2015–16 National League 2 North

2015–16 National League 2 North
Countries	England
Date	5 September 2015 – 14 May 2016
Champions	Macclesfield (3rd title)
Runners-up	Sedgley Park
Relegated	Huddersfield, Broadstreet, Sandal
Matches played	239
Attendance	65,338 (average 273 per match)
Highest attendance	1,050 Harrogate v Otley 5 September 2015
Lowest attendance	50 South Leicester v Sedgley Park 12 September 2015 South Leicester v Caldy 10 October 2015
Top point scorer	Lewis Minikin (Harrogate) 299 points
Top try scorer	Nick Royle (Caldy) 25 tries
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 National League 2 North is the seventh season (29th overall) of the fourth tier of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division 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.^[1][2][3]

Teams joining the division include Macclesfield and Tynedale (both relegated from National League 1), Sale and Sandal (both promoted from National League 3 North) and South Leicester (promoted from National League 3 Midlands).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} A further change this season saw Harrogate 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 in front of a club record crowd of 1,050.^[9][10][11]

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 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.^[12] The two bottom clubs at the end of the season were Huddersfield, who went down in Round 27, and Broadstreet, who followed one week later.^[13][14] 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 to stay in the division.^[15] Another interesting feature of the season was Caldy's Nick Royle 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.^[16][17]

As league runners up to Macclesfield by some distance, Sedgley Park had to travel down to Hertfordshire to face the 2015–16 National League 2 South runners up, Old Albanian, 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.^[18][19]

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 2015–16 National League 2 South with the winner being promoted. The last three teams are relegated to either National League 3 Midlands or National League 3 North depending on the geographical location of the team.

Eleven of the teams listed below participated in the 2014–15 National League 2 North season; Macclesfield and Tynedale were relegated from the 2014–15 National League 1, Sale (champions) and Sandal (play-offs) were promoted from National League 3 North while South Leicester (champions) were promoted from National League 3 Midlands.

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area	Previous Season
Broadstreet	Ivor Preece Field	1,500 (250 seats)	Coventry, West Midlands	7th
Caldy	Paton Field	4,000	Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside	6th
Chester	Hare Lane	2,000 (500 seats)	Chester, Cheshire	5th
Harrogate	Rudding Lane	2,000	Harrogate, North Yorkshire	4th
Huddersfield	Lockwood Park	1,500 (500 seats)	Huddersfield, West Yorkshire	9th
Leicester Lions	Westleigh Park	2,000	Blaby, Leicestershire	11th
Luctonians	Mortimer Park	2,500 (300 seats)	Kingsland, Herefordshire	13th
Macclesfield	Priory Park	1,250 (250 seats)	Macclesfield, Cheshire	Relegated from 2014–15 National League 1 (16th)
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, Leeds, West Yorkshire	8th
Preston Grasshoppers	Lightfoot Green	5,000	Preston, Lancashire	12th
Sale	Heywood Road	5,400	Sale, Greater Manchester	Promoted from National League 3 North (1st)
Sandal	Milnthorpe Green		Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire	promoted from National League 3 North via the play-off
Sedgley Park	Park Lane	3,000	Whitefield, Bury, Greater Manchester	3rd
South Leicester	Welford Road Ground		Leicester, Leicestershire	promoted from National League 3 Midlands (1st)
Stourbridge	Stourton Park	3,500 (499 seats)	Stourbridge, West Midlands	10th
Tynedale	Tynedale Park Kingston Park[a 1]	2,000 (400 seats) 10,200	Corbridge, Northumberland Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear	Relegated from National League 1 (15th)

