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Champ Rugby

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Champ Rugby
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2025–26 Champ Rugby
SportRugby union
Founded1987; 39 years ago (1987)
AdministratorRFU
No. of teams14
Countries England
Most recent
champion		Ealing Trailfinders (3rd title)
(2024–25)
Most titlesBristol Bears (4 titles)
Level on pyramidLevel 2
Promotion toPREM Rugby (via expansion process from 2026–27[a]
Relegation toNational League 1
Official websitechamprugby.com

Champ Rugby (formerly the RFU Championship) is an English rugby union competition among fourteen clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players.[3][4] The competition has existed since 1987, when English clubs were first organised into leagues.[5] Historically the competition provided automatic promotion to the top-flight PREM Rugby, but following a vote by the RFU Council on 27 February 2026, automatic promotion and relegation between the two tiers was abolished from the 2026–27 season.[1][2] Champ Rugby remains a required pathway to the PREM under the new criteria-based expansion model, under which any club seeking admission to the PREM must first have played at least one season in the Champ.

Format

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The fourteen teams each play one another twice (once at home and once away), the results of the matches contribute points to the league table with points awarded as follows: 4 for a win, 2 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, although a team can earn 1 bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer and another for scoring 4 or more tries in a match. The top six teams enter the play-offs to determine the league champion, with 1st and 2nd earning home semi-finals and 3rd to 6th contesting quarter-finals; the winner, if eligible for promotion, then faces the bottom team in the 2025–26 Premiership for a chance at promotion.[b][6] The teams finishing 12th and 13th play a one-leg match, with the loser then facing the National League 1 runner-up to decide who remains in the Championship.[6] The 14th-placed team is automatically relegated to National League 1 and replaced by that league's champion.[6]

Current league table

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2025–26 Champ Rugby table
Pos Team
 Pld W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts Qualification
1 Ealing Trailfinders 19 19 0 0 827 303 +524 17 0 93 Play-off
semi-finals
2 Bedford Blues 19 13 1 5 582 469 +113 15 2 71
3 Worcester Warriors 19 12 0 7 661 448 +213 15 5 68 Play-off
quarter-finals
4 Coventry 19 11 0 8 695 554 +141 16 5 65
5 Hartpury 19 11 2 6 509 484 +25 9 1 58
6 Cornish Pirates 19 10 1 8 552 477 +75 12 3 57
7 Nottingham 19 9 1 9 461 408 +53 11 7 56
8 Chinnor 19 11 0 8 471 445 +26 6 5 55
9 Doncaster Knights 19 7 3 9 497 451 +46 9 4 47
10 Caldy 19 8 0 11 441 539 −98 10 3 45
11 Ampthill 19 6 0 13 462 738 −276 11 4 39
12 Richmond 19 6 1 12 388 525 −137 4 4 34 Relegation play-off
13 London Scottish 19 5 0 14 360 632 −272 7 2 29
14 Cambridge 19 0 1 18 336 769 −433 6 4 12 Relegated
Updated to match(es) played on 28 February 2026. Source: England Rugby
Rules for classification: If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Number of matches drawn
  3. Difference between points for and against
  4. Total number of points for
  5. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  6. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Current teams

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Fourteen teams will complete in the league – the twelve teams from last season, the champions of National League One and Worcester Warriors. No team was promoted to the Premiership. Last season the RFU's Tier 2 Board ran a tender process for any club, college or university to join this league, if they could meet a growth strategy and minimum operating standards. On 3 April 2025 the RFU announced that Worcester Warriors will return to professional rugby, two and half years after going into administration.[7][8]

History

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Precursor competitions (1987–2009)

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The governing body for rugby union in England, the RFU, first allowed league hierarchies in 1987. This came nearly a century after leagues were first established in football and cricket, England's other two principal team sports.[17][18]

The RFU's reluctance to allow leagues was based on a perceived threat to the sport's amateurism regulations: competitive leagues were seen as making clubs more likely to use incentives to attract and retain the best players.[19]

When formalised leagues were finally permitted in the 1987–88 season, the second level was known as 'Courage League National Division Two'. The league has since had several different names before becoming the RFU Championship in the 2009–10 season.

Name of second-level competition First season Last season
Courage League National Division Two 1987–88 1996–97
Allied Dunbar Premiership Two 1997–98 1999–2000
National Division One 2000–01 2008–09

Origins (2008)

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In November 2008, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) published a plan for a new professional tier below the Premiership. The 12-team Championship replaced the 16-team National Division One.

