The 2013 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 113th 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 South or National League 2 North). The counties were divided into two regional pools with the winners of each pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the competition included Durham County (north) and Kent (south) who won their respective groups in the 2012 County Championship Plate. Hertfordshire were the defending champions.
The northern group was won by last year's runners up, Lancashire, who booked a place in their fifth successive final in what was a very close group, edging Cheshire and Yorkshire by virtue of a superior bonus points record. They were joined by southern group winners, Cornwall, who were appearing in their first Twickenham final since 1999. Cornwall had perhaps an easier route through to the final, winning all three games, but looked very impressive in their six try demolition of last year's winners, Hertfordshire, in their final pool game to book their place. Both promoted counties, Durham County and Kent, were relegated to the 2014 County Championship Plate.
Over 10,000 Cornish fans made the journey to Twickenham but were unable to help their team to victory as Lancashire emerged victorious by defeating Cornwall, 35 - 26, in what was an exciting game. Lancashire's Nick Royle had an excellent tournament by finishing top try scorer with 5 including 1 in the final, while Cornwall's Paul Thirlby was the tournament's top scorer with 47 points.
Competition format The competition format was two regional group stages divided into north and south, with each team playing each other once. This meant that two teams in the pool had two home games, while the other two had just one. The top side in each group went through to the final held at Twickenham Stadium on 26 May 2013.
Participating Counties and ground locations
CountyStadium(s) CapacityCity/Area CheshirePriory Park1,000Macclesfield, CheshireCornwallRecreation Ground7,000 (780 seats)Camborne, CornwallDurham CountyNew FriarageEastwood GardensN/AN/AHartlepool, County DurhamGateshead, Tyne and WearGloucestershireDockham Road2,500Cinderford, GloucestershireHertfordshireHighfieldsN/AWare, HertfordshireKentJack Williams GroundPriestfieldsN/AN/AAylesford, KentRochester, KentLancashireWoodlands Memorial Ground9,000Lytham St Annes, LancashireYorkshireWagon LaneSilver Royd4,0001,950 (322 seats) Bingley, West YorkshireScalby, North Yorkshire
Group stage
Division 1 North
2013 Beaumont Cup Division 1 North TableCountyPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTry BonusLosing BonusPoints 1 Lancashire (Q) 3 2 0 1 88 74 14 2 1 11 2 Cheshire 3 2 0 1 66 63 3 1 1 10 3 Yorkshire 3 2 0 1 66 55 11 0 0 8 4 Durham County (R) 3 0 0 3 63 91 -28 2 1 3 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: 18 May 2013Source: Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Division 1 South
2013 Beaumont Cup Division 1 South TableCountyPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTry BonusLosing BonusPoints 1 Cornwall (Q) 3 3 0 0 88 65 23 1 0 13 2 Hertfordshire 3 2 0 1 135 89 46 3 0 11 3 Gloucestershire 3 1 0 2 77 100 -23 2 1 7 4 Kent (R) 3 0 0 3 63 109 -46 0 1 1If 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 South of the County Championship Plate for the following season. Updated: 18 May 2013Source: Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Final
15 Sean Taylor Preston Grasshoppers14 Nick Royle Vale of Lune 13 Chris Briers Fylde 12 Jack Ward Preston Grasshoppers 11 Ben Rath Fylde 10Chris Johnson (capt) Fylde 9 Steve Collins Sedgley Park 1 Dan Birchall Fylde 2 Jon Matthews Otley3 Simon Griffiths Fylde 4 Paul Arnold Fylde 5 Louis McGowan (capt) Sedgley Park 6 Jon Nugent Stade Dijon 7 Steve McGinnis Fylde8 Dominic Moon Preston Grasshoppers Replacements:16 Pete Altham Preston Grasshoppers 17Gareth Gore Preston Grasshoppers 18 Phil Mills Preston Grasshoppers 19 Evan Stewart Fylde20 Phil Baines Preston Grasshoppers 21 Tom Webb Fylde 22 Grant Eddlestone Sedgley Park 15 Jake Murphy Cornish All Blacks 14 Richard Bright Cornish All Blacks13 Steve Johns Coventry 12 Nielson Webber Cornish All Blacks11 Tom Notman Redruth 10 Paul Thirlby Redruth 9 Greg Goodfellow Redruth 1 Darren Jacques Redruth 2 Richard Brown Redruth 3 Craig Williams Redruth 4 Damien Cook Redruth 5 Ben Hilton (capt) Cornish All Blacks 6 Chris Fuca Redruth 7 Sam Hocking Plymouth Albion 8 Ashley Lawton CamborneReplacements: 16 Neal Turner Redruth 17 Jon Drew Redruth 18 Luke Collins Redruth 19 Tom Rawlings Cornish All Blacks 20 Matthew Shepherd St Austell 21 Steve Perry Unattached 22 Lewis Vinnicombe Redruth
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 CountyHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Cheshire 1 479 479 479 479 48% Cornwall 1 2,215 2,215 2,215 2,215 32% Durham County 2 504 252 310 194 Gloucestershire 2 582 291 407 175 12% Hertfordshire 1 426 426 426 426 Kent 2 1,005 503 700 305 Lancashire 1 740 740 740 740 8% Yorkshire 2 1,395 698 1,100 295 32%
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.
Top points scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Points 1 Paul Thirlby Cornwall Redruth 4 47 2 Chris Johnson Lancashire Fylde 3 37 3= Mike Barlow Cheshire Stockport 2 31 3= Sam Stanley Hertfordshire Old Albanian 2 31 4 Nick Royle Lancashire Fylde 4 25
Top try scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Tries 1 Nick Royle Lancashire Fylde 4 5 2 Stefan Liebenberg Hertfordshire Old Albanian 3 4 3 Lloyd Stapleton Gloucestershire Cinderford 3 3 4= Sam Hocking Cornwall Plymouth Albion 4 3 4= Dominic Moon Lancashire Preston Grasshoppers 4 3
See also English rugby union system Rugby union in England
References
External links NCA Rugby