After four seasons in National Three South Southend move up to National Two as Champions piping Westcombe Park by two points. Prior to this their best finish in the division was 5th the previous season.
Leading the way with an impressive 335 points, 97 more than the next highest, was Full back Andy Frost as he finished leading points scorer for the club for a second successive season setting a club record in the process beating the previous record of 298 set by Ali Chambers in London One 2002/03.
They also had the divisions leading try scorer in centre Faapulou Soolefai which ran in an impressive 32 tries, a club record and the second best return ever in the division after the 38 scored by Richard Newton in 1999/00 for Penzance.
The led the division in try bonus points picking up 18 in their 26 matches and at home lost just once in 13 matches going down 23-15 to Westcombe Park.
Westcombe Park finished the season as runners up as they improved on their previous season when they had the best finish in the division when finishing third. Second place put the in the play offs and with home advantage they overcame National Three North runners up Tynedale 36-20 coming back form a 17-0 half time deficit.
So after eight seasons in the Division they finally get out of it and move up to National Two for the first time.
James Whittingham led the way in the points scoring as he topped the list for a second successive season but with a vastly improved total, 238 compared to 127 the previous season.
Winger Sam Greenaway led the try scoring with 22 tries, two short of the club record on 24 set last season by Tom Hayman who was second this season with 19 making it an impressive 43 tries in two seasons.
Havant finished in third place a six place improvement on the previous season but were still 19 points behind second placed Westcombe Park in their third season back in this division. They had the second best defensive record in the division with only runners up Westcombe Park conceding fewer points.
Leading the points scoring was fly half Pucs Ngapaku with 155 whilst in the try scoring winger Cameron Avery led the way with 16 tries six more than the next best by Neil Hannibal. Avery has now been the leading trey scorer for three successive seasons now and rattled up an impressive 55 tries since the club returned to the National Leagues.
Canterbury in their first ever season of National League rugby finished a highly creditable fourth. They were the third highest points scorers in the division and the same in try bonus points.
Winger David Dorton was the leading points scorer with 103 but was not the full time goal kicker with James Reilly and Wessels Wolmarans also taking kicking duties on a number of occasions. On the try scoring front Gert De Koch led the way with 20 which was the third best return ion the division. He was four ahead of fellow backs Andy Pratt and Michael Melford. The forwards were led by No 8 Rowan O’Gorman with 11 tries.
Lydney finished a disappointing fifth place a drop of a place on the previous season and will be playing a fourth successive in the division next season.
They started the season well but fell off the pace and never really got back into gear and picked up just 11 try bonus points quite a lot fewer than the two sides who were just ahead of them in the table.
Rory Teague early season was impressive with the boot and kicked 166 points to finish as leading points scorer over Adam Westall who on his return from injury notched up 134, the fifth season running he has topped the 100 point mark for Lydney as he nears 1200 points in the league for the club.
In the try scoring stakes winger Andy Macrea just piped the other winger Tom Jarvis by one running in 14 tries. It is the second time he has topped the try scoring list as he also did it in 2004/05 with 19.
Bridgwater & Albion finished in sixth place in the table a one place improvement on the previous season and picked up 17 bonus points along the way including four losing by seven points of less in their nine defeats. 10 of their 15 wins came at home where they had a good record with only the top two and Cinderford leaving with victories.
Fly half Christian Wulff led the way in the points scoring with 136 including an impressive 14 tries. This placed him joint top of the try scorers list with winger Jon Edwards and two clear of the opposite winger Gavin Hancock.
North Walsham finished in seventh place in the table their worst finish in the division since they also finished seventh in 1997-98 and in the last five seasons before this they have never finished outside the top four. They picked up just 10 four try bonus points and only two losing bonus points in their 10 defeats.
Never had a consistent goal kicker all season and the leading points scorer was Andy Thorpe with 100 which came form his 20 tries. Thorpe was leading try scorer for a fifth time in six years and reached 20 for the second time falling one short of his record of 21 set in 2002/03 as he passed the magic figure of 100 league tries in the National Leagues. He finished the season on 102 tries form 123 starts an impressive record by any standards.
Cinderford came in eighth in the table a two place improvement on the previous season as they look forward to a third consecutive season of National League rugby.
They picked up just five try bonus points and were eighth best offensively in the division. But on the other hand they had the fourth best defensive record in the division even better than Champions Southend conceding just 513 points.
Leading the scoring was fly half Tristan Roberts with 105 just ahead of Phil Greenaway who scored 97.
In the try scoring stakes Lloyd Stapleton led the way with just seven tries one more than back row forward George Evans.
Dings Crusaders finished in ninth place a drop of a place on the previous season as they completed a fourth successive season at this level.
After bottom of the table Chinnor they were the second lowest points scorers in the division scoring just 445. They managed nine bonus points in total picking up just five for scoring four tries or more.
Dings were another side that failed to find a front line regular goal kicker and leading the way with 93 was Gareth Griffiths, the first time they have failed to have a player pass the 100 point mark since they joined the National Leagues. In the try scoring stakes winger Sylvan Edwards was again the leading try scorer for the fourth successive season with nine this time his lowest return in that period.
Rosslyn Park were early season strugglers and at one time looked in serious danger of been caught right up in the relegation battle but managed to put together a run to get themselves out of it and there they stayed and finished four points clear of the drop zone. Their 10th lace is their lowest ever league position. Last time they were in this division they bounced straight back up into National Two as Champions.
Leading the points scoring was Richard Mahony who just passed the 200 mark to finish on 201 and top the list for a second successive season.
The trio of Chris King, Rhys Lapidus and Doug Rodman jointly led the try scoring but with the lowly total of just five tries.
Clifton staved of relegation in their first season back in the National Leagues, after a four season absence, on the penultimate weekend of the season when they moved out of the relegation zone for the first time all season.
They finished 11th on their return to the National Leagues and ended up two points from the drop zone. They made an appalling start to the season and looked down and put before they started pulling out some good results and closing the gap of them and safety.
John Barnes led the way in the points scoring with 210 which was good enough for third place in the division. In the try scoring stakes full back/winger Rob Viol led the way with 15 tries.
Hertford after a three season stay in the National Leagues drop back down in London One after an amazing turn of events. They were just above the relegation zone most of the season but in the penultimate week of the season dropped into the third bottom place and had no way out with a tough away match against championship chasing Southend on the final Saturday of the season.
Kieron Davies led the scoring with 119 points in his first season at the club and in the try scoring list Luke Sloan, centre, and Johannes Schmidt, winger, led the way with seven each.
Old Patesians after a six season stay in the National Leagues finally slipped out and back into South West One after finishing 13th in the table. They managed just four wins all season although in their 22 defeats they did manage eight losing bonus points. .
With 94, Russell Nunn led the points scoring for the third time in six seasons. Winger Chris Mellon and No 8 James Pettigrew led the way on the try scoring with seven tries each. It is the second time in three seasons Pettigrew has been leading try scorer.
Chinnor slip back into South West One after just a season in the National Leagues. The South West One Champions from the previous season struggled and managed just four wins all season. They were easily the lowest points scorers with just 367 78 fewer than the next lowest total and defensively they conceded 949 points nearly 200 more than any other side.
Fly half Richard Williams scored nearly a third of his side’s points with 110. In the try scoring new boy Anthony Pyers led the way with eight tries playing in the centre double what anybody else managed.
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