2015–16 National League 1

The 2015–16 National League 1, known for sponsorship reasons as the SSE National League 1 is the seventh season of the third tier of the English rugby union system, since the professionalised format of the second tier RFU Championship was introduced; and is the twenty-ninth season since league rugby began in 1987.

Richmond are the current champions and will play in the Green King IPA Championship next season. Henley Hawks, Cinderford and Wharfedale are relegated. Henley and Cinderford to National League 2 South and Wharfedale to National League 2 North. Plymouth Albion went into administration on 8 April 2016 and an interim licence to run the club ended on 6 May 2016. Albion were deducted 30 points by the RFU and dropped from 5th place to 8th. The club have submitted a business case and await a decision by the RFU on 18 May. If the RFU reject the plan Albion could be relegated to the bottom of the league structure i.e. Devon League 2. If that happens Wharfedale will not be relegated and subsequently other teams down through the league structure could be reprieved.^[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 promotion place and three relegation places. The champions are promoted to the Greene King IPA Championship and the bottom three teams are relegated to either National League 2 North or National League 2 South depending on the geographical location of the team.

Participating teams and locations

Twelve of the sixteen teams participated in last season's competition. The 2014–15 champions Ealing Trailfinders are promoted to the 2015–16 RFU Championship and are replaced by Plymouth Albion who were relegated from the 2014–15 RFU Championship after spending thirteen seasons in the league above.^[2] The three teams relegated last season, are Old Albanian, (to the 2015–16 National League 2 South), and Macclesfield and Tynedale, (both to the 2015–16 National League 2 North). The promoted teams are Henley Hawks and Hull Ionians champions of the 2014–15 National League 2 South and 2014–15 National League 2 North respectively, and Ampthill who won the promotion play-off against Bishop's Stortford.

Team	Ground	Capacity	City/Area	Previous season
Ampthill	Dillingham Park	3,000	Ampthill, Bedfordshire	Promoted from the 2014–15 National League 2 North (playoffs)
Blackheath	Rectory Field	6,000	Blackheath, London	6th
Blaydon	Crow Trees	2,000 (400 seats)	Swalwell, Tyne and Wear	8th
Cinderford	Dockham Road	2,500	Cinderford, Gloucestershire	13th
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000 (3,000 seats)	Coventry, West Midlands	3rd
Darlington Mowden Park	Northern Echo Arena	25,000	Darlington, County Durham	9th
Esher	Molesey Road	3,000 (1,200 seats)	Hersham, Surrey	10th
Fylde	Woodlands Memorial Ground	9,000	Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire	4th
Hartpury College	College Stadium	2,000	Hartpury, Gloucestershire	5th
Henley Hawks	Dry Leas	4,000	Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire	Promoted from the 2014–15 National League 2 South (champions)
Hull Ionians	Brantingham Park	1,500 (240 seats)	Brantingham, East Riding of Yorkshire	Promoted from the 2014–15 National League 2 North (champions)
Loughborough Students	Loughborough University Stadium	3,000	Loughborough, Leicestershire	12th
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	8,500	Plymouth, Devon	Relegated from the 2014–15 RFU Championship
Richmond	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London	7th
Rosslyn Park	The Rock	2,000	Roehampton, London	2nd
Wharfedale	The Avenue	2,000	Threshfield, North Yorkshire	11th

League table

2015–16 National League 1 table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Try bonus	Losing bonus	Points
1	Richmond (C)	30	23	2	5	854	534	320	16	4	116
2	Hartpury College	30	21	0	9	966	558	408	15	5	104
3	Blackheath	30	21	2	7	794	488	306	9	6	103
4	Ampthill	30	20	2	8	746	620	126	14	5	103
5	Rosslyn Park	30	20	0	10	745	578	167	12	3	95
6	Darlington Mowden Park	30	19	0	11	766	640	126	11	4	91
7	Esher	30	17	0	13	801	603	198	14	6	88
8	Plymouth Albion	30	22	0	8	733	647	86	11	3	72[n 1]
9	Coventry	30	13	2	15	710	653	57	9	6	71
10	Fylde	30	11	1	18	736	804	−68	11	10	67
11	Blaydon	30	10	0	20	565	772	−207	10	7	57
12	Hull Ionians	30	9	0	21	645	872	−227	10	11	57
13	Loughborough Students	30	9	0	21	680	774	−94	10	9	55
14	Wharfedale (R)	30	6	1	23	592	869	−277	10	7	43
15	Cinderford (R)	30	7	1	22	545	969	−424	7	4	41
16	Henley Hawks (R)	30	6	1	23	478	975	−497	5	3	29
Points system: 4 points for a win; 2 points for a draw; 1 point if a team loses by seven points or less (losing bonus); 1 point if the team scores four or more tries in a match (try bonus) If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
^ *Plymouth Albion were deducted 30 points for going into administration on 8 April 2016[3] Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are relegation places. Updated: 30 April 2016 Source: "National League 1". NCA Rugby.

Fixtures

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

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Round 11

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Round 12

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Round 13

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Round 14

• Postponed due to bad weather and waterlogged pitch. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016.^[17][18]

• Postponed due to bad weather and waterlogged pitch. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016.^[18][19]

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 18

• Game rescheduled to 12 March 2016

• Game rescheduled to 27 February 2016

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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

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Postponed matches (1)

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Round 24

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Postponed matches (2)

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Round 25

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Round 26

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Round 27

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Round 28

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Round 29

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Round 30

• Blackheath's last ever first team game at the Rectory Field.^[38]

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Attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Ampthill	15	5,124	342	627	185	11%
Blackheath	15	10,422	695	1,263	383	12%
Blaydon	15	3,647	243	710	80	12%
Cinderford	15	4,276	285	450	187	11%
Coventry	15	17,277	1,152	1,435	851	29%
Darlington Mowden Park	15	15,302	1,020	1,348	682	4%
Esher	15	6,687	446	715	285	15%
Fylde	15	8,960	597	855	438	7%
Hartpury College	15	5,391	359	576	200	18%
Henley Hawks	15	5,544	370	485	265	9%
Hull Ionians	15	4,160	277	512	174	18%
Loughborough Students	15	4,982	332	664	156	11%
Plymouth Albion	15	17,299	1,153	1,843	754	14%
Richmond	15	10,388	693	1,247	279	15%
Rosslyn Park	15	8,270	551	1,604	275	28%
Wharfedale	15	7,167	478	581	325	24%

Individual statistics

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances is placed first (if they have the same number of games, then the less minutes played will rank first). Also 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).

Season records

See also

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

References

External links

• NCA Rugby