2017 County Championship Plate Stadium. Due to changes to the County Championship format (more detail of this below) four new teams were added to the competition, with Hampshire (winners) and Staffordshire (runners up) coming up due to reaching the final of the 2016 County Championship Shield, while Warwickshire and Cumbria were also promoted by virtue of their performances in the competition during the past two seasons. The changes also meant that there were no teams relegated into the division. Leicestershire and Hampshire won their respective groups to qualify for the Twickenham final, with Leicestershire being the more impressive with three easy victories. The first
County Championship Shield County Championship Shield 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 the 2018 tournament involves two groups of six teams. From 2010 the County Championship Shield involves counties that are only able to select players from clubs at level five and below. The six teams involved are