Level of men's rugby Name of competition in 2008–09 Name of competition in 2009–10 Number of teams in 2008–09 Number of teams in 2009–10
Level 1 Guinness Premiership Guinness Premiership 12 12
Level 2 National Division One RFU Championship 16 12
Level 3 National Division 2 National League 1 14 16

To enable Level 2 to transition from 16 teams to 12, the RFU proposal called for five teams to be relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season. The relegated teams would play in the third level of rugby, known as 'National Division 2' in 2008–09 and to be known as 'National League 1' in 2009–10.

Additionally, one team would be relegated from the Premiership (Level 1 to Level 2), one team would be promoted to the Premiership (Level 2 to Level 1), and one team would be promoted from National Division 2 (Level 3 to Level 2).

The RFU Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new proposal, and the first Championship season started the following year, in 2009.

RFU Championship (2009–2025)

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Promotion to the Premiership

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Automatic promotion to the Premiership was not a consistent feature of the RFU Championship. A playoff tournament was used to decide promotion between the 2009–10 and 2016–17 seasons, as well as in the 2020–21 season.

In seasons without a promotion playoff (2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20), the team at the top of the league was automatically promoted to the Premiership.[20]

Season Number of playoff teams
2009–10 8
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13 4
2013–14
2014–15
2015–16
2016–17
2017–18 No play-offs
2018–19
2019–20
2020–21 2
2021–22 No play-offs
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25 2
2025–26 2 (final season under automatic promotion/relegation system)

On 27 February 2026, the RFU Council voted overwhelmingly to abolish automatic promotion and relegation between Champ Rugby and the PREM with effect from the 2026–27 season.[1][2] Entry to an expanded PREM will instead be determined by a criteria-based process overseen by a newly established Expansion Review Group, assessing clubs on on-field standards, financial sustainability, commercial strength, stadium infrastructure and geographical reach. Any club seeking admission must first have played at least one season in Champ Rugby, meaning the competition retains its role as the essential gateway to the top flight.[1]

COVID-19

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2019–20 season to be prematurely ended. Final standings were based on a "best playing record formula" and promotion and relegation remained for the 1st and 12th placed clubs respectively.[21]

The 2020–21 season was impacted by the aforementioned pandemic and as a consequence, a shorter season kicked off in spring 2021. The reduced season saw each team play each other once only with the top two teams entering a two-legged promotion playoff. There was no relegation due to cancellation of National League 1.[22]

In February 2021, a moratorium on relegation from the Premiership into the Championship was approved and it was confirmed that the RFU were working on a review of the minimum standards criteria for promotion and the league structure from 2021–22.[23] The moratorium was extended for a further two years in June 2021 and also could include promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2022–23 season if there was promotion in the previous season. There was also no relegation from the Championship in 2021–22.

Champ Rugby (2025–)

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On 15 May 2025, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) announced a new format and structure for the competition under the brand of Champ Rugby. The new format and structure saw a return of relegation to National League 1 and a potential route to the PREM, which Tier 2 board chair Simon Gillham said would create "aspiration and jeopardy". The competition was expanded to 14 teams from the 2025–26 season onwards. The new structure sees the top six sides, after the regular season, enter into a play-off phase to determine the league champions. Teams placed 12th and 13th in the table face each other in a single-leg play-off, the loser playing the runner-up in 2025–26 National League 1. The eventual winner will be in Champ Rugby for the 2026–27 season. The bottom placed side is automatically relegated to National League 1 and replaced by the National League 1 champions.[6][24]

On 27 February 2026, the RFU Council voted to abolish automatic promotion and relegation between the Champ and the PREM, replacing it with a criteria-based expansion model taking effect from the 2026–27 season.[1][2] The 2025–26 season will be the last in which the Champ Rugby champions could contest a promotion play-off against the bottom PREM club under the traditional system. Any club seeking admission to the PREM from the 2026–27 season, they must first have played at least one season in the competition.[25]

Competition funding

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The RFU Championship clubs were in dispute with the RFU over funding for the competition and claimed that each club was owed £77,000 for the past three seasons, and will be owed a further £120,000 over the next four seasons. The clubs believed they should have received £295,000 in 2009–10, rising to £400,000 by 2015–16 and further believe there was a breach of contract on the part of the RFU. The RFU stated that the original funding was an estimate and by 2015–16 the figure will be £359,400.[26] When the RFU announced the hiatus of promotion play-offs, it also announced funding increases from both itself and the Premiership, including a new system which ties some of the new funding to each Championship side's performance in the league season.[20] The extra funding provided prior to 2016–17 was removed prior to the 2020–21 season.[27][28]

