2013–14 National League 2 North

2013–14 National League 2 North
Countries	England
Champions	Macclesfield
Runners-up	Darlington Mowden Park (also promoted)
Relegated	Dudley Kingswinford, Bromsgrove, Sheffield Tigers
Matches played	240
Attendance	78,429 (average 327 per match)
Highest attendance	3,750 Darlington Mowden Park at home to Macclesfield on 26 April 2014
Lowest attendance	90 Hull at home to Otley on 14 December 2013
Top point scorer	Steve Collins Sedgley Park 298 points
Top try scorer	Ryan Parkinson Macclesfield 32 tries
← 2012-13 2014-15 →

The 2013–14 National League 2 North was the fourth season (27th overall) of the fourth tier (north) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced. The league system was 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and additional bonus points being awarded for scoring 4 or more tries and/or losing within 7 points of the victorious team. In terms of promotion the league champions would go straight up into National League 1 while the runners up would have a one-game playoff against the runners up from National League 2 South (at the home ground of the club with the superior league record) for the final promotion place.

The battle for the league title was as tight as it had ever been in the division with three teams - Darlington Mowden Park, Macclesfield and Stourbridge - looking to go up in a title race that went to the very last day of the season. Stourbridge won their final game away to Harrogate via a bonus point victory meaning that the winner of Darlington Mowden Park and Macclesfield was likely to go up. In a very close game in front of a record National 2 North crowd of 3,750 at The Northern Echo Arena, Mowden Park emerged as the victors 28 - 24 against Macclesfield only for the Cheshire side to gain 2 bonus points in defeat.^[1][2] These bonus points meant that it was Macclesfield that went up 1 point clear of their two title rivals, returning to their former league after just one season out. Despite the disappointment of losing out on the last day of the season, Darlington Mowden Park would follow Macclesfield up into the 2013–14 National League 1 by defeating Ampthill in the north-south promotion playoff in what was a very tight game that took extra time to be resolved.^[3][4] The move to The Northern Echo Arena saw quite a turnaround in fortunes for the north-east side, with large crowds turning up on a regular basis (an average of over 800 per game) particularly when considering that games held at the old ground of Yiewsley Drive a couple of seasons previously saw only around 200 hardcore fans watching games. You have to spare a though for Stourbridge though, as the Midlands side would easily have achieved promotion on any other season but for the most competitive title battle in the divisions recent history.

While the fight for promotion had been extremely fierce the battle for relegation was far less so. Dudley Kingswinford ended a two-year stay in the division in what was a very poor season, failing to win any games at all and only having 6 points all season from try and losing bonuses (they were the first team to lose all 30 games in the division since Manchester in 2010-11, although bonus points gave them a better overall record).^[5] Dudley Kingswinford would be followed in relegation by fellow Midlands side Bromsgrove whose 5 wins were not enough and finally by Sheffield Tigers who did better but not enough to catch 13th placed Hull.^[6][7] Dudley Kingswinford and Bromsgrove would drop to National League 3 Midlands while Sheffield Tigers fell to National League 3 North.^[8][9]

Participating teams and locations

Twelve of the teams listed below participated in the 2012–13 National League 2 North season. Macclesfield and Sedgley Park were relegated from the 2011–12 National League 1; Chester (champions) and Harrogate (playoffs) were promoted from National League 3 North; Ampthill were promoted from National League 3 Midlands as champions and were then level transferred to the 2013–14 National League 2 South, due to an imbalance in the number of teams in the two fourth tier leagues.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Birmingham & Solihull	Portway		Portway, Birmingham, West Midlands
Bromsgrove	Finstall Park		Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
Caldy	Paton Field	4,000	Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside
Chester	Hare Lane		Chester, Cheshire
Darlington Mowden Park	The Northern Echo Arena	25,000	Darlington, County Durham
Dudley Kingswinford	Heathbrook		Kingswinford, Dudley, West Midlands
Harrogate	Claro Road		Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Hull	Ferens Ground		Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Leicester Lions	Westleigh Park	2,000	Blaby, Leicestershire
Luctonians	Mortimer Park	300 seats	Kingsland, Herefordshire
Macclesfield	Priory Park		Macclesfield, Cheshire
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, West Yorkshire
Preston Grasshoppers	Lightfoot Green	5,000	Preston, Lancashire
Sedgley Park	Park Lane	3,000	Whitefield, Bury, Greater Manchester
Sheffield Tigers	Dore Moor		Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Stourbridge	Stourton Park	3,500 (499 seats)	Stourbridge, West Midlands

