2017–18 RFU Championship
| 2017–18 RFU Championship | |
|---|---|
| Countries |
 England Jersey
|
| Date | 2 September 2017 – May 2018 |
| Matches played | 18 |
| Attendance | 32,498 (average 1,805 per match) |
| Highest attendance | 7,045 Bristol v Hartpury College on 3 September 2017 |
| Lowest attendance | 604 Richmond v Ealing Trailfinders on 10 September 2017 |
| Tries scored | 79 (average 4.389 per match) |
| Top point scorer |
Tiff Eden (Nottingham) 51 points |
| Top try scorer |
Dean Adamson (Bedford Blues) Ben Brownlie(Nottingham) Max Crumpton(Bristol) 4 tries |
|
← 2016–17
2018–19 →
|
|
The 2017–18 RFU Championship is the ninth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. The competition is not sponsored owing to Greene King's three year sponsorship deal expiring. The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also compete in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales.
The Championship's structure has all the teams playing each other on a home and away basis. The play-offs for promotion have been abolished and replaced by the first ranked team being promoted; providing that club's ground fulfills the Rugby Football Union's Minimum Standards Criteria. Under the play-off system some clubs qualified for the play-offs but did not meet the RFU's Minimum Standards Criteria which meant they could not be promoted. The change was made to allow the promoted team additional time to prepare for playing in the English Premiership. As part of an agreement with the RFU, each club will receive £530,000 funding.
In January 2017, London Welsh RFC was expelled from the RFU Championship and then liquidated due to debt. As a result, Rotherham Titans, who finished bottom of the league, were not relegated; a decision which former Championship club Plymouth Albion contested. Promoted in place of London Welsh were the winners of 2016–17 National League 1, Hartpury College, who have moved from Gloucester 3 North, at the bottom of the English rugby pyramid, to the second tier within thirteen years of their founding.London Irish was promoted as champions and play-off winners of the 2016–17 RFU Championship and were replaced by Bristol Rugby following their last place in the 2016–17 English Premiership.
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