# 2016 County Championship Shield > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/2016_County_Championship_Shield > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/2016_County_Championship_Shield.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_County_Championship_Shield > Source revision: 1332185663 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) For the first tier of the English Counties competition, see [2016 Bill Beaumont Cup](/source/2016_Bill_Beaumont_Cup). For the second tier of the English Counties competition, see [2016 County Championship Plate](/source/2016_County_Championship_Plate). The **2016 County Championship Shield** was the 12th version of the annual [English](/source/England) [rugby union](/source/Rugby_union) [County Championship](/source/County_Championship_(rugby_union)), organised by the [RFU](/source/RFU) for the [tier 3](/source/County_Championship_Shield) [English counties](/source/English_counties). Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the [English rugby union league system](/source/English_rugby_union_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](/source/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](/source/County_Championship_Plate) for the following season, joining the 2015 Shield champions [Leicestershire](/source/Leicestershire_Rugby_Football_Union) who had already been promoted at the start of this season.[1][2] After winning their respective pools and semi-final games, [Staffordshire](/source/Staffordshire_Rugby_Union) and [Hampshire](/source/Hampshire_Rugby_Football_Union) 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](/source/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](/source/County_Championship_Plate) for the following season, based on performances in the Shield over the past couple of seasons.[1] ## Participating counties and ground locations County Stadium(s) Capacity City/Area Berkshire Holme Park N/A Sonning, Reading, Berkshire Buckinghamshire Ostler's Field N/A Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire Cumbria Bower Park N/A Aspatria, Cumbria Dorset & Wilts Ballard's Ash Sports Ground N/A Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire Essex Memorial Park The New Wilderness N/A N/A Newham, Greater London Redbridge, Greater London Hampshire Gosport Park N/A Gosport, Hampshire Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire Eakring Road 1,000 Mansfield, Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Bodicote Park 2,500 (250 seats) Banbury, Oxfordshire Staffordshire Esterchem Park N/A Leek, Staffordshire Warwickshire Webb Ellis Road 4,000 (200 seats) Rugby, Warwickshire ## Group stage ### Pool 1 2016 County Championship Shield Pool 1 Table County Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points 1 Buckinghamshire (Q) 3 2 1 0 99 72 27 2 0 12 2 Warwickshire (Q) 3 2 1 0 89 81 8 2 0 12 3 Essex 3 1 0 2 71 75 -4 1 1 6 4 Oxfordshire 3 0 0 3 78 109 -31 1 1 2 If teams were level at any stage, tiebreakers were 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 Shield semi finals. Updated: 14 May 2016 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com. #### Round 1 [4] #### Round 2 [5] #### Round 3 [6] ### Pool 2 2016 County Championship Shield Pool 2 Table County Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points 1 Staffordshire (Q) 2 2 0 0 68 51 17 1 0 9 2 Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire 2 1 0 1 52 50 2 1 0 5 3 Cumbria 2 0 0 2 63 83 -20 2 0 2 If teams were level at any stage, tiebreakers were 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 Shield semi finals. Updated: 14 May 2016 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com. #### Round 1 [4] #### Round 2 [5] #### Round 3 [6] ### Pool 3 2016 County Championship Shield Pool 3 Table County Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points 1 Hampshire (Q) 2 2 0 0 90 13 77 2 0 10 2 Berkshire 2 1 0 1 35 60 -25 1 0 5 2 Dorset & Wilts 2 0 0 2 27 79 -52 0 0 0 If teams were level at any stage, tiebreakers were 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 Shield semi finals. Updated: 14 May 2016 Source: "County Championships". englandrugby.com. #### Round 1 [4] #### Round 2 [5] #### Round 3 [6] ## Knock-out Stage ### Semi-finals [7] ## See also - [English rugby union system](/source/English_rugby_union_system) - [Rugby union in England](/source/Rugby_union_in_England) ## References 1. ["Full Men's County Championship fixture list 2016-17"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170906181651/http://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Document/News/Grassroots/01/31/96/75/SeniorCountyChampionshipFixtures2017PDF_Neutral.pdf). England Rugby. Archived from [the original](http://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Document/News/Grassroots/01/31/96/75/SeniorCountyChampionshipFixtures2017PDF_Neutral.pdf) on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2016. 1. ["Rugby: Leicestershire lift County Championship Shield after win over Cumbria at Twickenham"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150603035332/http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Rugby-Leicestershire-win-County-Championship/story-26612987-detail/story.html). Leicester Mercury. 1 June 2015. Archived from [the original](http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Rugby-Leicestershire-win-County-Championship/story-26612987-detail/story.html) on 2015-06-03. Retrieved 2016-05-05. 1. ["Staffordshire beaten by Hampshire in County Shield final at Twickenham"](http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk/Rugby-Staffordshire-beaten-Hampshire-County/story-29334874-detail/story.html). Staffordshire Newsletter. 29 May 2016.[dead link] 1. ["County Championships"](http://www.englandrugby.com/fixtures-and-results/competitions/county-championships/2015-16). England Rugby. 30 April 2016. 1. ["County Championships"](http://www.englandrugby.com/fixtures-and-results/competitions/county-championships/2015-16). England Rugby. 7 May 2016. 1. "Bill Beaumont Cup". *The RUGBYPaper*. No. 400. Rugby Paper Ltd. 15 May 2016. pp. 31 & 36. 1. "Bill Beaumont Cup". *The RUGBYPaper*. No. 401. Rugby Paper Ltd. 22 May 2016. pp. 30–31 & 32. ## External links - [NCA Rugby](http://www.ncarugby.org/index.php) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150701021407/http://www.ncarugby.org/index.php) 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [2016 County Championship Shield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_County_Championship_Shield) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_County_Championship_Shield?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.