2005–06 National Division One

2005–06 National Division One
Countries	England
Champions	Harlequins (first title)
Runners-up	Bedford Blues
Relegated	no relegation
Attendance	374,846 (average 2,150 per match)[a 1]
Highest attendance	12,500 Harlequins at home to Plymouth Albion on 29 April 2006
Lowest attendance	325 Sedgley Park at home to Newbury on 18 February 2006
Top point scorer	James Moore (Coventry) 251 points
Top try scorer	Scott Donald (Earth Titans) 20 tries
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

The 2005–06 National Division One was the 19th 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 Harlequins who had been relegated from the 2004–05 Zurich Premiership, while Doncaster and Newbury were promoted from the 2004–05 National Division Two.^[1][2][3] Additional changes saw Penzance & Newyln RFC rebrand themselves as the Cornish Pirates as well as moving from their home ground, the Mennaye Field in Penzance, to a more central location in Truro at the Kenwyn Rugby Ground (a temporary stadium built in the city) with the aim to appeal more to Cornish fans on the whole as well as making home games more accessible.^[4] Rotherham Titans also rebranded themselves as 'Earth Titans' for sponsorship purposes for this season.^[5]

After only one season Harlequins won the National Division One at the first attempt and returned to the Guinness Premiership for season 2006–07.^[6] Bedford Blues finished in second place and there was no relegation to National Division Two following the RFU's decision to expand National Division One from 14 to 16 teams for the 2006–07 season.^[7][8]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	7,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Cornish Pirates	Kenwyn Rugby Ground	5,800	Truro, Cornwall
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000	Coventry, West Midlands
Doncaster	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Earth Titans	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire
Exeter Chiefs	County Ground	5,200	Exeter, Devon
Harlequins	The Stoop	10,000	Twickenham, London
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	Richmond, London
Newbury	Monk's Lane	8,000	Newbury, Berkshire
Nottingham	Ireland Avenue	4,950	Beeston, Nottinghamshire
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, West Yorkshire
Pertemps Bees	Sharmans Cross	1,000+	Solihull, West Midlands
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	6,500	Plymouth, Devon
Sedgley Park	Park Lane	3,000	Whitefield, Greater Manchester

Table

2005–06 National Division One Table[9]
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Points Losses	Points Tries	Points
1	Harlequins	26	25	0	1	1001	337	664	1	20	121
2	Bedford Blues	26	19	1	6	906	542	364	5	17	100
3	Cornish Pirates	26	19	0	7	682	560	122	2	12	90
4	Earth Titans	26	15	1	10	715	613	102	4	13	79
5	Plymouth Albion	26	14	0	12	639	537	102	8	11	75
6	Exeter Chiefs	26	14	0	12	594	602	–8	6	9	71
7	Nottingham	26	13	0	13	642	604	38	5	9	66
8	Otley	26	10	1	15	540	627	–87	7	3	52
9	Doncaster	26	10	1	15	555	699	–144	5	5	52
10	Coventry	26	9	0	17	593	732	–139	9	9	52 *
11	Newbury	26	8	2	16	614	905	–291	1	9	46
12	London Welsh	26	8	1	17	536	700	–164	5	6	45
13	Sedgley Park	26	6	3	17	531	856	–325	4	7	41
14	Pertemps Bees	26	6	2	18	501	735	–234	4	3	35
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 (there was no relegation this season).

Notes

• Coventry were docked two points for an administrative error when re–registering a player, Dave Millard. Following a foot injury, the winger was loaned to junior club Kenilworth while he was recovering. He returned before the game against Bedford on 27 December 2005 where he was named among the seven replacements. There was an error in the paperwork submitted to the RFU, and although Millard was not used, Coventry were found guilty.

• Statement by First Division Rugby regarding Newbury versus Birmingham & Solihull

Newbury have been awarded a 0–0 win and 4 league points following their match against Pertemps Bees on 22 April.

Pertemps Bees won the match by 35 pts to 22 pts but due to a severe injury crisis had to field three unregistered players with the prior approval of FDR in order to fulfil the fixture. All points gained by either side in the match will be disregarded for the purpose of the official league table in accordance with the RFU Regulations.

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

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 17 December 2005.

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Round 10

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Round 11

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Round 12

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Round 9 (rescheduled game)

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Round 13

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Round 14

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 4 February 2006.

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 14 (rescheduled game)

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 4 March 2006.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 5 March 2006.

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Round 20 (rescheduled games)

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Round 21

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Round 22

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Round 23

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Round 25 (rescheduled game)

• Game brought forward from 15 April 2006.

