2014 Bill Beaumont Cup

The 2014 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 114th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organized by the RFU for the top tier English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system (typically National League 1, National League 2 South or National League 2 North). The counties were divided into two regional pools with the winners of each pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the competition were the two finalists from the 2013 County Championship Plate final – Northumberland (winners) and North Midlands (runners-up) who replaced Durham and Kent.[1] Lancashire were the defending champions.[2]

2014 Bill Beaumont Cup (County Championship)
Countries	England
Date	10 May 2014 - 1 June 2014
Champions	Lancashire (23rd title)
Runners-up	Cornwall
Relegated	North Midlands, Northumberland
Matches played	13
Attendance	12,006 (average 924 per match)
Highest attendance	4,000 Lancashire v Cornwall (1 June 2014)
Lowest attendance	164 Hertfordshire v North Midlands (17 May 2014)
Top point scorer	Chris Johnson (Lancashire) 60
Top try scorer	Lewis Vinnicombe (Cornwall) 4

The northern group was won by Lancashire, qualifying for their sixth successive final by winning all three games, although they had some stiff opposition from rivals Yorkshire and Cheshire on the way. They were joined by Cornwall, also making their second successive final, who won the southern section in a similar manner, with close wins against Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire getting them through. Both of the newly promoted counties, Northumberland and North Midlands, made an instant return as they were relegated to the 2015 County Championship Plate at the end of the competition.[3][4]

In what was a repeat of the previous seasons final, Lancashire once again defeated Cornwall. Cornwall who were looking to win the championship for the first time in 14 years, actually led 23-10 at half-time, but fell apart in the second, as a rampant Lancashire side scored four tries to finish as victors 38-26.[5] Lancashire's outstanding player of the tournament was Fylde's Chris Johnson, who scored 60 points over the competition, including 4 tries, while Lewis Vinnicombe, playing for Truro in Tribute Western Counties West, was excellent for Cornwall with 4 tries overall.