Sport Rugby union Inaugural season 2005 Country England | Founded 2005 No. of teams 10 | |
Most recent
champion(s) Hampshire (2016) (2nd title) | ||
The County Championship Shield is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2005 when it known as the County Championship Plate (a competition which is now played by tier 2 sides) - changing to its current name by 2010. It is contested by third tier teams in the RFU County Championship and involve three groups, one of four teams and two of three teams. From 2010 the County Championship Shield involves counties that are only able to select players from clubs at level five and below. The ten teams involved are divided roughly on geographic terms into three pools and play each other once either home or away, with the top teams in each pool progressing to the semi–finals. There is no formal promotion and relegation between the County Championship Shield and the higher competition for the County Championship (Bill Beaumont Cup) and County Championship Plate but Surrey moved up into the higher competition from the 2014-15 season after winning the Shield three times in succession and the 2014-15 champions, Leicestershire, have moved up to County Championship Plate level from the 2015-16 season.