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 (a competition which is now played by tier 2 sides)—changing to Shield by 2010 and Bill Beaumont Division 3 by 2017. 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.
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.
Past winners
Year Date Winners Score Runner-up Venue Notes 2005 29 May Surrey 29–18 Somerset Twickenham Stadium, London 2006 29 May Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire 21–17 Oxfordshire Twickenham Stadium, London 2007 25 May Durham County 30–20 Eastern Counties The New Friarage, Hartlepool 2008 24 May Hampshire 22–12 Leicestershire Aldershot Military Stadium, Aldershot 2009 30 May Durham County 29–14 Kent Blackwell Meadows, Darlington 2010 29 May Dorset & Wilts 36–26 Leicestershire Twickenham Stadium, London 2011 28 May Dorset & Wilts 43–22 Surrey Twickenham Stadium, London 2012 27 May Surrey 43–12 Leicestershire Twickenham Stadium, London 2013 26 May Surrey 21–16 Cumbria Twickenham Stadium, London 2014 1 June Surrey 39–16 Leicestershire Twickenham Stadium, London 2015 31 May Leicestershire 34–17 Cumbria Twickenham Stadium, London 2016 29 May Hampshire 33–11 Staffordshire Twickenham Stadium, London 2017 28 May Oxfordshire 29–29 Sussex Twickenham Stadium, London 2018 27 May Dorset & Wilts 24–22 Essex Athletic Ground, London 2019 8 June Cumbria 23–13 Dorset & Wilts Twickenham Stadium, London 2020-2021 No Competition due to COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom 2022 4 June Oxfordshire 7–5 Berkshire Athletic Ground, London 20233 JuneOxfordshire42-7EssexEaling Trailfinders, London
Number of wins Surrey (4) Dorset & Wilts (3) Durham County (2) Hampshire (2) Oxfordshire (3) Cumbria (1) Leicestershire (1) Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire (1)
Explanatory notes
References
External links 2011_results.pdf