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2023–24 RFU Championship

Rugby union competition in England

2023–24 RFU Championship
Countries	England
Date	20 October 2023 — 25 May 2024
Champions	Ealing Trailfinders (2nd title)
Matches played	110
Attendance	175,342 (average 1,594 per match)
Highest attendance	5,047 — Coventry v Nottingham, 26 December 2023
Lowest attendance	481 – London Scottish v Doncaster Knights, 9 March 2024
Tries scored	895 (average 8.1 per match)
Top point scorer	184 – Patrick Pellegrini, Coventry
Top try scorer	16 – Matt Cornish, Ealing Trailfinders
← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 RFU Championship is the fifteen season of the RFU Championship, the professional second tier of rugby union in England. It features eleven English teams, with the 12th team, and reigning champions, Jersey Reds, withdrawing from the competition at the start of the season after going into liquidation.^[1]

Ealing Trailfinders were crowned champions on 11 May 2024 with a game still to play, despite losing away to Doncaster Knights, thanks to Cornish Pirates defeating Coventry on the same day.^[2] It would be Ealing's second Championship title in three years, but once again they would be denied promotion to the Premiership due to the minimum standard criteria.^[3] No teams would be relegated this season due to Jersey's liquidation.

Structure[edit]

The eleven teams will play each of the other teams twice.

The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows:

• 4 points are awarded for a win
• 2 points are awarded for a draw
• 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
• 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
• 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match.

Promotion and relegation[edit]

Subject to meeting the minimum standards criteria the team finishing top of the league will qualify for a promotion playoff against the bottom side in Premiership Rugby. Due to Jersey Reds dropping out of the league, and there being only eleven teams, there will be no relegation to National League 1, although the champions of National League will be promoted to become the twelfth team for the 2024–25 season.

Teams[edit]

Ten of the eleven teams played in last season's competition. Cambridge were promoted into the division as the champions of 2022–23 National League 1, replacing bottom placed Richmond who dropped down to the 2023–24 National League 1.^[4]

Club Stadium Capacity Area Previous season Ampthill Dillingham Park 3,000 Ampthill, Bedfordshire 8th Bedford Blues Goldington Road 5,000 (1,700 seats) Bedford, Bedfordshire 4th Caldy Paton Field 4,000 Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside 10th Cambridge Grantchester Road 2,200 (200 seats) Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Promoted from National League 1 Cornish Pirates Mennaye Field 4,000 (2,200 seats) Penzance, Cornwall 5th Coventry Butts Park Arena 5,200 (3,000 seats) Coventry, West Midlands 3rd Doncaster Knights Castle Park 5,183[5] (1,926 seats) Doncaster, South Yorkshire 6th Ealing Trailfinders Trailfinders Sports Ground 5,000 (2,115 seats) West Ealing, London 2nd Hartpury University ALPAS Arena 2,000 Hartpury, Gloucestershire 7th London Scottish Athletic Ground 4,500 (1,000 seats) Richmond, London 11th Nottingham Lady Bay Sports Ground 3,500 Nottingham, Nottinghamshire 9th

Ampthill Bedford Blues Caldy Cambridge Cornish Pirates Coventry Doncaster Knights Ealing Trailfinders London Scottish Hartpury University Nottingham class=notpageimage| Locations of the 2023–24 RFU Championship teams

Table[edit]

Fixtures & results[edit]

Fixtures for the season was announced by the RFU on 29 June 2023.^[6]

Round 1[edit]

^[7]

Round 2[edit]

^[8]

Round 3[edit]

^[9][10]

Round 4[edit]

^[11]

Round 5[edit]

^[12]

Round 6[edit]

• Postponed due to frozen pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 10 February 2024.^[13]

^[14]

Round 7[edit]

• Abandoned due to player suffering serious injury. Game to be rescheduled for 10 February 2024.^[15]

^[16]

Round 8[edit]

^[17][18]

Round 9[edit]

• Postponed due to severe flooding causing Lady Bay Sports Ground to be closed for the foreseeable future. Game to be rescheduled for 15 March 2024.^[19][20]

^[21][22]

Round 10[edit]

• Game postponed due to frozen pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 30 March 2024.^[23]

^[24]

Round 11[edit]

^[25]

Round 12[edit]

^[26]

Rounds 6 & 7 (rescheduled games)[edit]

• Game rescheduled from 2 December 2023.

• Game rescheduled from 16 December 2023.

^[27]

Round 13[edit]

^[28]

Round 14[edit]

^[29]

Round 15[edit]

^[30]

Round 9 (rescheduled game)[edit]

• Game rescheduled from 12 January 2024.

^[31]

Round 16[edit]

^[32]

Round 10 (rescheduled game)[edit]

• Game rescheduled from 20 January 2024.

^[33]

Round 17[edit]

^[34]

Round 18[edit]

^[35]

Round 19[edit]

^[36]

Round 20[edit]

^[37]

Round 21[edit]

• Ealing Trailfinders are champions.^[2]

^[38]

Round 22[edit]

^[39]

Attendances[edit]

Leading scorers[edit]

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Most points[edit] As of 25 May 2024 Source: [39] Rank Player Club Points 1 Patrick Pellegrini Coventry 184 2 Harry Bazalgette Hartpury 181 3 Craig Willis Ealing Trailfinders 144 4 Will Maisey Bedford Blues 138 5 Russell Bennett Doncaster Knights 115 6 Gwyn Parks Ampthill 105 7 Bruce Houston Cornish Pirates 101 8 Alec Lloyd-Seed London Scottish 85 9 Matt Cornish Ealing Trailfinders 80

Most tries[edit] As of 25 May 2024 Source: [39] Rank Player Club Tries 1 Matt Cornish Ealing Trailfinders 16 2 Seán French Bedford Blues 15 James Martin Coventry 3 Brandon Jackson-Richards Ampthill 14 4 Dean Adamson Bedford Blues 13 5 Tobias Elliot Ampthill 12 Matt Gallagher Caldy Ryan Hutler Coventry William Wand Coventry David Williams Nottingham

See also[edit]

• 2023–24 Premiership Rugby
• 2023–24 Premiership Rugby Cup

References[edit]