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 1,745 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) David Jackson (Nottingham) 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]

Leeds Carnegie won a quick promotion back to the Guinness Premiership, while 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 number 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]

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

2008–09 National Division One table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
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[a]
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[a]
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[a]
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	1118	−700	3	6	21[a]
16	Manchester (R)	30	2	0	28	433	1165	−732	4	5	17

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 April 2009.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 2 May 2009.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 February 2009.

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• 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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• 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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• 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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• Game rescheduled from 28 February 2009.

• Game rescheduled from 13 December 2008.

• Game rescheduled from 28 February 2009.

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• 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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• Game rescheduled from 3 January 2009.

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• 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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• 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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• 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 to the club having 8 players on county duty for Yorkshire. The FDR gave Moseley a 20–0, 5 point win by default.

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

• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

• English rugby union system

• national1.co.uk