English Championship ditches four-try bonus rule to align with Top 14 system

The English Championship has broken from the Gallagher Premiership and adopted a new try bonus point system modelled on France’s Top 14, with the change taking effect from Friday’s season opener between Nottingham and newly-promoted Blackheath.

Under the previous format, shared with the Premiership, any team scoring four or more tries in a match earned a bonus point regardless of the result. The Elior Championship’s revised rules now award that bonus only to teams that outscore their opponents by three or more tries — a differential approach designed to reduce incentives for running up the score in low-stakes fixtures. The losing bonus point rule is unchanged: sides beaten by seven points or fewer still collect an extra point.

The catalyst for the reform was a wave of lopsided scorelines in the second tier last season. Three of the seven matches in the final round of the regular season produced aggregate scores above 90 points, and the meeting between Ampthill and already-relegated Cambridge exceeded 100 points, finishing 75-33. The data painted a broader picture: nine of the 14 clubs earned try bonus points in more than half of their fixtures.

Ampthill, bolstered by a number of Saracens loanees including prolific finisher Noah Caluori, accumulated 18 try bonus points from 26 league matches despite finishing 10th in the table — a statistic that illustrated how the old system could reward teams with little to play for in the standings. Table-topping Ealing, who reached the semi-finals before losing out on the title, claimed a try bonus point in all but three of their regular season games.

Champions Worcester begin their title defence on Saturday, 19 September, hosting Bedford at Sixways in a rematch of last season’s play-off final. The Warriors won that showpiece 27-14 in front of a sellout crowd at Goldington Road.