League table

2013–14 National League 2 North Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Macclesfield (C)	30	26	1	3	1081	511	570	24	2	132
2	Darlington Mowden Park (P)	30	27	0	3	1081	390	691	22	1	131
3	Stourbridge	30	27	1	2	1034	363	671	20	1	131
4	Sedgley Park	30	21	0	9	993	598	395	17	5	106
5	Chester	30	18	0	12	661	510	151	11	5	88
6	Birmingham & Solihull	30	17	0	13	741	599	142	13	5	86
7	Leicester Lions	30	14	0	16	763	725	38	11	6	73
8	Caldy	30	14	0	16	705	778	-73	12	5	73
9	Harrogate	30	14	0	16	759	794	-35	9	7	72
10	Luctonians	30	14	0	16	613	816	-203	8	5	69
11	Preston Grasshoppers	30	13	0	17	596	662	-66	9	6	67
12	Otley	30	12	0	18	670	699	-29	8	6	57[n 1]
13	Hull	30	9	0	21	666	884	-218	10	5	51
14	Sheffield Tigers (R)	30	8	0	22	488	782	-294	4	7	43
15	Bromsgrove (R)	30	5	0	25	487	1032	-545	4	3	27
16	Dudley Kingswinford (R)	30	0	0	30	320	1515	-1195	2	4	6
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
↑ Otley was docked 5 points after selecting an ineligible player on 21 December 2013 against Harrogate. They appealed to the RFU but failed to have the judgement overturned.[15]
Green background is the promotion place. Blue background is the play-off place. Pink background are relegation places. Updated: 9 May 2014 Source: RFU

Results

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

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 February 2014.

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Round 21

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 February 2014.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 February 2014.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 February 2014.

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Round 22

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 March 2014.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 March 2014.

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Round 23

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 April 2014.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 March 2014.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 April 2014.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 April 2014.

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Rounds 20 & 21 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 1 February 2014.

• Game rescheduled from 1 February 2014.

• Game rescheduled from 1 February 2014.

• Game rescheduled from 25 January 2014.

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Round 24

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Round 25

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Rounds 22 & 23

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2014.

• Game rescheduled from 8 February 2014.

• Game rescheduled from 8 February 2014.

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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 23 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2014.

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2014.

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2014.

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Round 30

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Promotion play–off

Each season, the runners–up in the National League 2 South and National League 2 North participate in a play–off for promotion into National Division 1. Darlington Mowden Park were runners-up in the North and as they had a better record than the 2013–14 National League 2 South runners-up, Ampthill, they hosted the play–off match.^[21][22][23] The game was played on 3 May 2014 at The Northern Echo Arena and finished 25 – 25 after normal time, so went to two 10-minute periods of extra time. The game was won with a try scored by DMP in the 3rd minute of added on time. As a result, they will play in National League 1 in the 2014–15 season for the first time.^[24]

^[25]

Total season attendances

• Figures not including north-south promotion playoff.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Birmingham & Solihull	15	3,775	252	540	166	N/A
Bromsgrove	15	3,341	223	400	125	N/A
Caldy	15	3,598	240	398	132	6%
Chester	15	6,281	419	750	289	N/A
Darlington Mowden Park	15	13,693	913	3,750	510	4%
Dudley Kingswinford	15	4,000	267	1,000	130	N/A
Harrogate	15	4,050	270	700	150	N/A
Hull	15	2,207	147	192	90	N/A
Leicester Lions	15	1,825	122	141	105	6%
Luctonians	15	5,745	383	608	240	N/A
Macclesfield	15	5,177	345	512	248	N/A
Otley	15	5,521	368	817	218	7%
Preston Grasshoppers	15	5,200	347	507	203	7%
Sedgley Park	15	3,846	256	453	175	9%
Sheffield Tigers	15	1,879	125	159	97	N/A
Stourbridge	15	9,291	619	1,200	370	18%

Individual statistics

• 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.

Season records

See also

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

References

External links

• NCA Rugby