| Tetley's County Championship 2002 |
| 1 May 2002, 1:38 pm |
| By Howard Lush |
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Round one of the Tetley's County Championship starts on Saturday, May 4th with all the teams taking part battling for a place in the Twickenham final on Saturday June 1st 2002.
The 16 teams taking part in the Tetley's County Championship on Saturday will be pushing for a berth in the quarter-finals to be played on May 11th. The semi-finals will follow on May 18th. All the players taking part in the games will have the opportunity of not only glory at Twickenham on June 1st but of impressing the selectors of the England Counties XV, who fly to Chile for a two week tour on June 18th.
The 102nd County Championship will run concurrently with the Tetley's County Shield, which will feature the 11 counties not involved in the Tetley's County Championship. The finalists in the Shield will not only play at Twickenham on June 1st but will also be 'promoted' into the Tetley's County Championship next season as they will be seeded 13th and 14th respectively in 2003/04.
The losing semi-finalists in the Shield will also win the right to take part in the play offs, which take place after the Tetley's County Championship quarter-finals to determine the seedings for next season. The 15th and 16th seeded positions will be available should the Tetley's County Shield semi-finalists be successful.
Terry Burwell the RFU Community Rugby and Operations Director said "The 2002 Tetley's County Championship, County Shield and U20 Championship will arguably be the most exciting to date. Every match will have an impact on where each County is seeded next season and for which knock out competition they will be eligible to take part in next season. The added incentive of selection for the England Counties XV has made over 100 players from the National Divisions available for their Counties, which will raise the quality of the games throughout the Championship."
Gareth Roberts of Tetley's said "This is a great lift for the Tetley's County Championships. The chance of representing England is every players dream and it's one that can now become a reality. The recent restructure of the competition and the international incentive will increase interest in the Championships and the Shield."
Players involved in the Tetley's County Championship and Tetley's County Shield will also be pushing for places on the first England Counties XV tour to Chile from June 18th to June 30th 2002.
Rob Udwin the England Counties XV Manager said "The Tetley's County Championship and Tetley's County Shield provides the players taking part with the perfect stage from, which they can impress the selectors. We will be watching all the first round games in the Championship and I'm sure the job of selecting the players for the tour will be a very difficult one such is the high standard we expect to see during the Championship."
The final selection for the England Counties XV will be made following the semi-finals on May 18th. The names of the squad will be released during the week of May 20th.
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