2009–10 National League 2 South

2009–10 National League 2 South
Countries	England
Champions	Barking
Runners-up	Rosslyn Park (also promoted)
Relegated	Bridgwater & Albion, Barnes
Attendance	58,619 (average 292 per match)[n1 1]
Highest attendance	1,473 Richmond v Rosslyn Park 26 September 2009
Lowest attendance	30 Barnes v Shelford 20 February 2010
Top point scorer	Ross Laidlaw (Rosslyn Park) 318 points
Top try scorer	Phil Chesters (Ealing Trailfinders) 28 tries
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

The 2009–10 National League 2 South was the first season (23rd overall) of the fourth tier (south) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced. Previously known as National Division 3 South, it had been renamed due to widespread changes to the league system by the RFU with National One becoming the Championship, National 2 becoming National 1 and so on.^[1][2] The league system was 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and additional bonus points being awarded for scoring 4 or more tries and/or losing within 7 points of the victorious team. In terms of promotion the league champions would go straight up into National League 1 while the runners up would have a one-game playoff against the runners up from National League 2 North (at the home ground of the club with the superior league record) for the final promotion place. A further change to the league system would see the division increase from 14 to 15 teams (this was originally supposed to be 16 teams but one of the teams relegated from the 2008–09 National Division 2, Mounts Bay, folded at the beginning of the season).^[3][4]

Barking would finish as champions with only two league defeats all season, while runners up Rosslyn Park would join them in the 2010–11 National League 1 by defeating 2009–10 National League 2 North runners up Loughborough Students in the National 2 promotion playoff.^[5][6] At the bottom of the table Bridgwater & Albion and newly promoted Barnes would be condemned to National League 3 South West and National League 3 London & SE respectively.^[7][8]

Eleven of the teams listed below participated in the 2008–09 National League 3 South season; Westcombe Park were relegated from the 2008–09 National Division 2, while Clifton were promoted as champions of South West Division 1 with Shelford (champions) and Barnes (playoffs) coming up from London Division 1.

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Barking	Goresbrook	1,000	Barking, London
Barnes	Barn Elms		Barnes, London
Bridgwater & Albion	Bath Road	5,000	Bridgwater, Somerset
Canterbury	Merton Lane	1,075 (75 seats)	Canterbury, Kent
Clifton	Station Road	2,500 (400 seats)	Clifton, Bristol
Dings Crusaders	Landseer Avenue	1,500	Lockleaze, Bristol
Ealing Trailfinders	Trailfinders Sports Ground	3,020	Ealing, London
Henley Hawks	Dry Leas	4,000	Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
Lydney	Regentsholme	1,500	Lydney, Gloucestershire
Richmond	Athletic Ground	4,500	Richmond, London
Rosslyn Park	The Rock	2,000	Roehampton, London
Shelford	The Davey Field	2,000 (150 seats)	Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire
Southend	Warners Bridge Park		Southend, Essex
Westcombe Park	Goddington Dene	3,200	Orpington, London
Worthing Raiders	Roundstone Lane	1,500 (100 seats)	Angmering, West Sussex

2009–10 National League 2 South table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	B	Pts	Qualification
1	Barking (C)	28	26	0	2	1060	335	+725	22	124[a]	Promoted
2	Rosslyn Park (P)	28	23	1	4	995	423	+572	19	113	Promotion play-off
3	Ealing Trailfinders	28	22	1	5	1014	504	+510	23	113
4	Southend	28	19	1	8	802	566	+236	17	95
5	Clifton	28	18	2	8	682	571	+111	15	91
6	Worthing Raiders	28	16	1	11	653	561	+92	9	75
7	Canterbury	28	13	1	14	625	780	−155	13	67
8	Richmond	28	11	0	17	706	761	−55	18	62
9	Henley Hawks	28	11	1	16	668	598	+70	12	56[b]
10	Shelford	27	11	1	15	550	778	−228	7	53
11	Dings Crusaders	28	9	2	17	549	697	−148	13	53
12	Lydney	28	8	0	20	580	807	−227	18	40[c]
13	Westcombe Park	27	8	0	19	434	832	−398	7	39
14	Barnes (R)	28	6	1	21	486	916	−430	7	31[d]	Relegated
15	Bridgwater & Albion (R)	28	2	0	26	321	996	−675	4	8[e]

^[12][13]

Bye: Ealing Trailfinders

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Bye: Bridgwater & Albion

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Bye: Rosslyn Park

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Bye: Henley Hawks

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Bye: Worthing Raiders

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Bye: Southend

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Bye: Westcombe Park

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Bye: Clifton

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Bye: Barnes

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Bye: Shelford

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Bye: Richmond

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Bye: Lydney

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Bye: Barking

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Bye: Canterbury

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 February 2010.

Bye: Dings Crusaders

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 March 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 March 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 March 2010.

Bye: Bridgwater & Albion

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 May 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 May 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 May 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 May 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 March 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 March 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 May 2010.

Bye: Rosslyn Park

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 March 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 March 2010.

Bye: Henley Hawks

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Bye: Worthing Raiders

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 May 2010.

Bye: Southend

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• Rescheduled from 19 December 2009.

• Rescheduled from 19 December 2009.

• Rescheduled from 19 December 2009.

• Rescheduled from 19 December 2009.

• Rescheduled from 19 December 2009.

• Rescheduled from 19 December 2009.

• Rescheduled from 19 December 2009.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 1 May 2010.

Bye: Westcombe Park

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Bye: Clifton

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Bye: Barnes

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Bye: Shelford

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Bye: Richmond

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• Rescheduled from 16 January 2010 and eventually cancelled altogether due to fixture congestion meaning both Westcombe Park and Shelford would only play 29 games each.^[14][15]

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• Game rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 16 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

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Bye: Lydney

---

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 May 2010.

Bye: Barking

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Bye: Canterbury

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Bye: Dings Crusaders

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Bye: Ealing Trailfinders

---

• Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 13 February 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

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• Rescheduled from 3 April 2010.

• Rescheduled from 30 January 2010.

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Each season, the runners-up in the National League 2 South and National League 2 North participate in a play-off for promotion into National League 1. Loughborough Students were runners-up in the North and would host the game as they had a better record in the league in comparison to the South runners up Rosslyn Park.

^[6][16][17]

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Barking	14	4,398	314	500	180	31%
Barnes	12[n1 2]	1,185	99	200	30
Bridgwater & Albion	14	5,468	391	627	217	8%
Canterbury	14	2,617	187	247	124	17%
Clifton	14	2,663	190	287	80	8%
Dings Crusaders	14	1,745	125	256	101	8%
Ealing Trailfinders	11[n1 3]	3,663	333	574	200	11%
Henley Hawks	14	4,010	286	375	210	7%
Lydney	14	5,900	421	650	250	28%
Richmond	14	7,922	566	1,473	114	13%
Rosslyn Park	14	6,310	451	780	210	23%
Shelford	13[n1 4]	3,107	239	426	137	12%
Southend	13[n1 5]	3,370	259	550	150
Westcombe Park	12[n1 6]	2,271	189	251	66	6%
Worthing Raiders	14	3,990	285	350	200	19%

• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Does not include North - South playoff game.

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

• NCA Rugby Archived 1 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine