2008–09 National Division One

2008–09 National Division One
Countries	England
Champions	Leeds Carnegie
Runners-up	Exeter Chiefs
Relegated	Esher, Sedgley Park, Newbury, Otley, Manchester
Attendance	415,204 (average 1,737 per match)[b 1]
Highest attendance	7,345 Exeter Chiefs at home to Cornish Pirates on 27 December 2008
Lowest attendance	283 Manchester at home to Esher on 31 January 2009
Top point scorer	Jamie Lennard (Doncaster Knights) 303 points
Top try scorer	Billy Twelvetrees (Bedford Blues) 18 tries
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 National Division One was the 22nd full season of rugby union within the second tier of the English league system, currently known as the RFU Championship. Leeds Carnegie joined National Division One, having been relegated from the Guinness Premiership after the 2007–08 season.^[1] Otley and Manchester were promoted from the 2007–08 National Division Two.^[2]

During this season, Leeds Carnegie won a quick promotion back to the Guinness Premiership, whilst five teams were relegated to the (newly named) 2009–10 National League 1 - Esher, Sedgley Park, Newbury, Otley and Manchester.^[3][4] The reason for the large amount of teams being relegated was due to the league being restructured the next season from 16 to 12 teams as the new RFU Championship was introduced.^[5]

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	8,000	Exeter, Devon
Leeds Carnegie	Headingley Stadium	22,250	Leeds, West Yorkshire
London Welsh	Old Deer Park	5,850	Richmond, London
Manchester	Grove Park[a 1]	4,000	Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
Moseley	Billesley Common	3,000+	Birmingham, West Midlands
Newbury	Monk's Lane	8,000	Newbury, Berkshire
Nottingham	Meadow Lane	19,588	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, West Yorkshire
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

National Division One 2008–09 Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points Diff	Try Bonus (BT)	Losing Bonus (BP)	Points
1	Leeds Carnegie (P)	30	28	0	2	1238	376	862	20	1	133
2	Exeter Chiefs	30	23	2	5	1077	453	624	20	3	119
3	Bedford Blues	30	23	0	7	892	472	420	17	2	111
4	Nottingham	30	22	0	8	973	499	474	16	4	106*
5	Doncaster Knights	30	21	2	7	895	571	324	14	3	105
6	London Welsh	30	19	0	11	788	611	177	11	6	91*
7	Cornish Pirates	30	16	1	13	743	578	165	11	5	82
8	Moseley	30	13	0	17	814	782	32	13	8	73
9	Coventry	30	14	0	16	639	712	-73	11	5	72
10	Rotherham Titans	30	15	1	14	794	775	19	9	3	70*
11	Plymouth Albion	30	13	2	15	607	669	-62	7	3	66
12	Esher (R)	30	12	1	17	676	830	-154	9	2	61
13	Sedgley Park (R)	30	6	0	24	458	1206	-748	6	4	34
14	Newbury (R)	30	4	2	24	419	1047	-628	2	5	27
15	Otley (R)	30	3	1	26	418	1298	-700	3	6	21*
16	Manchester (R)	30	2	0	28	433	1165	-732	4	5	17
* Points deducted for breach of regulations Reference Statbunker.com: Updated 2009-05-09 --- Current English Leagues

Notes

Points were awarded as follows:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 0 points for a loss
• 1 bonus point (BP) for losing by 7 points or less
• 1 bonus point (BT) for scoring 4 tries or more in a match

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

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 April 2009.

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Round 16

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 2 May 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 February 2009.

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Round 19

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 March 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 March 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 April 2009.

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Round 20

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 February 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 March 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 March 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 9 May 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 February 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 April 2009.

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Round 21

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Round 22

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Round 23

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 18 April 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 18 April 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 29 April 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 April 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 April 2009.

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Round 24

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Round 16 & Round 20 Rescheduled Games

• Game rescheduled from 28 February 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 13 December 2008.

• Game rescheduled from 28 February 2009.

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Round 25

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Round 26

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Round 19, 20 & 23 Rescheduled Games

• Game rescheduled from 3 January 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 3 January 2009. Game was also a double header - league match and EDF National Cup semi final.

• Game rescheduled from 10 January 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 14 February 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 10 January 2009.

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Round 27

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Round 19 Rescheduled Game

• Game rescheduled from 3 January 2009.

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Round 28

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Round 20 Rescheduled Game

• Game rescheduled from 11 January 2009. Game also switched from Grove Park to Headingley in Leeds as Manchester did not have floodlights.

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Round 29

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Round 15 & 23 Rescheduled Games

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 14 February 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 14 February 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 15 February 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 7 December 2008.

