1997–98 Allied Dunbar Premiership Two

1997–98 Allied Dunbar Premiership Two
Countries	England
Champions	Bedford
Runners-up	West Hartlepool London Scottish (also promoted)
Relegated	None
Matches played	132
Top point scorer	Mike Reyner (Bedford) 289 points
Top try scorer	Ben Whetstone (Bedford) 17 tries[1]
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The 1997-98 Allied Dunbar Premiership Two was the eleventh full season of rugby union within the second tier of the English league system, currently known as the RFU Championship. New teams to the division included West Hartlepoool and Orrell who had been relegated from the Courage Premiership 1996-97 while Exeter and Fylde were promoted from National League One. For the first time Premiership Two, along with the Premiership, was sponsored by the assurance company Allied Dunbar. For the previous ten seasons the league was known as the Courage Clubs Championship and sponsored by Courage Brewery.

Bedford, the champions, were promoted to the Allied Dunbar Premiership for season 1998–99, along with runners–up West Hartlepool. From next season, the top two divisions would consist of fourteen teams, an increase of two per division. The bottom two teams in the top tier played the third and fourth teams in Premiership Two for the final two places in the top division. Third place London Scottish won promotion by beating Bristol in a two legged play–off, while fourth placed Rotherham lost to London Irish. There was no relegation to Jewson National League 1 because of the increase in teams in the top two divisions.^[2]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford	Goldington Road	7,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Blackheath	Rectory Field	6,000	Greenwich, London
Coventry	Coundon Road	9,000+	Coventry, West Midlands
Exeter	County Ground	5,200	Exeter, Devon
Fylde	Woodlands Memorial Ground	9,000	Lytham St Annes, Lancashire
London Scottish	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London
Moseley	The Reddings	10,000 (est)	Birmingham, West Midlands
Orrell	Edge Hall Road	3,000	Orrell, Greater Manchester
Rotherham	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire
Wakefield	College Grove	3,000	Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Waterloo	St Anthony's Road	9,000	Blundellsands, Merseyside
West Hartlepool	Victoria Park	7,856	Hartlepool, County Durham

Final table

1997–98 Allied Dunbar Premiership Two Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Points
1	Bedford	22	20	0	2	791	365	436	38[a]
2	West Hartlepool	22	15	1	6	617	431	186	31
3	London Scottish	22	14	1	7	517	404	113	29
4	Rotherham	22	14	0	8	566	386	180	28
5	Orrell	22	12	0	10	533	400	133	24
6	Moseley	22	11	1	10	478	421	57	23
7	Coventry	22	11	1	10	444	532	–88	23
8	Waterloo	22	11	0	11	510	525	–15	22
9	Blackheath	22	8	0	14	472	621	–149	16
10	Wakefield	22	6	0	16	382	556	–174	12
11	Exeter	22	6	0	16	334	553	–219	12
12	Fylde	22	2	0	20	258	710	–452	4
Points are awarded as follows: two points for a win; one point for a draw; no points for a loss. If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: (1) difference between points for and against; (2) total number of points for.
Green background are promotion places. (There was no relegation this season). Footnote a. ^ : two points deducted for fielding three overseas players.

Results

Round 1

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Round 2

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 25 April 1998.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 2 May 1998.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 18 April 1998.

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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

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 24 January 1998.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 24 January 1998.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 18 April 1998.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 11 April 1998.

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Rescheduled game

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Round 14

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Round 13 (Rescheduled games)

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Rescheduled game

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Rescheduled games

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Round 17

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 4 April 1998.

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 17 (Rescheduled game)

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Round 20 (includes postphoned game from Round 13)

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 22 April 1998.

• Game rescheduled from Round 13.

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Round 21 (includes postphoned games from Round 2 & 13)

• Game rescheduled from Round 2.

• Game rescheduled from Round 13.

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Round 20 (Rescheduled game)

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Round 22

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Round 2 (Rescheduled game)

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.

Top points scorers^[3]

Player	Team	Appearances	Points
Mike Rayer	Bedford	21	289
Lyndon Griffiths	Waterloo	22	263
Simon Binns	Rotherham	22	244
Steven Vile	West Hartlepool	17	238
Matt Jones	Moseley	17	176
John Fabian	Exeter	22	174
Simon Verbickas	Orrell	18	170
Derrick Lee	London Scottish	15	154
Greg Miller	Wakefield	14	141
Jez Harris	Coventry	14	133

Top try scorers^[4]

Player	Team	Appearances	Tries
Ben Whetstone	Bedford	19	17
Darragh O'Mahony	Moseley	20	17
Conan Sharman	London Scottish	20	14
Jason Forster	Bedford	21	14
Simon Verbickas	Orrell	18	13
John Clarke	Blackheath	14	13
Greg Austin	Rotherham	17	12
Emmet Farrell	West Hartlepool	22	11
Steven Vile	West Hartlepool	17	8
Simon Binns	Rotherham	22	8

See also

• English rugby union system

References

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