Rugby / Statbunker News

London Scottish

 

·         London Scottish made it two promotions in three seasons having won the London One title in 2006/07 and in nine seasons since they returned to the League structure they have won six promotions and in five of them they have been the Champions

·         Went unbeaten all season winning 25 and drawing one of their 26 league matches   

·         At home they won all 13 matches and took a try bonus points in 11 of them to make it 63 points out of a possible 65

·         Former Worcester Warriors fly half James Brown led the way with 253 points, 21 more than anyone else in the league

·         Brown had a strike rate of 73.29% which was the highest of any player to take 50 or more kicks at goal finding the target with 107 of his 146 attempts     

·         Scored 1000 points for the first time ever in League rugby and a club record 157 tries and had the meanest defence in the division conceding 10 points fewer than runners up Rosslyn Park  

·         Centre Rory Damant was the leading try scorer with 18 tries, three more than winger Charles Broughton; he managed just one hat trick along with six other Scottish players during the league campaign

·         Scottish did not have any ever presents but three players started 23 of their 26 matches, Paul Volley, Roman Piotrowski and James Brown

·         Their front row contributed 17 tries six more than any other front row in the division

 

 

Rosslyn Park

 

·         Park were runners up in National Three South since returning to the division four

·         seasons ago and a seven place improvement on last season

·         Had their first winning season in three and suffered just one defeat at home when losing to Champions London Scottish but only took six try bonus points in their 12 wins

·         Had the second meanest defence only conceding 10 points more than the Champions, 338 to 328 and one try more, 42 to 41, including just 24 on the road which was the lowest total in the division   

·         Former London Welsh star Dylan Pugh top scored for the club in his debut season with 173

·         Captain and centre Rob Jewell was Park’s only ever present, two more than the second row pair of Howard Quigley and Russell Forster 

·         It was tight at the top of the try scorers list with Chris Simmons and Nick Canty joint leaders with 10 one more than James Strong  

·         Finished the season well with nine wins in their last 10 matches including a run of six straight defeats to finish the season

·         Rosslyn Park picked up 48 tries in the first half of matches and just 34 in the second the highest % in the division

 

Ealing

 

·         In the end after challenging early in the season they fell away to finish third just as they did the season before with just one point more, 92 to 91 from a win less

·         Ealing took 17 try bonus points which was just one behind Champions London Scottish who they finished 28 points behind in the league table 

·         In five of their eight defeats they managed a losing bonus point 

·         Started the season with 12 wins a draw and just one defeat but in the second half of the season they lost seven of their last 12 matches including three in a row at the end of the season

·         They had the second best home record in the division with 11 wins and just two defeats, London Scottish and Rugby Lions and took try bonus points in all their 11 wins 

·         Winger David Howells was the leading try scorer in all the National Leagues with 33 tries in 21 starts

·         Ealing had three players start all 26 league matches, Ben Ward (fly Half), James Winterbottom (Second row) and Harry Rowland (Flanker), and Ward played in every minute of every match, the only player to do so

·         Ward was the top scorer with 232 points and was second leading scorer in the division behind James Brown (London Scottish) who scored 21 points more     

·         Ward also top scored with 28 points in a match three more than anyone else managed in a match 

·         In matches against the other top four sides they ended the season with three wins and three defeats, doing the double over Richmond and winning at home to Rosslyn Park   

 

Richmond

 

·         On their return to the National Leagues Richmond finished the season well to take fourth place with eight wins and a draw in their last 11 matches losing just twice to London Scottish and Ealing 

·         Fourth place equals their lowest finish since returning to league rugby nine seasons ago

·         Their 566 points scored was only the eighth highest total in the division but defensively they had the fourth best record in the division the same as their league position 

·         In matches against the other top four sides they managed just one win in five when winning 30-16 at home to Rosslyn Park

·         Matt Hart finished the season as leading point’s scorer with 202 whilst wing Jonathan Wehbe was leading try scorer with nine including four in the final league match of the season at home to Bridgwater & Albion, and finished two clear of anyone else

·         Richmond picked up just 11 sin bins during the season which was the joint lowest in the division

 

Canterbury 

 

·         After finishing fourth in their first two seasons of League rugby Canterbury dropped a place to fifth finishing five points behind Richmond in fourth

·         They collected 11 try bonus points which was the third highest in the division and ran in 91 tries

·         Full back Gert De Kock topped scored for the second successive season with 223 points which was an increase of 102 on last season

·         Winger Michael Melford was again the leading try scorer with 22 tries, seven more than he managed last season and two more than De Kock’s National League record for the club set in 2006/07

·         In four seasons of league rugby De Kock has scored an impressive 59 tries in 98 starts

·         Overall he has now topped the 500 point mark for the club in his four seasons with 524, in his 98 starts he has only been replaced twice 

·         Back row forward Christoff Blom was the only ever present starting all 26 matches whilst five other players started 25 matches and one of them, prop, Matt Pinnock came on in the match he did not start and so took part in all 26 

·         Gert De Kock was the only player in the division to score 20 points or more four times during the season     

 

 

Ding Crusaders

 

·         Dings Crusaders equal their best ever finish in National Three South with sixth place which they achieved last season as they completed a sixth successive season in the division, the longest current run of any side 

·         They only managed five try bonus points which was the worst return of any side in the top nine

·         Adam Westall top scored for Dings in his first season at the club with 201 points from 21 starts, the first Dings player to top 200 points in a season in the National Leagues

·         Westall is now 17 points short of 1500 league points since making his debut for Newbury back in the 2000/01 season

·         Westall topped 200 points for the third time in his career but for the first time in five seasons 

·         The most tries was five by three players, second row Dave Bufton, centre Sam Caven and hooker Dave Wheeler whilst the normally prolific Sylvan Edwards managed just three in 18 starts, his worst return in six seasons of National League rugby as he took his Dings all time career record to 60 tries in 128 starts

·         Second row Dave Bufton started the most matches for Dings during the season, 25 out of 26, one more than the trio of centre Sam Caven, winger Chris Wright Hyder and No 8 Michael Panoho      

·         Dings only managed 57 tries all season and only the bottom four sides scored fewer and their 18 on the road was the lowest of any side in the division 

·         They had the fifth best home record in the division and in the four matches they lost they took a losing bonus point each time 

·         In their eight away defeats they failed to claim a single losing bonus point 

·         They were the only side to finish in the top half of the table who had a negative point’s difference 

·         In matches against the top four sides they managed two wins and a draw and came as close as anyone to beating Champions London Scottish going down 18-16 at home to them 

 

Barking 

 

·         Barking finished in seventh place in their second season back in National Three South a four place leap on last season as they finished a point in front of Rugby Lions

·         They picked up the moist losing bonus points, eight in 13 defeats and took six try bonus points which was the joint fifth best in the division

·         In all they got 14 bonus points the third most in the division after London Scottish and Ealing 

·         Fly half Craig Ratford top scored with just 103 points but only played nine matches to average over 10 points a match, it was the third lowest points return to top the point’s scorers list in the last 10 years of league rugby at Barking 

·         Winger Scott Shaw was the top try scorer with 10 in 23 starts and was the first Barking player to get into double figures since Felise Ah Ling Back in 2005/06

·         Winger Shaw also started the most matches for the club with 23, one more than flanker James Kellard although Kellard did part in 23 matches coming on as a replacement in another match 

·         Barking had the fifth meanest defence letting in just 522 points and 65 tries including just 18 at home which was the joint second lowest figure in the division

In eight matches against the top four sides they managed a win and a draw to go with six defeats, the win was at home to Ealing and the draw away at Richmond