National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart,

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...

, covering the north of England. The format of the league was changed at the beginning of the 2009–10 season following reorganisation by the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

. The champions were promoted to

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

. The runner-up play in a promotion play-off with the runner-up of National League 2 North; the team with the best record having home advantage. The bottom three teams were relegated, to either

South West Premier Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

London & South East Premier London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up Ar ...

are the current and final champions. The 2019–20 season ended before all the matches were completed because of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

and the RFU used a best playing record formula to decide the final table. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the 2020–21 season was cancelled. The

(RFU) approved a new structure for the National Leagues from the 2022–23 season. Along with National League 1 and National League 2 North the size of the leagues at levels 3 and 4 are reduced to 14 teams (previously 16), there will be a two-week break over Christmas and protected weekend breaks through the season. The competition structure will be reviewed every three years. As part of the restructure a third league was created at level four and most of the National League 2 South teams were placed into either

National League 2 East National League 2 East is a new rugby union league at level four in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in London, South East England and East of England. The remainder of England is covered b ...

National League 2 West National League 2 West is a new rugby union league at level four in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the Midlands and South West England. The remainder of England is covered by two other r ...

Final season

Eleven of the teams listed below participated in the 2019–20 National League 2 South season. The 2019–20 champions Taunton Titans and Tonbridge Juddians, who won the (virtual) promotion play-off against

Caldy Caldy is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. At the ...

, were promoted into the 2021–22 National League 1, while

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

were relegated into the division from the 2019–20 National League 1. Sides relegated from the 2019–20 National League 2 South included Sutton & Epsom (to London & SE Premier),

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

and

Old Redcliffians Old Redcliffians Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Brislington, a suburb of Bristol. The club runs four senior sides and a sevens team as well as a ladies side and the full range of junior teams. The first XV currently ...

(both to

). The promoted teams are

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

who come up as champions of

while

Rochford Hundred Rochford is a town in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford, the county town. At the 2011 census, the civil parish, which includes the town and London Southend Airport, had a population of 8,471. History T ...

(champions) and Guernsey Raiders (virtual play-off) came up from

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

were level transferred into the division from

in order to address an imbalance of teams in National 2, with Taunton and Tonbridge Juddians being promoted and only Canterbury dropping down from National League 1.

2020–21

Due to the

, the 2020–21 season was cancelled.

List of champions

Area League South

National 4 South

National Division 4

Division 4 South

National 2 South

National Division 3 South

National League 2 South

National Two promotion play-offs

Until the 2021–22 season there was a promotion play-off between the league runners-up of

and National League 2 South for the third and final promotion place to

. The team with the superior league record has home advantage. As of the end of the 2019–20 season the southern teams have been more successful with fourteen wins to the northern teams four, while the home side has won thirteen teams to the away sides five.

Number of league titles

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

(2) *

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

(2) *

Henley Hawks Henley Hawks is a rugby union club based in Henley-on-Thames and is one of the leading rugby clubs in the Thames Valley. The first team play in the fourth tier of the English league system; National League 2 East. History Henley RFC was ...

(2) * Askeans (1) *

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

(1) *

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

(1) *

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

(1) *

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...

(1) *

Cinderford Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The population was 8,777 at the 2021 Census. The town came into existence in the 19th century, following the rapid expansion of Cind ...

(1) *

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

(1) *

Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the current champions of the RFU Championship but will remain in that league due to ineligibility for promotion to Premi ...

(1) *

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

(1) *

Hartpury College Hartpury University and Hartpury College, formerly Hartpury College, is a provider of further and higher education which describes itself as specialising in the "agriculture, animal, equine, sport and veterinary nursing" sectors. The university a ...

(1) *

Havant Havant ( ) is a town in the south-east corner of Hampshire, England between Portsmouth and Chichester. Its borough (population: 125,000) comprises the town (45,826) and its suburbs including the resort of Hayling Island as well as Rowland's Castl ...

(1) * London Scottish (1) *

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been bypassed by the A48 road since 1995 ...

(1) *

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

(1) *

Mount's Bay Mount's Bay ( kw, Baya an Garrek) is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin o ...

(1) * Newbury (1) *

Old Albanian Albanian ( endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europ ...

(1) * Penzance & Newlyn (1) *

Plymouth Albion Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Club are a rugby union club who play in Plymouth, England. The present club was founded in 1920 from a merger between Plymouth RFC (founded 1876) and Devonport Albion RFC (founded 1876). Since 2003 they have pl ...

(1) *

Rams In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...

(1) * Rosslyn Park (1) *

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

(1) *

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

(1) * Taunton Titans (1)

League format since 1987

Records

''Note that all records are from 1996–97 season onwards as this is widely held as the dawn of professionalism across the English club game. It also offers a better comparison between seasons as the division team numbers are roughly equal (for example when league rugby union first started in 1987–88 the southern league had only 11 teams playing 10 games each, compared to 14 teams in 1996–97 playing 26 games (home & away), going up to 16 teams in 2009–10 playing 30 games each). Attendance records are from 2000 onwards unless otherwise specified. All records are up to date up till the end of the 2018–19 season.''

League records

*Most titles: 2 :

( 2004–05, 2009–10) :

(

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2014–15) :

( 2005–06, 2015–16) *Most times promoted from division: 3 :

(1997–98,

, 2014–15) *Most times relegated from division: 3 :

(1998–99, 2002–03, 2008–09) :

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

( 2009–10, 2011–12, 2016–17) *Most league points in a season: 143 :

( 2017–18) *Fewest league points in a season: 0 :

(1999–00) :

( 2002–03) *Most points scored in a season: 1,490 :

(

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

) *Fewest points scored in a season: 270 :

( 2002–03) *Most points conceded in a season: 2,055 : Newbury Blues (

) *Fewest points conceded in a season: 240 :

( 2000–01) *Best points difference (For/Against): 1,066 :

(

) *Worst points difference (For/Against):-1,676 : Newbury Blues (

) *Most games won in a season: 29 :

( 2017–18) *Most games lost in a season: 29 : Newbury Blues (

) : Launceston ( 2015–16) *Most games drawn in a season: 4 :

Rugby Lions The Rugby Lions, nicknamed The Lions, is an English rugby union club based in Rugby, Warwickshire. The club plays its home matches at Webb Ellis Road. Its developmental squad is known as the Crusaders. The club also has a ladies team known as ...

