Northumberland Senior Plate (rugby union)

Northumberland Senior Cup

Sport	Rugby Union
Instituted	2002 (2002)
Number of teams	8
Country	England
Holders	Novocastrians (2nd title) (2017-18)
Most titles	Ponteland & Ashington (3 titles)
Website	Northumberland RFU

The Northumberland Senior Plate is an annual rugby union competition held between the clubs of the Northumberland RFU which was first played in 2002. It is the second tier county cup for the Northumberland Rugby Union, which includes Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, and Northumberland. The plate was introduced when the gap between clubs became too great after the advent of professionalism in 1995. The competition is open to the 9th-16th best placed clubs in the league pyramid. The current holders are Novocastrians who defeated North Shields 33-30, in the 2018 cup final. All Senior Plate Finals have been played at various venues in the county and takes place on Easter Saturday.

The Senior Plate is currently the second most important county cup competition for club sides based in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear typically comepting at tier 7 (Durham/Northumberland 1), tier 8 (Durham/Northumberland 2) and tier 9 (Durham/Northumberland 3) of the English rugby union system. The format is a knock-out cup with a quarter-final, semi-final and final, which is to be played at a neutral ground in April.

Northumberland Senior Plate Winners

2002	Ashington	2003	Berwick	2004	Ponteland
2005	Gosforth	2006	Ashington	2007	Wallsend
2008	Ashington	2009	Northumbria University	2010	No competition
2011	No competition	2012	Medicals	2013	Northumbria University
2014	Blyth	2015	Ponteland	2016	Novocastrians
2017	Ponteland	2018	Novocastrians

By number of wins (clubs)

Team	Wins	Years
Ashington	3	2002, 2006, 2008
Ponteland	3	2004, 2015, 2017
Northumbria University	2	2009, 2013
Novocastrians	2	2016, 2018
Berwick	1	2003
Blyth	1	2014
Gosforth	1	2005
Medicals	1	2012
Wallsend	1	2007