2009–10_RFU_Championship

2009–10 RFU Championship
2009–10 RFU Championship
Countries	England
Champions	Exeter Chiefs
Runners-up	Bristol
Relegated	Coventry
Attendance	402,209 (average 2,260 per match)
Highest attendance	11,550 Bristol at home to Exeter Chiefs on 26 May 2010
Lowest attendance	200 Birmingham & Solihull at home to Doncaster Knights on 17 February 2010
Top point scorer	Gareth Steenson; (Exeter Chiefs) 280 points
Top try scorer	Blair Cowan; (Cornish Pirates); Errie Claassens; (London Welsh); Matthew Jess (Exeter Chiefs) 14 tries
	← 2008–09 2010–11 →

2009–10 RFU Championship

23rd edition of the second division of English domestic Rugby

The 2009–10 RFU Championship was the 1st season (of the professionalised format) of the second division of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between August 2009 and May 2010. The league had been restructured from the 16 teams of the previous season down to just 12.^[1] New teams included Bristol who had been relegated from the Guinness Premiership 2008–09 and Birmingham and Solihull who had been promoted from National Division Two 2008–09.^[2]^[3] As well as a decrease in teams, the league would now consist of three parts - a standard league section, promotion/relegation pools and then playoffs to determine who would go up as champions.

Quick Facts Countries, Champions ...

During this season, Exeter Chiefs won promotion to the Aviva Premiership 2010–11 by beating Bristol in the playoff final.^[4] This marked Exeter's first ever promotion to the Premiership, which they would later win in 2017.

Despite finishing 11th of 12 after the first stage Coventry were relegated to the 2010–11 National League 1 as they finished bottom of the relegation pool.^[5]

Results

Stage 2: Playoffs

Season records

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[8] [b 1]
Birmingham & Solihull would play a home game on 2 January 2010 at Goldington Road in Bedford, as well as two more home games at Billesley Common on 2 and 17 February 2010 due to adverse weather conditions effecting the Sharmans Cross pitch.^[6]

[10] [b 2]
Coventry would play a home game on 4 December 2009 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.^[7]

[12] [b 3]
Nottingham would play a home game on 7 November 2009 at Welford Road in Leicester due to the Notts County football team playing a home match in the FA Cup on that date.^[8]

[table_hth_LON0.45518897262178-13] 5 points deducted

[table_hth_BIR0.45518897262178-14] 15 points deducted

[1] [a 1]
Note that 2 home attendances are missing (see below) - so the total attendance will not be 100% accurate. The average attendance has also been taken into account with the missing games not included.

[15] [a 2]
Missing home attendances v Nottingham on 2 February 2010 and Coventry on 18 April 2010.

[40] [b 1]
Birmingham & Solihull are missing 2 home attendances so figure will not be 100% accurate.

[2] [1]
"Championship plan gains support". BBC News. 14 November 2008.

[3] [2]
"Bristol relegated after defeat at London Irish". Reuters. 4 April 2009.

[4] [3]
"Birmingham & Solihull win promotion on glorious day". Birmingham Post. 27 April 2009.

[Exeterwin-5] [4]
Tuckett, Phil (2010-05-26). "Bristol 10–29 Exeter (Exeter win 38–16 on aggregate)". BBC Sport. Memorial Stadium, Bristol: BBC. Retrieved 2010-05-27.

[6] [5]
"Coventry promise to play on despite relegation from the Championship". The Telegraph. 2 May 2010.

[beesgroundchanges-7] [6]
"Championship round-up: Exeter's slump gives Bristol advantage". The Telegraph. 3 January 2010.

[coventrygroundchanges-9] [7]
"Coventry Rugby Club play on at Ricoh Arena". rugbynetwork.net. 3 December 2009.

[nottinghamgroundchange-11] [8]
"Nottingham switch Chiefs match to Welford Road". Nottingham Post. 27 October 2009.^{[permanent dead link]}

[Championship_09/10_Home_attendance-16] [9]
"Championship 09/10 Home attendance". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[Rugby_Statbunker-17] [10]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Home attendance". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[18] [11]
"Championship 09/10 Leading top scorers". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[19] [12]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Leading top scorers". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[20] [13]
"Championship 09/10 Leading try scorers". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[21] [14]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Leading try scorers". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[22] [15]
"Championship 09/10 Most tries in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[23] [16]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most tries in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[24] [17]
"Championship 09/10 Most conversions in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[25] [18]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most conversions in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[26] [19]
"Championship 09/10 Most penalties in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[27] [20]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most penalties in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[28] [21]
"Championship 09/10 Most drop goals in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[29] [22]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most drop goals in a match (Team)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[30] [23]
"Championship 09/10 Most points in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[31] [24]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most points in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[32] [25]
"Championship 09/10 Most tries in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[33] [26]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most tries in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[34] [27]
"Championship 09/10 Most conversions in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[35] [28]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most conversions in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[36] [29]
"Championship 09/10 Most penalties in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[37] [30]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most penalties in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

[38] [31]
"Championship 09/10 Most drop goals in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 13 March 2010.