2015–16 National League 2 North table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Macclesfield (C)	29	25	0	4	907	507	+400	22	1	123[a]	Promotion place
2	Sedgley Park	30	21	0	9	951	562	+389	18	6	108	Play-off place
3	Leicester Lions	30	19	1	10	595	485	+110	7	5	90
4	Stourbridge	30	18	1	11	626	530	+96	8	7	89
5	Caldy	30	17	2	11	642	547	+95	8	7	87
6	Luctonians	30	15	2	13	661	714	−53	11	4	79
7	Harrogate	29	16	0	13	612	605	+7	7	6	77[b]
8	Otley	30	14	0	16	584	644	−60	9	8	73
9	Preston Grasshoppers	30	12	3	15	591	627	−36	7	7	68
10	Tynedale	30	12	1	17	659	746	−87	10	8	68
11	Chester	30	12	0	18	599	662	−63	9	9	66
12	South Leicester	30	11	3	16	659	732	−73	11	5	66
13	Sale	30	12	2	16	617	738	−121	7	6	65
14	Sandal (R)	30	12	1	17	506	666	−160	3	7	60	Relegation place
15	Broadstreet (R)	30	8	0	22	554	736	−182	4	9	45
16	Huddersfield (R)	30	7	0	23	509	771	−262	3	7	38

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• Postponed due to severe weather and flooding. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016.^[32]

• Postponed due to severe weather causing flooding. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016.^[33]

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• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016.^[35]

• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016.^[36]

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• Postponed due to pitch being deemed unsuitable to play due to heavy rain. Game rescheduled to 12 March 2016.^[39]

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• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 12 March 2016.^[41]

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• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 12 March 2016.^[43]

• Postponed due to frozen pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 12 March 2016.^[44]

• Postponed due to bad weather. Game to be rescheduled for 12 March 2016.^[45]

• Postponed due to frozen pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 26 March 2016.^[46]

• Postponed due to bad weather. Game to be rescheduled for 27 February 2016.^[47]

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• 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.^[50]

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• Postponed due to bad weather conditions. Game to be rescheduled for 7 May 2016.^[52]

• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 7 May 2016.^[53]

• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 26 March 2016.^[54]

• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch caused by heavy rain. Game to be rescheduled for 26 March 2016.^[55]

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• 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.

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• Postponed due to bad weather conditions. Game to be rescheduled for 14 May 2016.^[60]

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• 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.

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• Game rescheduled from 30 January 2016.

• Game rescheduled from 16 January 2016.

• Game rescheduled from 6 February 2016.

• Game rescheduled from 6 February 2016.

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• Huddersfield are relegated.^[13]

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• Broadstreet are relegated.^[14]

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• Sandal are relegated.^[15]

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• Game rescheduled from 6 February 2016.

• Game rescheduled from 6 February 2016.

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• 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.

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Each season, the runners-up in the National League 2 North and National League 2 South and participate in a play-off for promotion to National Division 1. Old Albanian were runners-up in the 2015–16 National League 2 South and because they had a better record than the 2015–16 National League 2 North runners-up, Sedgley Park, they hosted the play-off match.^[72][73]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
Old Albanian	30	25	1	4	1040	468	+572	23	3	128
Sedgley Park	30	21	0	9	951	562	+389	18	6	108

^[19]

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Broadstreet	15	2,693	180	276	98	12%
Caldy	15	2,819	188	295	120	5%
Chester	15	5,354	357	890	210	18%
Harrogate	15	4,710	314	1,050	180	16%
Huddersfield	15	4,091	273	385	148	18%
Leicester Lions	15	1,836	122	193	89	6%
Luctonians	15	5,637	376	821	220	15%
Macclesfield	14[c 1]	4,381	313	452	207	25%
Otley	15	4,553	304	573	192	6%
Preston Grasshoppers	15	5,070	338	552	232	7%
Sale	15	3,829	255	420	185	5%
Sandal	15	3,414	228	350	100
Sedgley Park	15	3,546	236	300	160	8%
South Leicester	15	1,644	110	300	50
Stourbridge	15	6,052	403	570	260	12%
Tynedale	15	5,709	381	584	210	9%

^[74]

• 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.

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

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