2002–03 National Division One

2002–03 National Division One
Countries	England
Champions	Rotherham
Runners-up	Worcester
Relegated	Moseley and Rugby Lions
Attendance	190,949 (average 1,081 per match)
Top point scorer	James Pritchard (Bedford Blues) 374 points
Top try scorer	Duncan Roke (Worcester) 26 tries
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 National Division One (for sponsorship reasons known as the Jewson National Division One) was the 16th 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 Orrell and Plymouth Albion who were promoted from National League Two while no team was relegated from the Zurich Premiership 2001-02 as Rotherham ground was not deemed suitable for top flight games.

For the second year in a row Rotherham, were champions, and this year they were promoted to the Zurich Premiership for season 2003–04 with Worcester finishing as runners–up for the third consecutive season. Moseley and Rugby were relegated to National League Two for the following season.^[1]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	7,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Birmingham & Solihull	Sharmans Cross	1,000+	Solihull, West Midlands
Coventry	Coundon Road	9,000+	Coventry, West Midlands
Exeter Chiefs	County Ground	5,200	Exeter, Devon
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	Richmond, London
Manchester	Grove Park	4,000	Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
Moseley	The Reddings	10,000 (est)	Birmingham, West Midlands
Orrell	Edge Hall Road	3,000	Orrell, Greater Manchester
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, West Yorkshire
Plymouth Albion	Beacon Park	3,500	Plymouth, Devon
Rotherham	Millmoor	8,300	Rotherham, South Yorkshire
Rugby Lions	Webb Ellis Road	1,000	Rugby, Warwickshire
Wakefield	College Grove	3,000	Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Worcester	Sixways	8,477	Worcester, Worcestershire

Table

2002–03 National Division One Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Points Bonus	Points
1	Rotherham	26	24	0	2	1077	336	741	20	116
2	Worcester	26	23	0	3	1185	431	754	22	114
3	Exeter Chiefs	26	20	2	4	940	459	481	20	104
4	Orrell	26	18	2	6	854	595	259	15	91
5	London Welsh	26	15	0	11	627	565	62	16	76
6	Coventry	26	14	0	12	761	684	77	12	68
7	Bedford Blues	26	13	1	12	675	760	–85	10	64
8	Birmingham & Solihull	26	12	2	12	630	569	61	11	63
9	Plymouth Albion	26	10	1	15	679	697	–18	18	60
10	Wakefield	26	9	0	17	451	710	–259	11	47
11	Otley	26	9	0	17	597	839	–242	11	47
12	Manchester	26	7	0	19	484	791	–307	11	39
13	Moseley	26	4	0	22	399	1178	–779	7	23
14	Rugby	26	0	0	26	422	1167	–745	7	7
Points are awarded as follows: four points for a win; two points for a draw; no points for a loss; one bonus point for scoring four tries or more in a match; one bonus point for losing by seven points or less. 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. Pink background are relegation places.

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

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 16 February 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 16 February 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 21 April 2003.

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Round 15

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 23 March 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 16 February 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 22 March 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 16 February 2003.

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Round 16

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Round 17

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

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Round 18

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 9 April 2003.

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Round 19

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Round 14 & 15 (rescheduled games)

Round 21 (rescheduled game)

• Game brought forward from 1 March 2003.

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Round 20

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Round 21

• Game brought forward to 19 February 2003.

• Game postphoned. Rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

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Round 15, 17 & 21 (rescheduled games)

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Round 22

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Round 15 (rescheduled games)

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Round 23

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Rounds 18 & 26 (rescheduled games)

• Game brought forward from 26 April 2003.

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Round 24

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Round 25

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Round 14 (rescheduled game)

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Round 26

• Game brought forward to 5 April 2003.

Total Season Attendances

• Note that Coventry are missing 2 home attendance figures:
  • 18 January 2003 game against Orrell, 22 February 2003 game against Bedford Blues
• Otley are missing home attendance figure against Rugby Lions on 11 January 2003
• Rotherham are missing home attendance figure against Wakefield on 27 October 2002
• Rugby Lions are missing home attendance figure against Rotherham on 15 January 2003

Any help on the above missing attendances would be very much appreciated

Club	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	20,696	1,592	2,227	1,159	23%
Birmingham & Solihull	6,500	500	1,200	200	48%
Coventry	16,745	1,522	2,500	850	17%
Exeter Chiefs	17,663	1,359	2,958	786	26%
London Welsh	12,155	935	1,475	400	16%
Manchester	6,712	516	1,200	125	13%
Moseley	6,214	478	750	323	5%
Orrell	9,165	705	1,410	400	24%
Otley	9,065	755	2,000	435	15%
Plymouth Albion	24,578	1,891	3,420	1,056	54%
Rotherham	19,823	1,652	4,000	1,000	20%
Rugby Lions	4,970	414	682	275	41%
Wakefield	4,679	360	850	250	12%
Worcester	31,984	2,460	5,700	800	29%

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^[2]

Player	Team	Appearances	Points
James Pritchard	Bedford Blues	26	374
Tony Yapp	Exeter Chiefs	23	349
Phil Jones	Orrell	26	346
Simon Binns	Otley	23	269
Ramiro Pez	Rotherham	17	265
Luke Smith	Rotherham / Birmingham & Solihull	24	166
Brett McCormack	Plymouth Albion	22	152
Simon Verbickas	Manchester	20	137
Jon Boden	Rugby Lions	21	134
Jon Benson	Rotherham	21	133

Top try scorers^[3]

Player	Team	Appearances	Tries
Duncan Roke	Worcester	25	26
Michael Wood	Rotherham	22	22
Dan Ward-Smith	Plymouth Albion	26	21
Nmandi Ezulike	Worcester	23	19
David Officer	Worcester	15	16
Wes Davies	Orrell	22	16
Nick Baxter	Birmingham & Solihull	26	16
Andy Craig	Orrell	14	15
Chris Garrard	Worcester	21	15
Phil Jones	Orrell	26	15

See also

• English rugby union system

References

RFU Championship 2014–15 Teams Bedford Blues Bristol Cornish Pirates Doncaster Knights Jersey London Scottish Moseley Nottingham Plymouth Albion Rotherham Titans Worcester Warriors Yorkshire Carnegie Former clubs Birmingham-Solihull Blackheath Bracknell Cornish All Blacks Coventry Ealing Trailfinders Esher Exeter Chiefs Fylde Gosforth Harlequins Henley Liverpool St Helens London Irish London Welsh Manchester Morley Newbury Newcastle Falcons Northampton Saints Orrell Otley Richmond Rosslyn Park Rugby Sale Sharks Saracens Sedgley Park Wakefield Waterloo West Hartlepool Seasons National Division Two 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 Premiership Two 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 National Division One 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 Championship 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 Representative team RFU Championship XV

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