[39] [32]
"Championship Playoffs 09/10 Most drop goals in a match (Player)". Rugby Statbunker. 26 May 2010.

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[b 1]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Birmingham & Solihull	Sharmans Cross^{[b 1]}	2,500	Solihull, West Midlands
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol
Cornish Pirates	Recreation Ground	9,000	Camborne, Cornwall
Coventry	Butts Park Arena^{[b 2]}	4,000	Coventry, West Midlands
Doncaster Knights	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Exeter Chiefs	Sandy Park	10,000	Exeter, Devon
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	Richmond, London
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham, West Midlands
Nottingham	Meadow Lane^{[b 3]}	19,588	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	6,500	Plymouth, Devon
Rotherham Titans	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	B	Pts	Qualification
1	Bristol	22	19	0	3	630	337	+293	16	92	Promotion playoffs
2	Exeter Chiefs	22	19	0	3	699	360	+339	12	88
3	London Welsh	22	14	1	7	483	376	+107	9	62^{[lower-alpha 1]}
4	Bedford Blues	22	12	1	9	581	436	+145	9	59
5	Nottingham	22	12	0	10	539	520	+19	11	59
6	Cornish Pirates	22	11	1	10	555	463	+92	9	55
7	Doncaster Knights	22	10	0	12	394	386	+8	8	48
8	Plymouth Albion	22	10	1	11	389	462	−73	6	48
9	Moseley	22	10	0	12	444	543	−99	6	46	Relegation playoffs
10	Rotherham Titans	22	7	0	15	451	520	−69	15	43
11	Coventry	22	5	1	16	346	565	−219	5	12^{[lower-alpha 2]}
12	Birmingham & Solihull	22	0	1	21	293	836	−543	4	−9^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Coventry	21 - 12	Rotherham Titans
	Report

Doncaster Knights	12 - 26	Bedford Blues (BP)
	Report

Moseley	25 - 50	Exeter Chiefs (BP)
	Report

Pos	Team	P	W	L	F	A	BP	PTS
1	Bristol	6	5	1	189	86	4	24
2	Bedford	6	4	2	154	125	4	20
3	Cornish Pirates	6	2	4	98	158	2	10
4	Plymouth Albion	6	1	5	57	129	1	5

Pos	Team	P	W	L	F	A	BP	PTS
1	Exeter	6	4	2	181	86	4	20
2	London Welsh	6	4	2	108	110	2	18
3	Nottingham	6	2	4	98	141	2	10
4	Doncaster	6	2	4	108	158	1	9

Pos	Team	P	W	L	F	A	BP	PTS
1	Rotherham	6	5	1	188	116	7	27
2	Moseley	6	2	4	153	132	7	15
3	Birmingham & Solihull	6	3	3	158	169	3	13*
4	Coventry (R)	6	2	4	82	164	2	10

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	14	39,364	2,812	4,067	1,642	47%
Birmingham & Solihull	12^{[a 2]}	7,984	665	1,407	200	23%
Bristol	16	94,752	5,922	11,550	4,305	49%
Cornish Pirates	14	42,157	3,011	5,654	1,560	33%
Coventry	14	17,473	1,248	2,003	618	29%
Doncaster Knights	14	20,243	1,446	2,174	1,011	47%
Exeter Chiefs	16	77,670	4,854	10,021	3,477	49%
London Welsh	14	18,604	1,329	2,240	520	23%
Moseley	14	13,652	975	1,564	749	33%
Nottingham	14	16,978	1,213	1,796	790	6%
Plymouth Albion	14	37,448	2,675	4,430	1,384	41%
Rotherham Titans	14	15,884	1,135	1,610	521	45%

2009–10_RFU_Championship

Participating teams

Stage 1 League Table

Results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 15 (Rescheduled Games)

Round 18

Round 19

Round 14 (Rescheduled Game)

Round 20

Round 16 & 19 (Rescheduled Games)

Round 21

Round 17 (Rescheduled Game)

Round 22

Stage 2: Playoffs

Promotion

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Relegation

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 4 (Rescheduled Game)

Round 6

Stage 3

Semi-finals

Final

Total Season Attendances

Individual statistics

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Season records

Team

Player

Attendances

References

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