The 2016 County Championship Shield was the 12th version of the annual Englishrugby unionCounty Championship, organised by the RFU for the tier 3English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into three pools - one pool with four teams, the others with three teams each, with the winner of each group plus the best runner-up going through to the semi-finals, and the winners of those games meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. Due to competition changes for the 2017 season (more on this below) a number of teams in the division would be promoted to tier 2 for the following season, joining the 2015 Shield champions Leicestershire who had already been promoted at the start of this season.[1][2]
After winning their respective pools and semi-final games, Staffordshire and Hampshire met in the final. In the end it was Hampshire who finished as the champions, defeating Staffordshire, 33–11.[3]
Competition format
The competition format consisted of three groups (one with four teams, two with three teams), based roughly on regional lines where possible. The four team group consisted of six games, with two teams playing two home games and the others one home game each, while the three team groups saw each team play one home game. The top side of each group automatically qualified for the semi-finals, as did the best group runner-up. The winners of the semi-finals met in the final at Twickenham Stadium held on 29 May 2016. Due to changes to the County Championship format for the 2017 competition, four teams from the division would end up being promoted to the tier 2 for the following season, based on performances in the Shield over the past couple of seasons.[1]
^ a b"Full Men's County Championship fixture list 2016-17" (PDF). England Rugby. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
^"Rugby: Leicestershire lift County Championship Shield after win over Cumbria at Twickenham". Leicester Mercury. 1 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-06-03. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
^"Staffordshire beaten by Hampshire in County Shield final at Twickenham". Staffordshire Newsletter. 29 May 2016.[permanent dead link]
^"Warwickshire RFU". Rugby Network. 26 April 2016.
^ a b c"County Championships". England Rugby. 30 April 2016.
^ a b c"County Championships". England Rugby. 7 May 2016.
^ a b c"Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 400. Rugby Paper Ltd. 15 May 2016. pp. 31 & 36.
^"COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP SHIELD SEMI FINAL". Warwickshire RFU. 21 May 2016. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
^"Staffordshire v Buckinghamshire on 21 May 2016". Staffordshire RFU. 20 May 2016. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
^"Bill Beaumont Cup". The RUGBYPaper. No. 401. Rugby Paper Ltd. 22 May 2016. pp. 30-31 & 32.
England
