TheBill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 (formerly known as County Championship Plate) is an annualrugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2002 as the County Championship Shield (a competition which is now played bytier 3 sides) - changing to Plate by 2010 and then to Bill Beaumont Division 2 by 2017.[1][2]
Division 2 is split into three regional groups (Pools 1,2 and 3) with each team alternating between 2 home games and 1 away game in one championship cycle, and 1 home game and 2 away games in the next, with the top teams and the best placed runner up playing in a Semi-final, with the winners meeting in a final held atTwickenham Stadium along with other county divisional finals. Since the covid pandemic and a decline in counties entering, Promotion and Relegation have been replaced by counties opting into a preferred division, with a Level cap preventing uneven games. Division 2's Level cap is level 5 of theEnglish rugby union system, meaning counties can only select fromRegional 1 and below.