Sponsorship

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For sponsorship reasons, the competition was officially known as the Greene King IPA Championship between the 2013–14 and 2020–21 seasons.[29]

Historic results

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Courage League National Division Two (1987–1997)

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Season Matches Champions Runners–up Relegated teams
1987–88 11 Rosslyn Park Liverpool St Helens No relegation
1988–89 11 Saracens Bedford London Scottish and London Welsh
1989–90 11 Northampton Saints Liverpool St Helens No relegation[a 1]
1990–91 12 Rugby London Irish Richmond and Headingley
1991–92 12 London Scottish West Hartlepool Plymouth Albion, Liverpool St Helens
1992–93 12 Newcastle Gosforth Waterloo Bedford, Rosslyn Park, Richmond, Blackheath, Coventry, Fylde, Morley
1993–94 18 Sale West Hartlepool Rugby, Otley
1994–95 18 Saracens Wakefield Fylde, Coventry
1995–96 18 Northampton Saints London Irish No relegation[a 2]
1996–97 22 Richmond Newcastle Rugby, Nottingham
Green background are promotion places.

Allied Dunbar Premiership Two (1997–2000)

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Season Matches Champions Runners–up Relegated teams
1997–98 22 Bedford West Hartlepool[a 3] No relegation[a 4]
1998–99 26 Bristol Rotherham Blackheath and Fylde
1999–00 26 Rotherham Leeds Tykes Rugby and West Hartlepool
Green background are promotion places.

National Division One (2000–2009)

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Season Matches Champions Runners–up Relegated teams
2000–01 26 Leeds Tykes Worcester Orrell and Waterloo
2001–02 26 Rotherham Worcester Henley and Bracknell
2002–03 26 Rotherham Worcester Moseley, Rugby Lions
2003–04 26 Worcester Orrell Wakefield, Manchester
2004–05 26 Bristol Exeter Orrell, Henley
2005–06 26 Harlequins Bedford Blues No relegation[a 5]
2006–07 30 Leeds Tykes Earth Titans Otley, Waterloo
2007–08 30 Northampton Saints Exeter Chiefs Pertemp Bees, Launceston
2008–09 30 Leeds Tykes Exeter Chiefs Esher, Sedgley Park, Newbury, Otley, Manchester
Green background are promotion places.

RFU Championship / Champ Rugby (2009–present)

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Season Matches Champions Runners–up Relegated teams
2009–10 22 Exeter Chiefs Bristol Coventry
2010–11 22 Worcester Warriors Bedford Blues Doncaster Knights
2011–12 22 London Welsh Bristol Ealing Trailfinders
2012–13 22 Newcastle Falcons Bristol Plymouth Albion
2013–14 23 London Welsh Doncaster Knights Moseley
2014–15 22 Worcester Warriors Yorkshire Carnegie No relegation
2015–16 22 Bristol Ealing Trailfinders Rotherham Titans
2016–17 22 London Irish Ealing Trailfinders Richmond
2017–18 22 Bristol Ealing Trailfinders Yorkshire Carnegie
2018–19 22 London Irish Ealing Trailfinders No relegation
2019–20 15* Newcastle Falcons Ealing Trailfinders No relegation
2020–21 10** Saracens Ealing Trailfinders No relegation
2021–22 20 Ealing Trailfinders Doncaster Knights No relegation
2022–23 22 Jersey Reds Ealing Trailfinders Richmond
2023–24 20 Ealing Trailfinders Cornish Pirates No relegation
2024–25 22 Ealing Trailfinders Bedford Blues No relegation
2025–26 26 Last season under automatic promotion/relegation system[f]
Green background are promotion places.
*2019–20 season ended early due to the pandemic.
**2020–21 season started late due to the pandemic.