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Round 24

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Round 25

• Rescheduled. Game brought forward to 8 April 2006.

• Newbury were awarded a 0–0 win and 4 league points following this match. Pertemps Bees won the match by 35 pts to 22 pts but due to a severe injury crisis had to field three unregistered players with the prior approval of FDR in order to fulfil the fixture. All points gained by either side in the match will be disregarded for the purpose of the official league table in accordance with the RFU Regulations.

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Round 26

Season attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	13	31,358	2,412	5,500	1,477	34%
Cornish Pirates	13	36,194	2,784	5,879	1,724	48%
Coventry	12[a 2]	25,513	2,126	4,612	1,381	52%
Doncaster	12[a 3]	13,768	1,252	2,768	738	41%
Earth Titans	12[a 4]	16,430	1,369	2,250	920	55%
Exeter Chiefs	13	24,238	1,864	3,645	1,005	36%
Harlequins	13	116,948	8,996	12,500	7,576	87%
London Welsh	13	16,340	1,257	5,120	510	21%
Newbury	12[a 5]	11,704	975	3,362	475	11%
Nottingham	12[a 6]	15,297	1,275	3,417	572	30%
Otley	12[a 7]	14,546	1,212	3,417	572	24%
Pertemps Bees	6[a 8]	5,475	913	2,475	500	67%
Plymouth Albion	13	40,453	3,112	5,672	1,953	48%
Sedgley Park	12[a 9]	6,582	549	1,475	325	18%

^[10]

Leading scorers

If players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances will come first. Points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 James Moore Coventry 25 251 2 Blair Feeney Newbury 20 225 3 Phil Jones Sedgley Park 23 219 4 Mark Harris Bedford Blues 16 204 5 Michael Whitehead Earth Titans 23 200 6 Andrew Mehrtens Harlequins 20 189 7 Neil Stenhouse Nottingham 21 166 8 Tony Yapp Exeter Chiefs 17 158 9 Simon Binns Otley 15 143 10 Alastair Hepher Bedford Blues 23 142 [11]

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Scott Donald Earth Titans 26 20 2 Simon Keogh Harlequins 25 18 3 Ugo Monye Harlequins 18 16 4 Nick Easter Harlequins 25 16 5 Jon Feeley Sedgley Park 23 15 6 Richard Welding Cornish Pirates 25 15 7 Tom Williams Harlequins 18 12 8 Nicolas Sestaret Plymouth Albion 26 12 9 Chris Wyles Nottingham 19 11 10 Kevin James Cornish Pirates 22 11 10 Gareth Swailes London Welsh 22 11 [12]

Season records

Team Largest home win — 65 pts 70 - 5 Harlequins at home to Exeter Chiefs on 22 October 2005 Largest away win — 52 pts 68 - 16 Bedford Blues away to Pertemps Bees on 11 March 2006 Most points scored — 79 pts 79 - 22 Bedford Blues at home to Newbury on 29 April 2006 Most tries in a match — 12 (x2) Harlequins at home to Exeter Chiefs on 22 October 2005 Bedford Blues at home to Newbury on 29 April 2006 Most conversions in a match — 9 Bedford Blues at home to Newbury on 29 April 2006 Most penalties in a match — 7 Coventry at home to Newbury on 11 March 2006 Most drop goals in a match — 2 Plymouth Albion at home to Exeter Chiefs on 3 September 2005 [13][14][15][16]

Player Most points in a match — 34 Alastair Hepher for Bedford Blues at home to Newbury on 29 April 2006 Most tries in a match — 5 (x2) Richard Welding for Cornish Pirates at home to Earth Titans on 18 September 2005 Ugo Monye for Harlequins at home to Exeter Chiefs on 22 October 2005 Most conversions in a match — 9 Alastair Hepher for Bedford Blues at home to Newbury on 29 April 2006 Most penalties in a match — 7 James Moore for Coventry at home to Newbury on 11 March 2006 Most drop goals in a match — 1 N/A - multiple players [17][18][19][20][21] Attendances Highest — 12,500 Harlequins at home to Plymouth Albion on 29 April 2006 Lowest — 325[b 1] Sedgley Park at home to Newbury on 18 February 2006 Highest Average Attendance — 8,996 Harlequins Lowest Average Attendance — 549[b 2] Orrell [22] ↑ As there are a number of attendances missing this season it is possible that there were lower attendances than the one recorded. ↑ As Sedgley Park had 1 home game missing from the attendance statistics this figure is not 100% accurate.

See also

• English rugby union system

References

External links

• national1.co.uk

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