( 2008–09) :

( 2015–16) *Most bonus points in a season: 30 :

( 2014–15)

Match records

*Largest home win: 132 – 0 :

at home to Newbury Blues on 26 March 2011 (

) *Largest away win: 85 – 3 :

away to

on 27 October 2012 (

) *Most points scored in a match: 132 :

at home to Newbury Blues on 26 March 2011 (

) *Most tries scored in a match: 20 :

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

at home to Newbury Blues on 6 November 2011 (

) :

at home to

on 12 March 2011 (

) :

at home to Newbury Blues on 26 March 2011 (

) *Most conversions scored in a match: 16 :

at home to Newbury Blues on 26 March 2011 (

) :

at home to

on 30 April 2011 (

) *Most penalties scored in a match: 7 :

at home to

Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...

on 14 December 2002 ( 2002–03) :

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

at home to Rosslyn Park on 30 September 2006 ( 2006–07) :

at home to

on 21 October 2006 ( 2006–07) : Dings Crusaders at home to

on 6 November 2011 (

) : Launceston at home to

on 28 September 2013 ( 2013–14) : Launceston away to Dings Crusaders on 27 September 2014 ( 2014–15) *Most drop kicks scored in a match: 3 :

Westcombe Park Westcombe Park is a largely residential area in Blackheath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, South East London, England. It is bounded by the main London-Dartford railway line to the north, the Blackwall Tunnel southern approach to the east, th ...

at home to

on 5 December 2009 ( 2009–10)

Player records

*Most times top points scorer: 3 : Matthew McLean for Worthing Raiders ( 2011–12, 2017–18, 2018–19) : Gary Kingdom for Taunton Titans ( 2014–15, 2015–16, 2019–20) *Most times top try scorer: 2 :

Phil Chesters Phil Chesters (born 29 October 1987) is an English rugby union player who is currently playing for Chinnor in National League 1 having signed for the club for the 2017-18 season. Prior to that he had made his name at Ealing Trailfinders where h ...

for

( 2009–10,

) : Ian Clark for

( 2011–12,

) *Most points in a season: 374 : Nat Saumi for Penzance & Newlyn ( 2000–01) *Most tries in a season: 70 :

for

(

)) *Most points in a match: 45 : Adam Westall for

away to

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

on 12 March 2005 ( 2004–05) *Most tries in a match: 7 : James O'Brien for Old Patesians at home to

Old Colfeians Old Colfeians Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Lee in south London, open to anyone interested in the game! The club runs three senior teams and a veterans side and a full range of junior and girls teams, each of which ...

on 27 March 2004 ( 2003–04) :

for

at home to Newbury Blues on 2 October 2010 and at home to

on 30 April 2011 (

) *Most conversions in a match: 16 : Richard Gregg for

at home to Newbury Blues on 26 March 2011 (

) *Most penalties in a match: 7 : Jonathan Griffin for

at home to

on 14 December 2002 ( 2002–03) : Kieron Davies for

at home to Rosslyn Park on 30 September 2006 ( 2006–07) :

John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. He currently works as an author, commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. Initially a quick, skilful left winger, he moved to cent ...

for

at home to

on 21 October 2006 ( 2006–07) : Mitch Burton for Dings Crusaders at home to

on 6 November 2011 ( 2010–-11) : Luke Cozens for

away to Dings Crusaders on 17 November 2012 (

) : Danial Trigg for Dings Crusaders away to

on 1 December 2012 (

) : Kieron Lewitt for Launceston away to Dings Crusaders on 27 September 2014 ( 2014–15) *Most drop kicks in a match: 3 : Lee Audis for

at home to

on 5 December 2009 ( 2009–10)

Attendance records

*Highest attendance (league game): 3,270 :

at home to Worthing Raiders on 4 May 2013 (

) *Lowest attendance (league game): 0 : Tonbridge Juddians at home to Sutton & Epsom on 21 December 2019 ( 2019–20) *Highest attendance (promotion playoff): 4,000 :

at home to

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

on 1 May 2005 ( 2004–05) *Lowest attendance (promotion playoff): 473 :

at home to

Sedgley Park Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford and south of Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury. Historic counties of Eng ...

on 14 May 2016 ( 2015–16) *Highest average attendance (club): 1,281 :

( 2000–01) *Lowest average attendance (club): 96 : Old Patesians ( 2006–07) *Highest average attendance (season): 573 ( 2000–01) *Lowest average attendance (season): 292 ( 2009–10)

All time National League 2 South top 10 point scorers

(Bold denotes players still playing in National League 2 South)

All time National League 2 South top 10 try scorers

(Bold denotes players still playing in National League 2 South)

Notes

References

External links

NCA Rugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:National2 4 Recurring sporting events established in 1987 Sports leagues established in 1987 Sports leagues disestablished in 2022

Final season

2020–21

List of champions

Area League South

National 4 South

National Division 4

Division 4 South

National 2 South

National Division 3 South

National League 2 South

National Two promotion play-offs

Number of league titles

League format since 1987

Records

League records

Match records

Player records

Attendance records

All time National League 2 South top 10 point scorers

All time National League 2 South top 10 try scorers

Notes

See also

References

External links