2001–02 National Division One

2001–02 National Division One
Countries	England
Champions	Rotherham
Runners-up	Worcester
Relegated	Henley Hawks and Bracknell
Attendance	168,490 (average 939 per match)[a 1]
Highest attendance	4,800 Worcester at home to Rotherham on 22 September 2001
Lowest attendance	150 (x2) Bracknell at home to Exeter Chiefs on 2 March 2002 & Moseley at home to Rugby Lions on 23 March 2002
Top point scorer	Simon Binns (Otley) 283 Points
Top try scorer	Chris Garrard (Worcester) 25 tries
← 2000–01 2002–03 →

The 2001–02 National Division One (known as the Jewson National Division One for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th 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 Rotherham who had been relegated from the Zurich Premiership 2000–01 while Bracknell and Rugby Lions had been promoted from the 2000–01 National Division Two.^[1][2]

For the first time the team finishing first, Rotherham, were denied promotion to the Zurich Premiership for season 2002–03 because their ground was not of the required standard - this was the first time a team had been denied entry to the top flight of English rugby since the leagues started in 1987 due to the introduction of the controversial 'minimum standards' rule for clubs seeking to join the Premiership.^[3][4] Worcester were runners-up for the second consecutive season, and Henley Hawks and Bracknell were relegated to the 2002–03 National Division Two with Bracknell spending just one season in the division.^[5]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	7,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Birmingham & Solihull	Sharmans Cross	1,000+	Solihull, West Midlands
Bracknell	Lily Hill Park		Bracknell, Berkshire
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
Moseley	Bournbrook		Birmingham, West Midlands
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, West Yorkshire
Rotherham	Clifton Lane	2,500	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

2001–02 National Division One Table[6]
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Points Try	Points Loss	Points
1	Rotherham	26	24	0	2	1,099	325	774	2	22	120
2	Worcester	26	23	0	3	941	364	577	0	14	106
3	Exeter Chiefs	26	19	1	6	707	448	259	1	12	92
4	Coventry	26	16	3	7	730	559	171	4	8	82
5	London Welsh	26	15	0	11	580	557	23	4	5	69
6	Bedford Blues	26	12	3	11	654	600	54	6	8	68
7	Otley	26	11	1	14	601	675	–74	4	6	56
8	Birmingham & Solihull	26	10	1	15	432	626	–194	6	4	52
9	Wakefield	26	9	2	15	514	607	–93	3	4	47
10	Rugby Lions	26	9	1	16	518	668	–150	5	4	47
11	Moseley	26	9	1	16	448	695	–247	3	5	45
12	Manchester	26	8	0	18	381	758	–377	3	1	36
13	Henley Hawks	26	6	1	19	449	767	–318	5	2	33
14	Bracknell	26	4	0	22	418	823	–405	7	3	26
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 (there was no promotion this season). 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

• Postponed. Rescheduled for 24 November 2001.

• Postponed. Rescheduled for 16 February 2002.

• Postponed. Rescheduled for 15 December 2001.

• Postponed. Rescheduled for 15 February 2002.

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Round 9

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Round 10

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Round 8 (Rescheduled game)

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Round 11

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Round 12

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Round 8 (Rescheduled game)

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Round 13

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Round 14

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Round 15

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Round 16

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 23 March 2002.

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Round 17

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Round 18

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 23 March 2002.

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Round 8 & 20 (Rescheduled games)

• Game brought forward from 2 March 2002.

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 2 March 2002.

• Game brought forward from 2 March 2002.

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Round 19

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Round 20 (includes rescheduled game from 16 February 2002)

• Postphoned. Brought forward to 17 February 2002.

• Postphoned. Brought forward to 16 February 2002.

• Rescheduled from 16 February 2002.

