2016–17 WRU Championship

The 2016–17 WRU Championship was the fifth season of the WRU Championship, the second tier of club rugby in Wales run by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is the first season to feature 12 teams, reduced from 14 in previous seasons. The next two seasons will be "ring-fenced" with the champion club not being promoted due to changes in the 2016–17 Principality Premiership. The competition was won by Pontypool. The bottom two clubs that were relegated were Glamorgan Wanderers (to 1 East Central) and Dunvant (to 1 West).

2016–17 WRU National Championship
Countries Wales
Date3 September 2016 – 29 April 2017
ChampionsPontypool (1st title)
RelegatedGlamorgan Wanderers
Dunvant
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

Last year's champions Merthyr were promoted alongside Swansea, Bargoed and RGC 1404 into the newly formatted 2016–17 Principality Premiership. Bridgend Athletic and Llanharan were relegated into Division 1 West Central and 1 East Central respectively. Unlike previous years, all 4 Division 1 champion clubs were promoted to the Championship. These were Bedlinog, Glamorgan Wanderers, Skewen and Dunvant.

Locations of the 2016–17 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
Dunvant Broadacre unknown Dunvant, Swansea
Glamorgan Wanderers Memorial Ground 3,000 Ely, 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
Skewen Tennant Park unknown Skewen, Neath Port Talbot
Tata Steel Tata Sports and Social Club unknown Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot

Standings

2016–17 WRU Championship Table
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1 Pontypool (C) 22 21 0 1 803 279 +524 114 31 14 0 98
2 Narberth 22 17 0 5 647 362 +285 88 47 11 2 81
3 Tata Steel 22 14 0 8 578 451 +127 82 58 12 2 70
4 Beddau 22 14 0 8 535 398 +137 70 47 10 4 70
5 Newcastle Emlyn 22 10 1 11 411 502 91 51 64 7 5 54
6 Cardiff Metropolitan University 22 10 0 12 435 562 127 53 74 4 2 46
7 Newbridge 22 9 0 13 403 532 129 55 68 7 2 45
8 Glynneath 22 10 0 12 340 488 148 37 67 2 2 44
9 Bedlinog 22 8 1 13 407 440 33 52 49 3 7 44
10 Skewen 22 8 1 13 314 418 104 34 56 0 7 41
11 Glamorgan Wanderers (R) 22 7 1 14 405 490 85 47 62 4 7 41
12 Dunvant (R) 22 2 0 20 434 790 356 50 110 3 5 16
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: "WRU Championship". allwalessport.
Rules for classification: 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
    (C) Champion; (R) Relegated
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