |
* Station Road, Clifton, Bristol Attendance: 350 Referee: Neil Chivers
* 21 May 2016 15:00
| (BP) Cornwall | 32 - 14 | Surrey |
| | Report | |
* The Recreation Ground, Camborne Attendance: 3,125 Referee: Veryan Boscawen

## Final

* 29 May 2016
| Cornwall | 35–13 | Cheshire |
| Try: Searle, Matavesi, Stupple, Shepherd Con: Shepherd (3) Pen: Shepherd (3) | Report | Try: Millea Con: Lavin Pen: Lavin (2) |
* Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Jamie Leahy
| 15 | Matthew Shepherd | Plymouth Albion |
| 14 | Lewis Vinnicombe | Redruth |
| 13 | Jake Murphy | Plymouth Albion |
| 12 | Nielson Webber | Redruth |
| 11 | Robin Wedlake | Plymouth Albion |
| 10 | Billy Searle | Plymouth Albion |
| 9 | Greg Goodfellow | Chinnor |
| 1 | Tom Cowan-Dickie | Redruth |
| 2 | Rupert Freestone | Plymouth Albion |
| 3 | Craig Williams | Redruth |
| 4 | Ben Hilton | Cornish All Blacks |
| 5 | Tony Whittle | Camborne |
| 6 | Kyle Marriott (capt) | Redruth |
| 7 | Sam Matavesi | Plymouth Albion |
| 8 | Herbie Stupple | Plymouth Albion |
| Replacements: ||
| 16 | Richard Brown | Redruth |
| 17 | Barrie-John Chapman | Redruth |
| 18 | Damien Cook | Camborne |
| 19 | Chris Fuca | Camborne |
| 20 | Jon Dawe | Redruth |
| 22 | Sam Parsons | Plymouth Albion |
| 23 | Peter Joyce | Redruth |
| 24 | Lewis Webb | Taunton |
| 15 | Charlie Venables | Macclesfield |
| 14 | Jack Leech | Sandbach |
| 13 | Craig Harvey | Wirral |
| 12 | Rhys Hayes | Chester |
| 11 | Ali Baker | Wirral |
| 10 | Jack Lavin | Caldy |
| 9 | Joe Murray | Wirral |
| 1 | Gavin Woods | Chester |
| 2 | Paul Millea | Macclesfield |
| 3 | Elliot Millar-Mills | Macclesfield |
| 4 | David Marwick (capt) | Macclesfield |
| 5 | Tom Sanders | Caldy |
| 6 | Nyle Davidson | Caldy |
| 7 | Harry Broadbent | Rosslyn Park |
| 8 | Ryan Parkinson | Macclesfield |
| Replacements: ||
| 16 | Benjamin Jones | Caldy |
| 17 | Forbes Edward | Unattached |
| 18 | Nathan Rushton | Caldy |
| 19 | Timothy Oakes | Sandbach |
| 20 | Chris Roddy | Stourbridge |
| 22 | Nicholas Pearson | Sheffield Tigers |
| 23 | Mike Craven | Chester |

## Total season attendances

* Does not include final at Twickenham which is a neutral venue and involves teams from all three county divisions on the same day
| County | Home Games | Total | Average | Highest | Lowest | % Capacity |
| Cheshire | 2 | 823 | 412 | 523 | 300 | 12% |
| Cornwall | 2 | 4,975 | 2,488 | 3,125 | 1,850 | 49% |
| Eastern Counties | 1 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 17% |
| Gloucestershire | 1 | 350 | 350 | 350 | 350 | 14% |
| Hertfordshire | 2 | 850 | 425 | 490 | 360 | 36% |
| Lancashire | 2 | 1,219 | 610 | 719 | 500 | 12% |
| Surrey | 1 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 10% |
| Yorkshire | 1 | 1,896 | 1,896 | 1,896 | 1,896 | 42% |

## Individual statistics

* Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances will come first. Also note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included). Statistics will also include final.