Current season, competition or edition: 2024 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 | |
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | England |
| Most recent champion(s) | Oxfordshire (2023) (3rd title) |
| Most titles | Surrey (4) |
| Related competitions | Bill Beaumont Division 1 Bill Beaumont Division 3 |
The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 (formerly County Championship Shield) is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2005 when it known as the County Championship Plate[1] (a competition which is now played by tier 2 sides)—changing to Shield by 2010 and Bill Beaumont Division 3 by 2017.[2] It is contested by third tier teams in the RFU County Championship. From 2010 Division 3 involves counties that are only able to select players from clubs at level five and below. The eight teams involved are divided roughly on geographic terms into two pools and play three games each.[3][4]
From 2017 promotion has been implemented in the competition (previously the only way out of the division was by invitation). As with the other county championship divisions, this occurs over two years as opposed to one, using a system of accumulative points from pool games to determine the top two teams (one from each group) that are promoted to tier 2. Likewise the bottom two teams in tier 2 (again, one in each group) are relegated into tier 3 at the end of the two-year period.
- ^ "Surrey take County Championship Plate". ESPN. 29 May 2005.
- ^ "County Championships renamed to honour rugby legends". England Rugby. 27 March 2017.
- ^ "County Championships". Archived from the original on 2012-09-28. Retrieved 2012-09-26.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)