The 2015–16 National League 2 North is the seventh season (29th overall) of the fourth tier of the English domestic

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

competitions since the professionalised format of the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

was introduced. There was talk of this being the last season in this format due to RFU changes to tier four which were supposed to result in a restructuring of the league from two regional divisions (north and south) to three (north, south-east and south-west) for the 2016–17 season but this seems to have been put on hold due to protests from the northern clubs who stood to lose revenue from a smaller fixture list. Teams joining the division include

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

and

Tynedale __NOTOC__ Tynedale was a local government district in Northumberland, England. The district had a resident population of 58,808 according to the 2001 census. The main towns were Hexham, Haltwhistle and Prudhoe. The district contained part of ...

(both relegated from

National League 1 National One, up until 2023 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 Lea ...

), Sale and

Sandal Sandals are an open type of shoe, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps going over the instep and around the ankle. Sandals can also have a heel. While the distinction between sandals and other types of footwear can sometim ...

(both promoted from

National League 3 North North Premier was a level five league in the English rugby union system, with the fourteen teams drawn from across Northern England. The other leagues at this level were London & South East Premier, Midlands Premier and South West Premier. ...

) and South Leicester (promoted from

National League 3 Midlands Regional 1 Midlands (until 2021–22 known as Midlands Premier and up until 2016–17 known as National League 3 Midlands) is a level five semi-professional league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When ...

). A further change this season saw

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

play their first game at their new ground at Rudding Lane – a move from their previous ground of Claro Road where they had been stationed for the past 119 years – beating local rivals

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 2011 c ...

in front of a club record crowd of 1,050. At the end of the season, Macclesfield made an instant return to National League 1 after their relegation the previous season by winning the championship with three games to go, defeating

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

40-12 to take the title at Priory Park – the club's third National League 2 North title and a record so far in the division. The two bottom clubs at the end of the season were

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, who went down in Round 27, and Broadstreet, who followed one week later. While both teams were fairly competitive (gaining 7 and 8 wins apiece) the third relegation spot was much more keenly fought with five teams facing the drop up on the last round of the season. In the end it was Sandal who went down after one season spent in National League 2 North, losing their final game against Luctonians, while their relegation rivals all won. It was a particularly interesting contest between Sandal and fellow promoted club, Sale, who were actually in the final relegation spot on the last day (although they did have a rescheduled game still to play) but the Heywood Road side won against high flying

Caldy Caldy (historically spelt Calday) is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward (country subdivision), Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wi ...

to stay in the division. Another interesting feature of the season was Caldy's

Nick Royle Nick Royle (born 1983) is a former England Rugby Sevens International rugby union player. He plays as a winger. He is currently playing 15-aside rugby for Caldy in the RFU Championship. As of 2018 he is the most prolific try scorer in Nati ...

whose 25 tries saw him finish not only as the top try scorer in the league but also as the record all-time try scorer in the division with 161 tries overall. As league runners up to Macclesfield by some distance,

Sedgley Park Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester, north of Salford and south of Bury. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ...

had to travel down to Hertfordshire to face the

2015–16 National League 2 South The 2015–16 National League 2 South is the seventh season (29th overall) of the fourth tier (south) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced. There was talk of this ...

runners up,

Old Albanian Albanian (endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group. It is the native language of the Albanian people. Standard Albanian is the offi ...

, who hosted the game due to a superior league record. In the end Old Albanian were too good for Sedgley Park, winning 24 – 0 to claim the final promotion place to the 2016–17 National League 1.

Structure

The league consists of sixteen teams with all the teams playing each other on a home and away basis to make a total of thirty matches each. There is one automatic promotion place, one play-off place and three relegation places. The champions are promoted to the 2016–17 National League 1 and the runners-up play the second-placed team in the

with the winner being promoted. The last three teams are relegated to either

depending on the geographical location of the team.

Participating teams and locations

Eleven of the teams listed below participated in the

2014–15 National League 2 North The 2014–15 National League 2 North is the sixth season (28th overall) of the National League 2 North, fourth tier of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, second division was i ...

season; Macclesfield and Tynedale were relegated from the

2014–15 National League 1 The 2014–15 National League 1, known for sponsorship reasons as the SSE National League 1 is the sixth season of the third tier of the English domestic rugby union competitions, since the professionalised format of the second tier RFU Champion ...

, Sale (champions) and Sandal (play-offs) were promoted from

while South Leicester (champions) were promoted from

League table

Fixtures

Round 1

----

Round 2

----

Round 3

----

Round 4

----

Round 5

----

Round 6

----

Round 7

----

Round 8

----

Round 9

----

Round 10

----

Round 11

----

Round 12

----

Round 13

*Postponed due to severe weather and flooding. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016. *Postponed due to severe weather causing flooding. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016. ----

Round 14

*Postponed due to waterlogged pitch. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016. *Postponed due to waterlogged pitch. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016. ----

Round 15

----

Round 16

*Postponed due to pitch being deemed unsuitable to play due to heavy rain. Game rescheduled to 12 March 2016. ----

Round 17

*Postponed due to waterlogged pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 12 March 2016. ----

Round 18

*Postponed due to waterlogged pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 12 March 2016. *Postponed due to frozen pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 12 March 2016. *Postponed due to bad weather. Game to be rescheduled for 12 March 2016. *Postponed due to frozen pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 26 March 2016. *Postponed due to bad weather. Game to be rescheduled for 27 February 2016. ----

Round 19

----

Round 20

*Postponed due to Sandal being unwilling to play what they considered to be an unsafe pitch caused by recent rain. Game to be rescheduled for 26 March 2016. ----

Round 21

*Postponed due to bad weather conditions. Game to be rescheduled for 7 May 2016. *Postponed due to waterlogged pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 7 May 2016. *Postponed due to waterlogged pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 26 March 2016. *Postponed due to waterlogged pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 26 March 2016. ----

Round 22

----

Round 23

----

Rounds 13, 14 & 18 (rescheduled games)

*Game rescheduled from 12 December 2015. *Game rescheduled from 5 December 2015. *Game rescheduled from 12 December 2015. *Game rescheduled from 5 December 2015. *Game rescheduled from 16 January 2016. ----

Round 24

*Postponed due to bad weather conditions. Game to be rescheduled for 14 May 2016. ----

Rounds 16, 17 & 18 (rescheduled games)

*Game rescheduled from 2 January 2016. *Game rescheduled from 9 January 2016. *Game rescheduled from 16 January 2016. *Game rescheduled from 16 January 2016. *Game rescheduled from 16 January 2016. ----

Round 25

----

Rounds 18, 20 & 21 (rescheduled games)

*Game rescheduled from 30 January 2016. *Game rescheduled from 16 January 2016. *Game rescheduled from 6 February 2016. *Game rescheduled from 6 February 2016. ----

Round 26

----

Round 27

*Huddersfield are relegated. ----

Round 28

*Broadstreet are relegated. ----

Round 29

----

Round 30

*Sandal are relegated. ----

Round 21 (rescheduled games)

*Game rescheduled from 6 February 2016. *Game rescheduled from 6 February 2016. ----

Round 24 (rescheduled game)

*Game originally rescheduled from 5 March 2016 but would ultimately be cancelled at Harrogate's request as the game would not affect the final league table standings. ----

Promotion play-off

Each season, the runners-up in the National League 2 North and

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, N ...

and participate in a play-off for promotion to National Division 1.

were runners-up in the

and because they had a better record than the 2015–16 National League 2 North runners-up,

, they hosted the play-off match.

Season attendances

Individual statistics

* Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included). Does not include promotion playoff.

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Season records

Team

;Largest home win – 66 pts 83 – 17 Sedgley Park at home to Sandal on 26 March 2016 ;Largest away win – 47 pts 53 – 6 Sedgley Park away to Harrogate on 7 May 2016 ;Most points scored – 83 83 – 17 Sedgley Park at home to Sandal on 26 March 2016 ;Most tries in a match – 13 Sedgley Park at home to Sandal on 26 March 2016 ;Most conversions in a match – 9 Sedgley Park at home to Sandal on 26 March 2016 ;Most penalties in a match – 6 (x3) Stourbridge at home to Caldy on 19 September 2015
Preston Grasshoppers away to Stourbridge on 3 October 2015
Caldy away to South Leicester on 10 October 2015 ;Most drop goals in a match – 1 N/A – multiple teams

Player

;Most points in a match – 28 (x2) Lewis Barker for Macclesfield away to Huddersfield on 28 November 2015
Matt Riley for Sedgley Park at home to Sandal on 26 March 2016 ;Most tries in a match – 3 N/A – multiple players ;Most conversions in a match – 9 Matt Riley for Sedgley Park at home to Sandal on 26 March 2016 ;Most penalties in a match – 6 (x2) Christopher Scott for Stourbridge at home to Caldy on 19 September 2015

Sean Taylor Sean Michael Maurice Taylor (April 1, 1983 – November 27, 2007) was an American professional football safety for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected fifth overall in the 2004 NFL draft by the Red ...

for Preston Grasshoppers away to Stourbridge on 3 October 2015 ;Most drop goals in a match – 1 N/A – multiple players

Attendances

;Highest – 1,050 Harrogate at home to Otley on 5 September 2015 ;Lowest – 50 (x2) South Leicester at home to Sedgley Park on 12 September 2015
South Leicester at home to Caldy on 10 October 2015 ;Highest Average Attendance – 403 Stourbridge ;Lowest Average Attendance – 110 South Leicester

References

External links

NCA Rugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:National2 2015–16 2015–16 in English rugby union leagues

Structure

Participating teams and locations

League table

Fixtures

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Round 23

Rounds 13, 14 & 18 (rescheduled games)

Round 24

Rounds 16, 17 & 18 (rescheduled games)

Round 25

Rounds 18, 20 & 21 (rescheduled games)

Round 26

Round 27

Round 28

Round 29

Round 30

Round 21 (rescheduled games)

Round 24 (rescheduled game)

Promotion play-off

Season attendances

Individual statistics

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Season records

Team

Player

Attendances

See also

References

External links