2014–15 National League 2 South

2014–15 National League 2 South
Countries	England
Champions	Henley Hawks
Runners-up	Bishop's Stortford (not promoted)
Relegated	Dings Crusaders, Shelford, Lydney
Matches played	240
Attendance	94,033 (average 392 per match)
Highest attendance	1,687 Cambridge v Shelford 10 January 2014
Lowest attendance	75 Clifton v Southend 15 November 2014
Top point scorer	Gary Kingdom (Taunton Titans) 312 points
Top try scorer	Will Crow (Dorking) 22 tries
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

The 2014–15 National League 2 South is the sixth season (28th overall) of the fourth tier (south) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced. New teams to the division include Worthing Raiders^[1] (relegated from National League 1), Dorking^[2] and Old Elthamians^[3] (both promoted from National League 3 London & SE) and Lydney^[4] (promoted from National League 3 South West). The league system is 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.

During the course of the season the two league derby games between the Launceston and Redruth would also double up as the Cornish Super Cup with Launceston being the defending 2013–14 champions. Redruth won over two razor edge contests to take the 2014–15 Cornish Super Cup 29 – 28 on aggregate.^[5] Henley Hawks finished the season as champions and booked themselves an immediate return to National League 1 for the 2015–16 season by securing the league title and promotion on 28 March 2015, beating Shelford 66 – 17 at Dry Leas.^[6]

While Henley gained promotion early, the battle for second spot (and the chance to go up via the play-off) went right to the last day of the season with three teams looking to go up — Bishop's Stortford, Dorking and Taunton Titans. In the end, all three teams had bonus point victories but Bishop's Stortford's slender two point lead at the start of play meant they would finish as league runners–up. With only three victories all season Dings Crusaders were the first team to be relegated,^[7] followed some time later by Shelford with the third relegation spot much more keenly contested. A dramatic last day saw Lydney competing against Southend Saxons to avoid the drop. Lydney won their game with the maximum 5 points they needed but Southend managed to get a losing bonus point in their game and stayed up thanks to a better win record.^[8] Dings and Lydney would drop to National League 3 South West while Shelford would drop to National League 3 London & SE.

League runners up Bishop's Stortford would go into a playoff against the runners up of the 2014–15 National League 2 North, Ampthill, with Ampthill getting home advantage due to their better league record. It was the second time in a row that Ampthill were in the playoffs after somewhat ironically finishing second in National League 2 South the previous season. Bishop's Stortford lost a close game at Dillingham Park 10–19, with Ampthill gaining promotion to National League 1 for the 2015-16 season.^[9] In terms of attendances, National League 2 South had a total of 94,033 fans turning up for games across the season - up 14,405 from the previous season. This was helped by good regular crowds at Launceston and Redruth with 1,000+ attendances in the matches between the two Cornish sides while the two Cambridge - Shelford derby games attracted the biggest crowds of the season.

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 2015–16 National League 1 and the runners-up play the second-placed team in the 2014–15 National League 2 North with the winner being promoted. The last three teams are relegated to either National League 3 London & SE or National League 3 South West depending on the geographical location of the team (in some cases teams may join the Midlands regional leagues).

Eleven of the teams listed below participated in the 2013–14 National League 2 South season; Henley Hawks and Worthing Raiders were relegated from National League 1, Dorking (champions) and Old Elthamians (play-offs) were promoted from National League 3 London & SE, Lydney were promoted from National League 3 South West and Ampthill were transferred back to National League 2 North to ensure that both leagues were suitably balanced with the same number of teams.

2014–15 National League 2 South table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Henley Hawks (C)	30	24	1	5	956	567	+389	19	4	121	Promotion place
2	Bishop's Stortford	30	20	1	9	933	608	+325	22	8	112	Play-off place
3	Taunton Titans	30	22	0	8	863	591	+272	16	6	110
4	Dorking	30	22	2	6	852	567	+285	12	4	108
5	Worthing Raiders	30	19	0	11	804	605	+199	19	5	100
6	Chinnor	30	18	0	12	780	639	+141	11	9	92
7	Cambridge	30	17	0	13	765	662	+103	16	6	90
8	Old Elthamians	30	12	1	17	693	736	−43	9	9	68
9	Redruth	30	13	1	16	577	686	−109	6	6	66
10	Launceston	30	12	2	16	625	595	+30	3	11	66
11	Canterbury	30	11	2	17	640	721	−81	11	3	62
12	Clifton	30	11	0	19	635	837	−202	9	6	59
13	Southend Saxons	30	12	0	18	640	782	−142	6	7	56[a]
14	Lydney (R)	30	11	1	18	546	871	−325	5	5	56	Relegation place
15	Shelford (R)	30	7	0	23	579	938	−359	9	4	36[b]
16	Dings Crusaders (R)	30	3	1	26	526	1009	−483	5	3	22

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• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch. Game to be replayed on 28 February 2015.

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• Postponed after a referee's assessment due to wet weather conditions rendering pitch unplayable. Game to be replayed on 28 February 2015.^[49][50]

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• Postponed due to snow. Game to be replayed on 28 February 2015.^[55]

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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 Division 1. Ampthill were runners-up in the North and because they had a better record than the South runners-up, Bishop's Stortford they hosted the play-off match.^[76][77]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Ampthill	30	26	1	3	1113	440	+673	23	2	131
Bishop's Stortford	30	20	1	9	933	608	+325	22	8	112

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Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bishop's Stortford	15	4,883	326	725	180	20%
Cambridge	15	7,681	512	1,687	346	23%
Canterbury	15	4,104	274	504	183	18%
Chinnor	15	4,840	323	720	157	16%
Clifton	15	2,706	180	450	75	7%
Dings Crusaders	15	2,913	194	679	120	13%
Dorking	15	6,516	434	1,065	280	43%
Henley Hawks	15	7,490	499	865	340	12%
Launceston	15	10,088	673	1,315	411	22%
Lydney	15	6,148	410	611	315	27%
Old Elthamians	15	2,985	199	465	120	19%
Redruth	15	11,707	780	1,320	619	22%
Shelford	15	4,703	314	1,509	132	16%
Southend Saxons	15	3,052	203	453	97
Taunton Titans	15	5,990	399	650	215	20%
Worthing Raiders	15	8,227	548	853	300	35%

• 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).

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

• NCA Rugby Archived 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine