2007–08 National Division One

2007–08 National Division One
Countries	England
Champions	Northampton Saints
Runners-up	Exeter Chiefs
Relegated	Pertemp Bees and Launceston
Attendance	543,465 (average 2,271 per match)[b 1]
Highest attendance	13,498 Northampton Saints at home to Exeter Chiefs on 22 March 2008
Lowest attendance	350 Pertemps Bees (twice) at home to Plymouth Albion on 15 September 2007 & Esher on 10 November 2007
Top point scorer	Gareth Steenson (Cornish Pirates) 287 points
Top try scorer	Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints) 39 tries
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

The 2007–08 National Division One was the 21st full season of rugby union within the second tier of the English league system, currently known as the RFU Championship. New teams included Northampton Saints (relegated from the Guinness Premiership 2006-07) and Esher and Launceston (both promoted from National Division Two 2006-07).^[1][2][3] After two seasons Rotherham dropped the 'Earth' from their name to return to 'Rotherham Titans' (which they had been rebranded to in 2005 for the 2005-06 season) as sponsor Earth Mortgages ran into financial difficulties and Complete Technical Services instead became the club's new sponsor.^[4]

Following their relegation from the previous season, Northampton Saints won the National Division One title at the first attempt and returned to the Guinness Premiership for season 2008–09 with Chris Ashton setting what was then the English league try record of 39 tries in a season (although Phil Chesters broke this record with 70 tries in a season in tier 4, Ashton's still stands as the highest ever in tier 2).^[5][6] Exeter Chiefs finished in second place, and Pertemp Bees and Launceston were relegated to the 2008–09 National Division Two.^[7][8][9]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	6,000	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Cornish Pirates	Recreation Ground	9,000	Camborne, Cornwall
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000	Coventry, West Midlands
Doncaster Knights	Castle Park	3,075	Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Esher	Molesey Road	3,000	Hersham, Surrey
Exeter Chiefs	Sandy Park	6,000	Exeter, Devon
Launceston	Polson Bridge[a 1]	6,000	Launceston, Cornwall
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	Richmond, London
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham, West Midlands
Newbury	Monk's Lane	8,000	Newbury, Berkshire
Northampton Saints	Franklin's Gardens	13,600	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Nottingham	Meadow Lane	19,588	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Pertemps Bees	Sharmans Cross	1,000+	Solihull, West Midlands
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	6,500	Plymouth, Devon
Rotherham Titans	Clifton Lane	2,500	Rotherham, South Yorkshire
Sedgley Park	Park Lane	3,000	Whitefield, Greater Manchester

Notes

Table

2007–2008 National Division One Table[11]
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Bonus Points	Points
1	Northampton Saints	30	30	0	0	1321	343	978	23	143
2	Exeter Chiefs	30	24	0	6	899	424	475	20	116
3	Nottingham	30	23	0	7	818	518	300	24	116
4	Doncaster	30	21	0	9	796	551	245	14	98
5	Cornish Pirates*	30	20	1	9	800	583	217	12	91
6	Bedford Blues	30	18	0	12	705	542	163	13	85
7	London Welsh	30	15	0	15	542	659	–117	10	70
8	Plymouth Albion	30	12	1	17	530	528	2	14	64
9	Coventry	30	11	1	18	637	731	–94	17	63
10	Moseley	30	12	1	17	519	744	–225	8	58
11	Rotherham Titans	30	11	0	19	591	856	–265	14	58
12	Esher	30	10	0	20	481	850	–369	9	49
13	Newbury	30	8	1	21	497	794	–297	11	45
14	Sedgley Park	30	7	1	22	497	832	–335	14	44
15	Pertemps Bees	30	7	0	23	474	696	–222	13	41
16	Launceston	30	8	0	22	441	906	-465	8	40
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

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Round 15

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 4 March 2008.

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Round 16

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 15 March 2008.

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Round 17

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 23 February 2008.

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 11 April 2008.

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Round 21

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Round 22

• Postphoned. Game rescheduled to 11 April 2008.

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Round 23

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Round 17 (rescheduled game)

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Round 24

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Round 15 (rescheduled game)

• Launceston had to play 'home game' at Franklin's Gardens due to issues with Polson Bridge floodlights

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Round 25

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Round 16 (rescheduled game)

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Round 26

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Round 27

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Round 28

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Round 20 & 22 (rescheduled games)

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Round 29

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Round 30

Total Season Attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	15	35,128	2,342	5,307	1,590	39%
Cornish Pirates	15	52,294	3,486	6,487	2,275	39%
Coventry	15	20,490	1,366	3,100	873	34%
Doncaster Knights	15	18,939	1,263	3,075	500	41%
Esher	15	13,593	906	2,500	426	30%
Exeter Chiefs	15	60,466	4,031	5,859	2,820	67%
Launceston	15[b 2]	25,307	1,687	8,201	729	23%
London Welsh	15	14,653	977	2,400	420	17%
Moseley	15	13,608	907	1,358	675	30%
Newbury	15	10,756	717	2,345	402	9%
Northampton Saints	15	172,408	11,494	13,498	10,071	85%
Nottingham	14[b 3]	21,188	1,513	4,751	932	8%
Pertemps Bees	15	9,791	653	1,577	350	60%
Plymouth Albion	15	48,348	3,223	6,381	2,132	50%
Rotherham Titans	15	17,095	1,140	2,807	607	46%
Sedgley Park	15	9,401	627	1,325	467	21%

^[23]

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 Gareth Steenson Cornish Pirates 27 287 2 Mark Woodrow Doncaster Knights 30 263 3 Bruce Reihana Northampton Saints 29 262 4 Phil Jones Sedgley Park 29 225 5 Ross Laidlaw Plymouth Albion 27 209 6 Chris Ashton Northampton Saints 25 197 7 James Pritchard Bedford Blues 23 196 8 Stephen Myler Northampton Saints 25 190 9 Matthew Jones Moseley / London Welsh 24 181 10 Danny Gray Exeter Chiefs 19 172 [24]

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Chris Ashton Northampton Saints 25 39 2 Bruce Reihana Northampton Saints 29 28 3 Josh Drauniniu Exeter Chiefs 27 22 4 Jason Luff Exeter Chiefs 26 19 5 Paul Diggin Northampton Saints 24 17 6 Matthew Jess Launceston 30 17 7 Chris Briers Sedgley Park 28 14 8 Donovan van Vuuren Doncaster Knights 18 13 9 Luke Sherriff Nottingham 19 13 10 Paul Devlin Cornish Pirates 19 11 11 Alex Page Bedford Blues 24 11 12 Paul Sampson London Welsh 28 11 13 Douglas Flockhart Esher 29 11 13 Bryn Griffiths Doncaster Knights 29 11 [25]

Season records

Team Largest home win — 93 pts 96 - 3 Northampton Saints at home to Sedgley Park on 26 January 2008 Largest away win — 51 pts 59 - 8 Northampton Saints away to Sedgley Park on 6 October 2007 Most points scored — 93 pts 96 - 3 Northampton Saints at home to Sedgley Park on 26 January 2008 Most tries in a match — 14 Northampton Saints at home to Sedgley Park on 26 January 2008 Most conversions in a match — 13 Northampton Saints at home to Sedgley Park on 26 January 2008 Most penalties in a match — 6 Cornish Pirates at home to Exeter Chiefs on 7 October 2007 Most drop goals in a match — 3 Exeter Chiefs away to Plymouth Albion on 8 September 2007 [26][27][28][29]

Player Most points in a match — 36 Bruce Reihana for Northampton Saints at home to Sedgley Park on 26 January 2008 Most tries in a match — 6 Chris Ashton for Northampton Saints at home to Launceston on 26 April 2008 Most conversions in a match — 13 Bruce Reihana for Northampton Saints at home to Sedgley Park on 26 January 2008 Most penalties in a match — 6 Gareth Steenson for Cornish Pirates at home to Exeter Chiefs on 7 October 2007 Most drop goals in a match — 3 Danny Gray for Exeter Chiefs away to Plymouth Albion on 8 September 2007 [30][31][32][33][34] Attendances Highest — 13,498 Northampton Saints at home to Exeter Chiefs on 22 March 2008 Lowest — 350 (x2) Pertemps Bees (twice) at home to Plymouth Albion on 15 September 2007 & Esher on 10 November 2007 Highest Average Attendance — 11,494 Northampton Saints Lowest Average Attendance — 627 Sedgley Park [35]

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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Rugby union schedule for 2007
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
H. Cup	Six Nations Championship		Heineken Cup					World Cup		H. Cup
Guinness Premiership								Guinness Premiership
				Mid-Year Test Series			Pre-RWC tests			End of Year Tests
			Under 19 World Championship		Pacific Nations Cup
Celtic League								Celtic League
			Shute Shield
Top 14									Top 14
Sevens							Australian Rugby Championship			Sevens
				Churchill Cup		Air New Zealand Cup
					Currie Cup
	Super 14				Tri Nations

Rugby union schedule for 2008
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
H. Cup	Six Nations Championship		Heineken Cup		Mid-Year Tests				H. Cup	End of year Int'ls	H. Cup
Guinness Premiership								Guinness Premiership
Celtic League								Celtic League
Top 14							Top 14
			Shute Shield
					Currie Cup
Sevens											Sevens
			Pacific Rugby Cup		Churchill Cup	Air New Zealand Cup
	Super 14				Pacific Nations Cup	Tri Nations