2003–04 National Division One

2003–04 National Division One
Countries	England
Champions	Worcester
Runners-up	Orrell
Relegated	Wakefield and Manchester
Attendance	198,428 (average 1,641 per match) *see Total Attendances section for note
Top point scorer	Tony Yapp (Exeter Chiefs) 320 points
Top try scorer	Lee Robinson (Plymouth Albion) 23 tries
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 National Division One was the seventeenth 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 Bristol Shoguns who had been relegated from the Zurich Premiership 2002-03 while Penzance & Newlyn and Henley Hawks were promoted from National League 1. In terms of ground changes Plymouth Albion had a new home - moving from Beacon Park to newly built Brickfields which at 6,500 had twice the capacity of the original ground.

After three consecutive seasons finishing second, Worcester became champions and were promoted to the Zurich Premiership for season 2004–05. Orrell were runners–up, and Wakefield and Manchester were relegated to National League Two for the following season. Wakefield's final match was on 26 April 2004 against Coventry, who won the match 15–11 and with that defeat, consigned Wakefield, after fourteen consecutive seasons in National Division One, to relegation; while Coventry finished above Wakefield only on points difference.^[1] Wakefield folded during the summer for financial reasons.^[2]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	7,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Bristol Shoguns	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol, Avon
Coventry	Coundon Road	9,000+	Coventry, West Midlands
Exeter Chiefs	County Ground	5,200	Exeter, Devon
Henley Hawks	Dry Leas	4,000	Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	Richmond, London
Manchester	Grove Park	4,000	Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
Orrell	Edge Hall Road	3,000	Orrell, Greater Manchester
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, West Yorkshire
Penzance & Newlyn	Mennaye Field	3,500	Penzance, Cornwall
Pertemps Bees	Sharmans Cross	1,000+	Solihull, West Midlands
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	6,500	Plymouth, Devon
Wakefield	College Grove	3,000	Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Worcester	Sixways	8,477	Worcester, Worcestershire

Final table

2003–04 National Division One Final Table[3]
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Bonus Points	Points
1	Worcester	26	26	0	0	1119	340	779	21	125
2	Orrell	26	22	0	4	946	455	491	20	108
3	Plymouth Albion	26	19	1	6	752	417	335	14	92
4	Pertemps Bees	26	16	1	9	691	526	165	17	83
5	Otley	26	17	0	9	609	484	125	7	75
6	Exeter Chiefs	26	15	1	10	706	499	207	12	74
7	Bedford Blues	26	12	1	13	623	627	–4	11	61
8	London Welsh	26	12	0	14	526	605	–79	10	58
9	Bristol Shoguns	26	10	0	16	547	650	–103	11	51
10	Penzance and Newlyn	26	8	1	17	474	892	–418	9	43
11	Henley Hawks	26	6	2	18	488	780	–292	11	39
12	Coventry	26	6	2	18	488	733	–245	9	37
13	Wakefield	26	6	1	19	392	709	–417	11	37
14	Manchester	26	1	0	23	363	1007	–644	5	11
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

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 20 December 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2004.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 20 December 2003.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 20 December 2003.

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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 8 (Rescheduled games)

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Round 13

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 3 January 2004.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 3 January 2004.

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Round 13 (Rescheduled games)

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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 8 & 25 (Rescheduled games)

• Game brought forward from 17 April 2004.

Round 20

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled for 7 March 2004.

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Round 20 & 25 (Rescheduled games)

• Game brought forward from 17 April 2004.

Round 21

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled for 27 March 2004.

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Round 22

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Round 21 (Rescheduled game)

Round 23

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Round 24

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Round 25

• Game brought forward to 6 March 2004.

• Game brought forward to 21 February 2004.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled for 21 April 2004.

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Round 25 (Rescheduled game)

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Round 26

Total Season Attendances

Due to poor recording of attendance figures by both clubs and media during this season there is very little information to go on with only Bristol Shoguns, Orrell, Manchester and Worcester keeping consistent records. Any help on the missing attendances would be very much appreciated

Club	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	16,170	1,797	3,427	1,017	26%
Bristol Shoguns	47,895	3,684	4,217	2,831	30%
Coventry	10,247	2,049	3,100	1,300	23%
Exeter Chiefs	7,584	1,517	2,211	1,069	29%
Henley Hawks	6,935	1,156	2,020	450	29%
London Welsh	9,680	1,383	2,020	700	24%
Manchester	4,925	410	760	187	10%
Orrell	8,035	670	3,207	286	22%
Otley	700	700	700	700	14%
Penzance & Newlyn	9,210	1,842	2,020	1,720	53%
Pertemps Bees	3,200	1,067	2,000	200	44%
Plymouth Albion	25,467	2,830	4,342	1,648	44%
Wakefield	3,050	381	600	300	13%
Worcester	45,330	3,487	6,025	2,027	41%

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^[4]

Player	Team	Appearances	Points
Tony Yapp	Exeter Chiefs	26	320
Leigh Hinton	Orrell	26	313
Simon Binns	Otley	26	310
Tommy Hayes	Worcester	25	303
Barry Reeves	Henley Hawks	26	249
Tom Barlow	Plymouth Albion	22	185
Gareth Cull	Coventry	19	184
Danny Gray	Bristol Shoguns	17	157
Seb Fitzgerald	London Welsh	21	150
Ed Barnes	Bedford Blues	19	144

Top try scorers^[5]

Player	Team	Appearances	Tries
Lee Robinson	Plymouth Albion	25	23
Leigh Hinton	Orrell	26	23
Daren O'Leary	Worcester	26	19
Gavin Pfister	Worcester	22	18
Dan Ward-Smith	Plymouth Albion	26	16
Dave Knight	Pertemps Bees	26	15
Chris Garrard	Worcester	20	14
Nick Easter	Orrell	23	13
Nnamdi Obi	Henley Hawks	17	12
Gary Truman	Worcester	22	12

See also

• English rugby union system

References

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