National Three North - Stats Review
Published: 31/05/2009
National Three North
· Nuneaton win National Three North by some 19 points from Caldy having previously won the title back in 2002/03
· Halifax after a seven season stay in the National Leagues are relegated back to North One finally managing a win in their last match of the season
· Darlington Mowden Park after an eight season stay in National Three South are relegated back to North One finishing some eight points form safety despite a late rally with three wins and a draw in their last six matches
· Caldy centre Gavin Roberts tops the point’s scorers list with 290 points, the best since New Brighton’s Anthony Birley scored 316 points in the 2003/04 season
· It was the ninth highest ever total points in a Three North season
· Leicester Lions full back/wing Gareth Collins runs in 29 tries which is the second highest total ever in the division after the 31 scored by Fylde’s Nick Royle in the 2006/07 season
· Second in the try scoring was Kendal wing Lewis Boyd with 28 which is enough for third place on the all time list
· Ross Winney kicks 59 penalty goals for Macclesfield which is enough to take him into fifth on the all time list in the division but some way behind the all time record of 73 set by Fylde’s Mike Scott in 2003/04
· Nuneaton’s Rickie Alley equalled the record for drop goals in a season with nine which equals the record set by Preston Grasshoppers fly half Steve Kerry in the 1996/97 season
· Twice Aley drops three goals in a match to fall one short of the record of four set by Hoppers Steve Kerry in the 1996/97 season
· Rob Cook also dropped a goal for Nuneaton as they equalled Preston Grasshopper’s record of 10 drop goals in a season
· Kendal with just 22 had the fewest starters just 22 one fewer than Huddersfield
· Relegated Darlington Mowden Park had the most starters with 40, two more than Loughborough Students
· Nine players stared all 26 matches for their sides during the season and four of them came from Champions Nuneaton
· Ian Voortman was Kendal’s only ever present but they had four other players who started 25 of their 26 matches
· For relegated Halifax Iain Gordon and Dominic Moon started all 25 of the clubs league matches with one match not played
· Second row Dan Cookson was on the bench in 21 of his sides 26 matches two more than Ian Ross for Kendal
· Cookson, not surprisingly, came on in the most matches with 17
· Huddersfield prop James Davies was the most subbed player coming off in 16 matches, two more than any other player in the division
· In the kicking stakes Caldy centre Gavin Roberts led the way with a strike rate of 78.4 with 98 of his 125 kicks on target
· Huddersfield were the only side not to have picked up a away try bonus point
· Bradford & Bingley had the eighth best away record in the division with five wins and eight defeats and three try bonus points
· Runners up Caldy were the only side not to pick up a losing bonus point on the road during the season
· Loughborough Students and Bradford & Bingley were the only sides to have scored more tries on the road than at home
· Fylde were top scorers with 109 tries and led the way in the 1st, 2nd and 4th quarters with Harrogate being the top scores in the 3rd quarter with 35, 11 more than anyone else
· Leicester Lions had the best defensive record with just 53 tries conceded three more than any other side in the table, the top two
· Caldy were the lowest first half in tries conceded in the table with just 14 of their 56 tries conceded coming in the first half, 10 fewer than any other side
· Gareth Collins, Leicester Lions, and Lewis Boyd, Kendal, led the way with three hat tricks each during the season
· Bradford & Bingley were the only side to have two players red carded during the season
· Bottom of the table Halifax had the most sin bins with 26 two more than hull Ionians
