Northumberland Senior Plate (rugby union)

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 North Shields who defeated Ponteland 24-23, in the 2019 cup final. The 2020 final was not completed due to the coronavirus outbreak. All Senior Plate Finals have been played at various venues in the county and takes place on Easter Saturday.

Northumberland Senior Cup

Sport	Rugby Union
Instituted	2002 (2002)
Number of teams	8
Country	England
Holders	North Shields (2018-19)
Most titles	Ponteland & Ashington (3 titles)
Website	Northumberland RFU

The Senior Plate is currently the second most important county cup competition for club sides based in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear typically competing 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.[1]