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Round 30

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Rounds 16, 20 & 23 Rescheduled Games

• Game rescheduled from 14 February 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 13 December 2008.

• Game rescheduled from 10 January 2009 but would be cancelled by Otley due the club having 8 players on county duty for Yorkshire. The FDR gave Moseley a 20-0, 5 point win by default.

Total Season Attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Blues	15	39,406	2,627	3,307	1,933	44%
Cornish Pirates	15	44,739	2,983	4,913	1,894	33%
Coventry	15	20,959	1,397	3,638	838	35%
Doncaster Knights	15	20,520	1,368	2,203	846	44%
Esher	15	15,682	1,045	1,984	380	35%
Exeter Chiefs	15	68,984	4,599	7,345	2,899	57%
Leeds Carnegie	15	48,625	3,242	5,463	2,029	15%
London Welsh	15	16,035	1,069	1,931	390	18%
Manchester	15[b 2]	7,096	473	1,781	283	9%
Moseley	14[b 3]	12,502	893	1,124	682	30%
Newbury	15	8,164	544	878	310	7%
Nottingham	15	22,391	1,493	2,663	1,088	8%
Otley	14[b 4]	12,194	871	2,610	450	17%
Plymouth Albion	15	51,050	3,403	6,871	1,742	52%
Rotherham Titans	15	18,727	1,248	2,548	642	50%
Sedgley Park	15	8,130	542	886	296	18%

^[8]

Notes

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 Jamie Lennard Doncaster Knights 29 303 2 David Jackson Nottingham 30 261 3 Gareth Steenson Exeter Chiefs 27 228 4 Neil Hallett Esher 28 224 5 James Pritchard Bedford Blues 20 216 6 Alberto Di Bernardo Leeds Carnegie 21 211 7 Mark Harris London Welsh 20 180 8 Rhys Jones Cornish Pirates 21 178 9 Tim Taylor Nottingham 30 176 10 Michael Whitehead Rotherham Titans 29 173 [9]

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Billy Twelvetrees Bedford Blues 29 18 2 David Jackson Nottingham 30 18 3 James Rodwell Moseley 21 17 4 Matthew Jess Exeter Chiefs 18 16 5 Sean Marsden Exeter Chiefs 19 16 6 Jon Feeley Rotherham Titans 28 16 7 Douglas Flockhart Esher 30 16 8 Paul McKenzie Exeter Chiefs 16 15 9 Wes Davies Doncaster Knights 24 15 10 Leigh Hinton Leeds Carnegie 25 15 11 Errie Claassens Rotherham Titans 27 15 [10]

Season records

Team Largest home win — 90 pts 95 - 5 Nottingham at home to Otley on 8 March 2009 Largest away win — 104 pts 104 - 0 Leeds Carnegie away to Manchester on 8 April 2009 Most points scored — 104 pts 104 - 0 Leeds Carnegie away to Manchester on 8 April 2009 Most tries in a match — 16 Leeds Carnegie away to Manchester on 8 April 2009 Most conversions in a match — 12 (x2) Nottingham at home to Otley on 8 March 2009 Leeds Carnegie away to Manchester on 8 April 2009 Most penalties in a match — 7 Rotherham Titans at home to Exeter Chiefs on 11 April 2009 Most drop goals in a match — 3 Cornish Pirates at home to Plymouth Albion on 12 April 2009 [11][12][13][14]

Player Most points in a match — 29 Tim Taylor for Nottingham at home to Otley on 8 March 2009 Most tries in a match — 5 Tom Brown for London Welsh at home to Manchester on 28 March 2009 Most conversions in a match — 12 Jason Strange for Leeds Carnegie away to Manchester on 8 April 2009 Most penalties in a match — 7 Michael Whitehead for Rotherham Titans at home to Exeter Chiefs on 11 April 2009 Most drop goals in a match — 3 Rhys Jones for Cornish Pirates at home to Plymouth Albion on 12 April 2009 [15][16][17][18][19] Attendances Highest — 7,345 Exeter Chiefs at home to Cornish Pirates on 27 December 2008 Lowest — 283 Manchester at home to Esher on 31 January 2009 Highest Average Attendance — 4,599 Exeter Chiefs Lowest Average Attendance — 473 Manchester [20]

See also

• English rugby union system

External links

• national1.co.uk

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 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

Rugby union schedule for 2009
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
				British & Irish Lions Tour
English Premiership								English Premiership
Celtic League								Celtic League
Top 14							Top 14
Top League							Top League
			Shute Shield
						Currie Cup
Sevens											Sevens
		World Cup Sevens	Pacific Rugby Cup		Churchill Cup	Air New Zealand Cup
	Super 14				Pacific Nations Cup	Tri Nations