A club by club review if the National Three South season 2004/05
Barking finally made it into National Two after 11 years in this division, their previous best finish was third in both 96/97 and 97/98 and they improved from fifth place last season. They won the league by 12 points in the end losing just once all season, away to Old Patesians back in October, their only other slip was a draw at home to Redruth and won their last 20 matches of the season.
In the end they picked up 17 four try bonus points and a bonus point in their loss at Old Patesians 13-14. They were easily the leading try scorers in the division with 129, 25 more than Lydney managed which was the next best effort.
Ben Montgomery was the leading points scorer with 236 which was the second best return ever by a Barking player after the 248 points scored by Nick Thompson back in 1996/97. In the try scoring department winger Lloyd Williams set a new club record of 20 tries in a season five more than the previous record of 15 set by Fred Lewis in the 2000/01 season.
Redruth made it back into the National Two after an eight year gap as they improved form fourth the previous season to second. They had home advantage in the play off against Macclesfield from National Three North and came through 33-14. .
They made a great run to climb back from fourth spot and overhaul both Lydney and then North Walsham winning 14 out of their last 15 matches to claim that second spot with the only loss in that period a narrow home defeat against the Champions, 16-14, their only home loss of the season. They had the meanest defence in the division conceding just 37 tries, seven fewer than the next best.
Bede Brown was their lading scorer with 169 points which was his best return in a season beating his 122 three seasons back, the only other time he finished as leading scorer for the club.
Leading try scorer was winger Nathan Pedley with an impressive total of 19 which was anew league record for Redruth beating the previous best of 17 set by Rob Thirlby back in the 1997/98 season.
North Walsham took third spot on the final day but for much of the season they were challenging for a top two spot before they went on their worst run in memory losing six matches in a row including three at home with Havant and Southend leaving with surprise wins after the run started when they went down narrowly to leaders Barking at the end of February 12-5.
A last day win over Old Patesians as they stopped the losing run saw them finish third for the second successive year and the fifth time in the last seven years with seventh their worst finish in the last eight years.
They had a good defence with only Redruth, 37, conceding fewer tries than the 44 they conceded.
Might have suffered form not having a front line kicker all season, Chris Borrett was their top points scorer with 122 but that included eight tries and was the lowest total since 1996/97 when James Shanahan top scored with just 70.
In the try scoring flanker Tim Malone finished top with 12 as full back/wing Andy Thorpe failed to make it four in a row although he did reach double figures for a fourth consecutive season and made it 64 in four seasons.
Lydney after relegation the previous season and just two wins made a real fight of it early on before losing it mid season but came back strongly at the end and nearly snatching third place form North Walsham.
They were only the second side along with the Champions Barking to top the 100 try mark for the season and were also the second highest scorers in the division.
Adam Westall finished as leading points scorer for the third successive season and became one of the few players to top 300 points more than once in a season. He finished on 322 points someway short of his 373 form three seasons ago but still a very impressive total and was the only players in the division to top 300 points.
He also broke the record for most points in a match in the division with 42 in the away win at Haywards Heath.
Winger Andy Macrea set a new club record for tries in a season with 19, 13 at home and six away.
Hertford finished in fifth place in their first ever National League season which was a great achievement.
They finished top of what could be called the second division with the division as they were 17 points behind fourth placed Lydney but were on of four sides within eight points of each other down to eighth spot.
Winger Neil Barella led the way for the club and finished on 298 points which was more than half his sides total for the season 588. He was second to Westall in the scoring charts just missing out on the 300 point mark. He was also the clubs top try scorer by some way with 18, 10 more than the next best effort of eight by Adam Roberts, and that was the fifth best return in the division.
Reading on their return to National League rugby after a three season absence acquitted themselves really well to finish in sixth place.
Despite their impressive finish they conceded over 100 tries and in fact only bottom of the table Haywards Heath with 143 conceded more than Reading 107. In try scoring they just missed out on scoring 100 managing 91 otherwise they would have been the first club ever to score and concede 100 tries in the same season.
In their 13 defeats they only picked up one losing bonus point.
Alex Wallace top scored with 115 points nut that included eight tries and Spike Chandler also topped the 100 point mark finishing on 105.
Leading try scorer was a summer recruit Tom Johnson who joined form Chinnor and scored 17 tries to finish as sixth highest try scorer in the division and the best return in the league by a forward. He also scored four tries in match twice in the home matches against Dings Crusaders and Lydney.
Havant, also on their return to National League rugby, finished in seventh place as all three promoted sides finished together in the top seven positions a feat that has not happened before.
They were the four highest try scorers in the division running in 92 tries and 53 of them were scored at home.
