2017–18 WRU Championship

The 2017–18 WRU Championship was the sixth season of the WRU Championship, the second tier of club rugby in Wales run by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is the second season to feature 12 teams, reduced from 14 in previous seasons. This season is the second to be "ring-fenced" with the champion club not being promoted due to changes in the Principality Premiership. The competition was won again by Pontypool who completed the feat of going a whole season unbeaten, winning all 22 games. The bottom two clubs that were relegated were Skewen and Glynneath. Both clubs were relegated to 1 West Central.

2017–18 WRU National Championship
Countries Wales
Date2 September 2017 – 10 May 2018
ChampionsPontypool (2nd title)
RelegatedSkewen
Glynneath
Matches played132

Structure

Each team in the Championship will play each other twice on a home and away basis for a total of 22 matches played each. The team with the most points at the end of the season will be declared the winners. The winning club will not be promoted due to "ring-fencing" of the Premiership. The bottom two clubs at the end of the season will be relegated to Division 1 (based on geographical location).

Teams

At the end of last season, Glamorgan Wanderers and Dunvant were relegated to Division 1 East Central and West Central respectively. This season saw the return of play offs between the Division 1 East and East Central champions and Division 1 West and West Central champions to determine which clubs will participate in this year's Championship. The promoted clubs were East champions Rhydyfelin and West Central champions Trebanos. Both clubs beat Treorchy and Kidwelly respectively. Both clubs were making their debuts in the competition.

Promotion Play-offs
6 May 2017
14:30
Rhydyfelin 42 – 24 Treorchy
Recreation Ground
18 May 2017
19:15
Trebanos 25 – 18 Kidwelly
Trebanos Park
13 May 2017
14:30
Treorchy 13 – 10 Rhydyfelin
The Oval

Rhydyfelin won 52–37 on aggregate.

25 May 2017
19:15
Kidwelly 5 – 31 Trebanos
Parc Stephens

Trebanos won 56–23 on aggregate.

Locations of the 2017–18 WRU Championship teams with colour markers to represent the region they belong to:

Orange = Newport Gwent Dragons
Blue = Cardiff Blues
Black = Ospreys

Red = Scarlets
Club Stadium Capacity Area
Beddau Mount Pleasant Park unknown Beddau, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Bedlinog Recreation Ground unknown Bedlinog, Merthyr Tydfil
Cardiff Metropolitan University Cyncoed Campus 1,620 Cyncoed, Cardiff
Glynneath Abernant Park unknown Glynneath, Neath Port Talbot
Narberth Lewis Lloyd Ground unknown Narberth, Pembrokeshire
Newbridge Welfare Ground 5,000 Newbridge, Caerphilly
Newcastle Emlyn Dôl Wiber unknown Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire
Pontypool Pontypool Park 8,800 Pontypool, Torfaen
Rhydyfelin Recreation Ground unknown Rhydyfelin, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Skewen Tennant Park unknown Skewen, Neath Port Talbot
Tata Steel Tata Sports and Social Club unknown Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot
Trebanos Trebanos Park unknown Trebanos, Neath Port Talbot

Standings
2017–18 WRU National Championship Table
Team Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Tries for Tries against Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1Pontypool (C)22220092623968713930190107
2Narberth221417595439156796011372
3Trebanos22140850133516669439469
4Tata Steel22130954648363776310466
5Newbridge2212010455462-762617358
6Bedlinog2210210480501-2159669558
7Rhydyfelin2210012391435-4452594549
8Newcastle Emlyn229112470633-16359846347
9Beddau228014379543-16449735643
10Cardiff Metropolitan University227213473638-18360925340
11Skewen (R)227015352535-18343702434
12Glynneath (R)223019292617-32539862317
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Number of tries scored
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Difference between points for and against

Updated: 10 May 2018
Source: "WRU Championship". allwalessport.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.