Number of league titles

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Due to the expansion of the Courage National Leagues for the following season there was no relegation from the 1989–90 Courage League National Division Two.[30]
  2. ^ Due to the expansion of the division from 10 to 12 teams for the following season there was no relegation from the 1995-96 Courage League National Division Two.[31]
  3. ^ 3rd place London Scottish were also promoted.
  4. ^ Due to the expansion of the top two divisions for the following season there was no relegation from the 1997-98 Dunbar Premiership Two.[32]
  5. ^ Due to the RFU expanding the league from 14 to 16 teams for the following season there was no relegation from the 2005-06 National Division One.[33]
  1. ^ Automatic promotion to the PREM was abolished from the 2026–27 season following a vote by the RFU Council on 27 February 2026.[1] Clubs may still enter the PREM via a criteria-based expansion process, for which having played at least one season in the Champ is a requirement.[2]
  2. ^ From the 2026–27 season, automatic promotion and relegation between the two tiers was abolished; entry to the PREM will instead be via a criteria-based expansion process.[1]
  3. ^ Goldington Road capacity up from 5,000 to 5,531 for the 2025–26 season with capacity crowd achieved versus Richmond on 26 December 2025.[9][10]
  4. ^ Chinnor upgraded their temporary 350 seater stand to a permanent grandstand containing 560 seats ahead of the 2025–26 season.[11][12]
  5. ^ Due to storm damage to the Mennaye Field in January 2026, Cornish Pirates would play two home games at the 7,000 capacity Recreation Ground, home of Camborne RFC.[13]
  6. ^ Automatic promotion and relegation between Champ Rugby and the PREM was abolished from the 2026–27 season following an RFU Council vote on 27 February 2026.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Newcombe, Jon (27 February 2026). "RFU Council approve huge change to the direction of English club rugby". RugbyPass. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d e Hardy, Matt (27 February 2026). "Automatic promotion and relegation from Prem Rugby scrapped". City A.M. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  3. ^ "What next for rugby's Championship?". BBC Sport.
  4. ^ "RFU cuts turn London Scottish semi-pro but Championship could become development league | SWLondoner". 2 April 2020.
  5. ^ Williams, Peter (2012). "Any given Saturday: Competitive balance in elite English rugby union". Managing Leisure. 17 (2–3): 88–105. doi:10.1080/13606719.2012.674388. S2CID 154035466.
  6. ^ a b c d Raisey, Josh (15 May 2025). "Extra drama added at both ends as RFU unveil new-look Champ Rugby". Rugby Pass. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  7. ^ Kitson, Robert (3 April 2025). "Worcester wind back to life with second-tier return and vow to clear debts". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  8. ^ "Worcester Warriors set for Championship return". BBC Sport. 3 April 2025. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Round 12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Goldington Road". Napit.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
  11. ^ "Chairman's BIG August Update". Chinnor Rugby. 2 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Minor/Major improvement works version 2". National League Rugby. 24 September 2025.
  13. ^ "Cornish Pirates forced to move home match to Camborne RFC". Falmouth Packet. 23 January 2026.
  14. ^ "A right mess entirely of the RFU's making". The RugbyPaper. No. 703. 6 March 2022. p. 11.
  15. ^ "Hartpury Stadium renamed as Vodafone and 4Ed Foundation partnership unveiled". Hartpury University & College. 29 October 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  16. ^ "Richmond Athletic Ground". Richmond Rugby. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  17. ^ Williams, P. J. (2000). Professionalism and Change in English Rugby Union: An Inside View - ProQuest. University of Manchester. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  18. ^ "Annual Meeting of County Secretaries – the programme for 1890". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. ACS. 1889. pp. 478–479. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  19. ^ Williams, P. (December 2002). "Battle Lines on Three Fronts: The RFU and the Lost War Against Professionalism". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 19 (4): 114–136. doi:10.1080/714001793. S2CID 145705183. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  20. ^ a b "Play-off system removed from Greene King IPA Championship from next season" (Press release). Premiership Rugby Limited. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  21. ^ "RFU". www.englandrugby.com. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  22. ^ "Greene King IPA Championship Fixtures Confirmed". www.championshiprugby.co.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  23. ^ "RFU Council Votes in Favour of No Relegation". www.englandrugby.com. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  24. ^ Orchard, Sara (15 May 2025). "Championship becomes Champ Rugby in overhaul". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  25. ^ "Rugby unites behind transformational new vision". Rugby Football Union. 27 February 2026. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  26. ^ Straughan, Dick (5 July 2012). "Falcons relegated as Welsh win RFU promotion appleal". The Cornishman. p. 80.
  27. ^ "Update on RFU Funding of Greene King IPA Championship". Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  28. ^ "Update on RFU Funding of Greene King IPA Championship". Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  29. ^ "Greene King IPA to sponsor RFU Championship" (Press release). Rugby Football Union. 26 June 2013. Archived from the original on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  30. ^ Tony Williams and Bill Mitchell, ed. (1990). Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91. Windsor: Burlington Publishing Co Ltd.
  31. ^ Mick Cleary and John Griffiths, ed. (1996). Rothmans Rugby Union Yearbook 1996–97. London: Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7472-7771-2.
  32. ^ "Leagues 1997/98". Moseley Rugby Club. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  33. ^ "RFU council approves expansion of National League One". ESPN. 17 March 2006.
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