2009–10 National League 1

2009-10 National League 1
Countries	England
Champions	Esher
Runners-up	London Scottish
Relegated	Manchester, Nuneaton, Newbury Blues
Attendance	127,850 (average 539 per match)[a 1]
Highest attendance	2,485 London Scottish at home to Esher on 16 January 2010
Lowest attendance	105 Blaydon at home to Nuneaton on 17 April 2010
Top point scorer	Sam Ulph Esher 399 points
Top try scorer	Johannes Schmidt Cambridge 30 tries

The 2009-10 National League 1, previously known as National Division 2, is the first season of the third division of the English rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced with widespread league changes made by the RFU.^[1] As the new second division would reduce teams from 16 to 12, there were plenty of new additions to National League 1, itself increasing from 14 to 16 teams, with Esher, Newbury, Manchester, Manchester and Sedgley Park all dropping down from the old National 1 while Nuneaton and London Scottish came up from the 2008–09 National Division Three North and 2008–09 National Division Three South respectively (these divisions themselves now renamed National League 2 North/South).^[2][3][4][5]

At the end of the season Esher finished as champions, way ahead of runners up and newly promoted London Scottish, suffering only one defeat and going straight back up to the 2010–11 RFU Championship.^[6] At the other end of the table, Manchester had an absolutely awful season, suffering their second successive relegation, with no wins, no bonus points, only 114 points scored and over 2,500 points conceded.^[7] The other two sides to join them would be Nuneaton who went straight back down after one season and Newbury Blues who also suffered a second relegation in a row, losing out to 13th place Otley by just 2 points.^[8][9] Manchester and Nuneaton would drop to the 2010–11 National League 2 North while Newbury would go down into the 2010–11 National League 2 South.

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Blackheath	Rectory Field	6,000	Blackheath, London
Blaydon	Crow Trees	2,000 (400 seats)	Swalwell, Tyne and Wear
Cambridge	Grantchester Road	2,200 (200 seats)	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Cinderford	Dockham Road	2,500	Cinderford, Gloucestershire
Esher	Molesey Road	3,000 (1,200 seats)	Hersham, Surrey
Launceston	Polson Bridge	3,000	Launceston, Cornwall
London Scottish	Athletic Ground	4,500 (1,000 seats)	Richmond, London
Manchester	Grove Park	4,000	Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
Newbury Blues	Monk's Lane	8,000	Newbury, Berkshire
Nuneaton	Liberty Way	4,314 (514 Seated)	Nuneaton, Warwickshire
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, West Yorkshire
Redruth	The Recreation Ground	3,500 (580 seats)	Redruth, Cornwall
Sedgley Park	Park Lane	3,000	Whitefield, Greater Manchester
Stourbridge	Stourton Park	3,500 (499 seats)	Stourbridge, West Midlands
Tynedale	Tynedale Park	2,000 (400 seats)	Corbridge, Northumberland
Wharfedale	The Avenue	2,000	Threshfield, Craven, North Yorkshire

2009–10 National League 1 table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Esher[a] (C)	29	28	0	1	1416	338	+1078	22	1	135	Promoted
2	London Scottish	30	22	1	7	938	569	+369	15	3	108
3	Launceston	30	21	0	9	848	606	+242	17	4	105
4	Cambridge	30	19	1	10	880	572	+308	14	5	97
5	Tynedale	30	18	1	11	1008	629	+379	17	5	96
6	Wharfedale	30	18	0	12	857	666	+191	14	5	91
7	Blaydon	30	16	0	14	924	679	+245	12	4	80
8	Blackheath	30	14	1	15	760	730	+30	10	5	73
9	Sedgley Park	30	13	0	17	827	807	+20	11	8	71
10	Stourbridge	30	13	0	17	751	799	−48	12	6	70
11	Redruth	30	12	1	17	675	575	+100	10	9	69
12	Cinderford[b]	29	12	0	17	753	636	+117	10	8	66
13	Otley	30	12	1	17	710	811	−101	9	4	63
14	Newbury (R)	30	12	0	18	671	745	−74	6	7	61	Relegated
15	Nuneaton (R)	30	6	0	24	559	903	−344	4	4	32
16	Manchester (R)	30	0	0	30	114	2626	−2512	0	0	0

^[11][12]

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 6 February 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 6 February 2010.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 20 March 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 May 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 20 March 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 March 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 March 2010.

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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 1 May 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 May 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 May 2010.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 May 2010.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 14 April 2010.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 2 February 2010.

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• Rescheduled from 30 January 2010.

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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.

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• Brought forward from 13 February 2010.

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• Brought forward to 7 February 2010.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled for 8 May 2010.

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• Rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 2 January 2010.

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• Rescheduled from 16 January 2010.

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• Rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

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• Rescheduled from 16 January 2010.

• Rescheduled from 27 February 2010.

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• Rescheduled from 2 January 2010. Game cancelled as Cinderford did not have enough front row players and match would not have any outcome as Esher had already won the title and Cinderford were safe from relegation.^[10]

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Blackheath	15	9,387	626	942	352	10%
Blaydon	15	5,127	342	1,021	105	17%
Cambridge	15	8,606	574	1,020	344	26%
Cinderford	14[a 2]	3,505	250	400	195	17%
Esher	15	14,122	941	1,294	654	31%
Launceston	15	10,801	720	1,437	537	24%
London Scottish	15	15,216	1,014	2,485	455	23%
Manchester	14[a 3]	2,840	203	320	110	5%
Newbury Blues	15	6,855	457	571	328	6%
Nuneaton	15	3,553	237	424	149	5%
Otley	15	6,217	414	894	271	8%
Redruth	15	13,974	932	2,010	708	27%
Sedgley Park	14[a 4]	5,113	365	512	176	12%
Stourbridge	15	7,500	500	650	400	14%
Tynedale	15	7,158	477	910	310	24%
Wharfedale	15	7,876	525	868	402	26%

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances will come first. Also note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

• English Rugby Union Leagues
• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

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