2019–20 National League 2 South

2019–20 National League 2 South
Countries	England
Date	7 September 2019 – 14 March 2020
Champions	Taunton Titans (1st title)
Runners-up	Tonbridge Juddians (also promoted)
Relegated	Bournemouth, Old Redcliffians, Sutton & Epsom
Matches played	196
Attendance	60,934 (average 311 per match)
Highest attendance	1,076 Dings Crusaders v Clifton 14 September 2019
Lowest attendance	0 Tonbridge Juddians v Sutton & Epsom 21 December 2019
Top point scorer	Gary Kingdom (Taunton Titans) 230 points
Top try scorer	Hugo Watson (Tonbridge Juddians) 22 tries

The 2019–20 National League 2 South was the eleventh season (33rd overall) of the fourth tier (south) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the Rugby Football Union officially cancelled the season on 20 March 2020, after an initial postponement of all rugby in England including training. After the cancellation was announced the RFU used a best playing record formula to decide the final table. This meant that Taunton Titans, who were 3 points clear when the league was suspended, were promoted as champions along with runners up Tonbridge Juddians, who went up as the best runner up as they had more considerably more points than 2019–20 National League 2 North runner up Fylde.

The relegated teams included Bournemouth, Old Redcliffians and Sutton & Epsom, all of whom had occupied the bottom three spots before league suspension, with 14th placed Sutton & Epsom 13 points behind 13th placed Westcliff and safety. Taunton Titans and Tonbridge Juddians will join the 2021–22 National League 1 (the highest level either club have reached), while Bournemouth and Old Redcliffians drop down to South West Premier and Sutton & Epsom to London & South East Premier.

Other interesting news from the season was Taunton's Gary Kingdom who finished as top scorer in the division for the third time, tying him with Worthing Raiders prolific Matthew McLean. An unwanted record was also made with Tonbridge Juddians official attendance of 0 from their game Sutton & Epsom on 21 December 2019 being the lowest ever recorded in a National League 2 South game. This was due to the game being played behind closed doors due to safety concerns caused by flooding.

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 2020–21 National League 1 and the runners-up play the second-placed team in the 2019–20 National League 2 North with the winner being promoted. The last three teams are relegated to either London & South East Premier or South West Premier depending on the geographical location of the team (in some cases teams may join the Midlands regional leagues).

The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows:

• 4 points are awarded for a win
• 2 points are awarded for a draw
• 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
• 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
• 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match.

Participating teams and locations

Eleven of the teams listed below participated in the 2018–19 National League 2 South season. The 2018–19 champions Rams and play-off winners Canterbury, who won the promotion play-off against Chester, were promoted into the 2019–20 National League 1, while Esher were relegated into the division from the 2018–19 National League 1. Sides relegated from the 2018–19 National League 2 South included Birmingham & Solihull (to Greater Birmingham Merit Leagues), Guernsey (London & South East Premier) and London Irish Wild Geese (South West Premier). In the case of Birmingham & Solihull, they had initially been supposed to drop to Midlands Premier but on further reflection decided to become an amateur club and drop out of the league system.

The promoted teams are Bournemouth who come up as champions of South West Premier while Sutton & Epsom (champions) and Westcliff (play-off) came up from London & South East Premier.Leicester Lions were level transferred into the division from National League 2 North in order to address an imbalance of teams in National 2, with Rams and Canterbury being promoted and only Esher dropping down from National League 1. Although there were several candidates for the level-transfer in the end Leicester Lions were deemed the most suitable due to being the most southerly club in a central position, making access to both the south-east and south-west more straightforward than alternatives such as Luctonians.

Tables

Fixture & Results

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

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Round 8

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Round 9

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Round 10

• Postponed due to unplayable pitch caused by bad weather (rain). Game to be rescheduled for 22 February 2020.

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Round 11

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Round 12

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Round 13

• Abandoned after 60 minutes due to power cut. Game eventually rescheduled for 22 February 2020.

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Round 14

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Round 15

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Round 16

• Postponed due to unplayable pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 21 February 2020.

• Postponed due to unplayable pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 22 February 2020.

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

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Round 21

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Round 22

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Round 23

• Postponed. Game to be rescheduled for 14 March 2020.

• Postponed. Game to be rescheduled for 14 March 2020.

• Postponed. Game to be rescheduled for 14 March 2020.

• Postponed. Game to be rescheduled for 14 March 2020.

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Rounds 10, 13 & 16 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 21 December 2019.

• Game originally rescheduled from 9 November 2019 but postponed again due to poor weather. Game to be rescheduled for 11 April 2020.

• Game rescheduled from 21 December 2019.

• Game rescheduled from 30 November 2019.

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Round 24

• Postponed due to unplayable pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 11 April 2020.

• Postponed due to unplayable pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 11 April 2020.

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Round 25

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Round 23 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2020.

• Game originally rescheduled from 15 February 2020 but postponed again due a Dings player being potentially exposed to coronavirus. Game to be rescheduled.

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2020.

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2020.

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Round 26

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Round 27

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Round 28

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Rounds 10 & 24 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 29 February 2020.

• Game rescheduled from 29 February 2020.

• Game rescheduled from 9 November 2019 and then 22 February 2020.

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Round 29

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Round 30

Attendances

• Does not include promotion play-off.

Club	Home games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Barnes	12	2,106	176	250	69	35%
Bournemouth	12	2,710	226	363	144	15%
Bury St Edmunds	12	4,555	380	447	305	13%
Clifton	13	2,112	162	441	101	6%
Dings Crusaders	12	5,624	469	1,076	247	21%
Esher	11	5,309	483	697	235	14%
Henley Hawks	13	4,611	355	733	210	12%
Leicester Lions	11	1,491	136	158	118	7%
Old Albanian	13	3,606	277	327	152	28%
Old Redcliffians	10	1,380	138	227	50
Redruth	13	8,789	676	920	485	19%
Sutton & Epsom	13	2,637	203	327	147
Taunton Titans	12	5,176	431	582	320	22%
Tonbridge Juddians	13	2,124	163	256	0	12%
Westcliff	13	3,447	265	438	173	27%
Worthing Raiders	13	5,257	404	609	245	27%

Individual statistics

• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

Season records

See also

• 2019–20 National League 2 North
• 2019–20 National League 1
• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

External links

• NCA Rugby