Stephen Claffey was the leading points scorer with 175, seventh best in the division.
On the try scoring front they ended up with the divisions leading try scorer, New Zealander Cam Avery who ran in 23 tries for a new club record and the sixth best ever return ion the division. His opposite wing Matt Grunow was the second leading try scorer at the club with 11 tries.
Dings Crusaders had a great first half of the season but faded in the second half of the season to finish a creditable eighth. They were not supposed to be in this division after getting relegated but with the demise of Wakefield and after Rosslyn Park appealed against their relegation it all changed and they were back in National Three South for another season. They were hot out of the blocks and won six of their first eight matches which was terrific considering they only won eight all season the previous campaign. It was mixed from there on in but they had a good home record and kept kicking up the wins to stay well safe in mid table.
Waylon Gasson top scored with 136 not quite as many as he scored the season before but at the start of the season on loan Danny Gray did the goal kicking scoring 61 points before Bristol called him back off loan.
Winger/centre Sylvan Edwards topped the try scoring list for the second successive season but this time scored an impressive 17 to finish joint sixth in the division.
Westcombe Park finished ninth for the third time in their six season stay in the division but it was a two place improvement on the previous season.
They won six out of their last nine as they looked to climb the table and stay clear of the relegation zone which they were a bit to close to for comfort at one stage.
Did well picking up nine four try bonus points but although they lost 14 times they only picked up one losing bonus point.
Sam Barnett ended the season as leading points scorer with 93 coming in after the start of the season to take on the fly half position and the kicking duties.
Winger Sam Greenaway was the leading try scorer with 10 tries the lowest figure since their first season in this division when Clark Goodwin finished on nine.
Southend after an excellent first season in the division when they finished sixth found this season tougher and were 10th in the end eight points clear of the relegation zone.
Did not score nearly as many points as the previous season in fact they were nearly 200 point down but they did improve in the defence stats conceding nearly 100 fewer.
Simon Hoult took over the kicking duties after the retirement of Ali Chambers and finished on 170 although he missed a number of matches in the second half of the season and Ben Green stepped in and scored 63 points.
Chris Green finished as leading try scorer for a second successive season but with nine was down on his previous best of 16.
Old Patesians overcame a poor start to the season with a good second half to finish 11th. This was their worst finish in four years of National League rugby, four places down on last season.
They do hold the distinction of being the only side to defeat the Champions Barking winning 14-13 at the end of October.
Russell Nunn top scored with 122 points to finish as leading scorer for a second time, the first was back in the 2001/02 season their first in the National Leagues.
No 8 James Pettigrew had an excellent season picking up the NCA player of the month award and was the clubs top try scorer in the leagues with 10, two more than centre Ben Parker.
Weston super Mare slip back into South West One after three seasons back in the National Leagues finishing 12th seven points form safety and four places down form last season.
They were the second lowest try scorers in the division with 60 after bottom of the table Haywards Heath who managed just 44.
They also kicked just 27 penalty goals all season which was the second lowest in the division after North Walsham who managed just 13.
Morne Jonker before being snapped up by National Two side Nuneaton scored 76 points which was still the most by a Weston player by the end of the season
Backs Paul Sprague and Matt Williams led the try scoring with nine each. Sprague was also the leading try scorer last season with 13.
Tabard finished second bottom and after a 12 year stay are relegated back into London One. They have slipped down in the league in each of the last four seasons now coming down from 9th, 10th, 11th and now relegation.
Their best finish in the division was their first season in it when they finished third back in 1993/94.
They started well with three wins in their opening four matches but after that they struggled, winning just twice in their last 22 matches.
Rob Colborne had a good season for them scoring 180 points following on from his 207 the previous season. In the match at Haywards Heath late in the season he scored 30 points as they won 55-17 and ended a 14 match losing run going back to the end of November.
Winger Simon Valentine was top try scorer with 12 tries, four more than Colborne scored.
Haywards Heath slip out of the National Leagues after a two season stay. Last season they managed 10th spot but this season they picked up just three wins after losing their opening 11 league matches. That was a win at Tabard on the 18th December. They had to wait till the 5th February for their next win a home success over Westcombe Park 38-12. That though was it till the final day of the season when they were victors at Dings Crusaders.
They conceded 143 tries, 36 more than any other side and scored just 46 tries the lowest total in the division by 14.
Owen Ashton top scored for the club with 176 points beating the 174 he scored when Haywards Heath won promotion from London One.
He also finished joint top try scorer with scrum half Alex Meredith with seven tries. Meredith was top try scorer the previous season with nine tries.
|