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Round 21

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Round 22

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Round 16 & 18 (Rescheduled games)

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Round 23

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Round 24

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Round 25

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Round 26

Total season attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	13	18,445	1,419	1,908	956	20%
Birmingham & Solihull	13	6,350	488	1,000	200	49%
Bracknell	13	4,805	370	750	150	N/A
Coventry	13	24,718	1,901	4,132	924	21%
Exeter Chiefs	13	11,932	918	1,530	487	18%
Henley Hawks	13	9,575	737	1,325	300	18%
London Welsh	13	11,750	904	1,400	400	15%
Manchester	13	6,685	514	828	225	13%
Moseley	13	6,673	513	1,529	150	N/A
Otley	13	9,300	715	1,500	430	14%
Rotherham	13	18,451	1,419	2,500	1,000	57%
Rugby Lions	13	6,491	499	836	300	50%
Wakefield	13	4,800	369	1,100	250	12%
Worcester	12[a 2]	28,515	2,376	4,800	1,448	28%

^[7]

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 Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 Simon Binns Otley 24 283 2 Chris Malone Exeter Chiefs 22 247 3 James Pritchard Bedford Blues 24 244 4 Rob Liley Wakefield 24 237 5 Martyn Davies Coventry 21 223 6 John Fabian Henley Hawks 21 199 7 Ramiro Pez Rotherham 20 197 8 Marcus Barrow Manchester 16 141 9 John Ufton London Welsh 17 133 10 Richard Davies Rugby Lions 26 127 [8]

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Chris Garrard Worcester 23 25 2 Ben Hinshelwood Worcester 26 21 3 Duncan Roke Worcester 20 16 4 Richard Baxter Exeter Chiefs 26 16 5 Nick Baxter Birmingham & Solihull 26 15 6 Oriol Ripol Rotherham 13 14 7 Kurt Johnson Coventry 23 14 8 Michael Wood Rotherham 19 13 9 Alfie To'oala Rotherham 22 13 10 Chris Johnson Rotherham 21 12 [9]

Season records

Team Largest home win — 73 pts 73 - 0 Rotherham at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 13 April 2002 Largest away win — 65 pts 72 - 7 Rotherham away to Manchester on 6 April 2002 Most points scored — 73 pts 73 - 0 Rotherham at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 13 April 2002 Most tries in a match — 12 Rotherham away to Manchester on 6 April 2002 Most conversions in a match — 9 Worcester at home to Henley Hawks on 19 January 2002 Most penalties in a match — 9 Manchester at home to Wakefield on 15 December 2001 Most drop goals in a match — 3 Exeter Chiefs away to Rotherham on 10 November 2001 [10][11][12][13]

Player Most points in a match — 32 Sateki Tuipulotu for Worcester at home to Henley Hawks on 19 January 2002 Most tries in a match — 5 (x2) Chris Garrard for Worcester at home to Otley on 9 March 2002 Michael Wood for Rotherham at home to Birmingham & Solihull on 13 April 2002 Most conversions in a match — 8 (x2) Tony Yapp for Worcester at home to Henley Hawks on 19 January 2002 Link Wilfley for Rotherham at home to Moseley on 30 March 2002 Most penalties in a match — 9 Marcus Barrow for Manchester at home to Wakefield on 15 December 2001 Most drop goals in a match — 3 Chris Malone for Exeter Chiefs away to Rotherham on 10 November 2001 [14][15][16][17][18] Attendances Highest — 4,800 Worcester at home to Rotherham on 22 September 2001 Lowest — 150 (x2) Bracknell at home to Exeter Chiefs on 2 March 2002 Moseley at home to Rugby Lions on 23 March 2002 Highest Average Attendance — 2,376[b 1] Worcester Lowest Average Attendance — 369 Wakefield [19] ↑ Worcester are missing 1 home attendance so this figure is not 100% accurate.

See also

• English rugby union system

References

RFU Championship 2015–16 Teams Bedford Blues Bristol Cornish Pirates Doncaster Knights Ealing Trailfinders Jersey London Scottish London Welsh Moseley Nottingham Rotherham Titans Yorkshire Carnegie Former clubs Birmingham-Solihull Blackheath Bracknell Cornish All Blacks Coventry Esher Exeter Chiefs Fylde Gosforth Harlequins Henley Liverpool St Helens London Irish Manchester Morley Newbury Newcastle Falcons Northampton Saints Orrell Otley Plymouth Albion Richmond Rosslyn Park Rugby Sale Sharks Saracens Sedgley Park Wakefield Waterloo West Hartlepool Worcester Warriors 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 2015–16 Representative team RFU Championship XV

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