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2015 Bill Beaumont Cup (County Championship)
Countries	England
Date	9 May 2015 - 31 May 2015
Champions	Cornwall (4th title)
Runners-up	Lancashire
Relegated	Kent, Durham County
Matches played	13
Attendance	9,803 (average 754 per match)
Highest attendance	2,800 Cornwall v Hertfordshire (23 May 2015)
Lowest attendance	250 Cheshire v Lancashire (9 May 2015)
Top point scorer	Matthew Shepherd Cornwall 64
Top try scorer	Forbes Edwards Cheshire 4
← 20142016 →

The 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 115th 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 were the two finalists from the 2014 County Championship Plate – Kent (winners) and Durham County (runners-up) who replaced North Midlands and Northumberland. Lancashire were the defending champions.

At the end of the group stage, Lancashire won the northern division with relative ease to book their place in the final for the seventh successive year while Cornwall joined them, squeezing through by defeating Hertfordshire in the last game of the southern group having trailed 18 - 6 at half time. Both Durham County and Kent made an instant return to the 2016 County Championship Plate after being relegated by coming bottom of their respective groups. The 2015 final was a repeat of the previous two seasons with Cornwall this time turning the tables on holders Lancashire and winning their first county title since 1999 in an 18 - 13 victory. Cornish All Black scrum half Matthew Shepherd was man of the match with two tries and also finished as the competition's top scorer.

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 31 May 2015. The bottom side in each group was relegated to the second tier of the county championships for the following season, with the finalists from that division replacing them.

Participating Counties and ground locations

Group stage

Division 1 North

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Division 1 South

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Final

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

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 Matthew Shepherd Cornwall Cornish All Blacks 4 64 2 Jack Lavin Cheshire Caldy 3 31 3 Dan Watt Hertfordshire Old Albanian 3 28 4 Chris Johnson Lancashire Fylde 3 21 5 Forbes Edwards Cheshire Caldy 3 20

Top try scorers Rank Player County Club Side Appearances Tries 1 Forbes Edwards Cheshire Caldy 3 4 2 Matthew Shepherd Cornwall Cornish All Blacks 4 4 3 Jordan Dorrington Cheshire Fylde 3 3 4 Jack Lavin Cheshire Caldy 3 3 5 Robin Wedlake Cornwall Redruth 3 3

See also

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

References

1. "Stradwick leads Kent to county title". Kent RFU. 1 June 2014. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
2. "Durham rugby hope not to freeze at Twickenham in County Championship final v Kent". Hartlepool Mail. 30 May 2014.
3. "North Midlands relegated". North Midlands RFU. 24 May 2014.
4. "Northumberland 22 Yorkshire 36: Relegation blow for beaten North". Chronicle Live. 25 May 2014.
5. "Cornwall fall short in County Championship final at Twickenham". Western Morning News. 1 June 2014. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
6. "RUGBY: Gloucestershire survive relegation with vital win over Kent". Gazette. 26 May 2015.
7. "Counties beaten as Durham relegated and Northumberland miss out". Chronicle Live. 24 May 2015.
8. "Cornwall win County Championship with superb win over Lancashire". West Briton. 31 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
9. "ENGLAND V BARBARIANS SUNDAY 31 MAY 2015 K.O. 3pm". Tunbridge Wells RFC. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
10. ^ "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 347. Rugby Paper Ltd. 10 May 2015. pp. 32–33 & 36.
11. ^ "County Championships Results: 2014-15". englandrugby.com. 31 May 2015.
12. ^ "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 348. Rugby Paper Ltd. 17 May 2015. pp. 28–30.
13. ^ "Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 349. Rugby Paper Ltd. 24 May 2015. pp. 24–26.

External links

• NCA Rugby Archived 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine

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Other	English rugby union system Timeline of rugby union on UK television

• Bill Beaumont Cup
• 2014–15 County Championship