2011–12 National League 2 North

2011–12 National League 2 North
Countries	England
Champions	Loughborough Students
Runners-up	Caldy
Relegated	Kendal, Nuneaton, Harrogate
Attendance	59,549 (average 257 per match)[a 1]
Highest attendance	1,214 Loughborough Students v Nuneaton 20 April 2012
Lowest attendance	100 (multiple teams)
Top point scorer	Chris Johnson (Huddersfield) 362 points
Top try scorer	Craig Holland (Loughborough Students) 27 tries
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 National League 2 North was the third season (twenty-fifth overall) of the fourth tier (north) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced. The league system was 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and additional bonus points being awarded for scoring 4 or more tries and/or losing within 7 points of the victorious team. In terms of promotion the league champions would go straight up into National League 1 while the runners up would have a one-game playoff against the runners up from National League 2 South (at the home ground of the club with the superior league record) for the final promotion place.

After two years of missing out on promotion via the playoffs, Loughborough Students went one better and won the league title outright, being easily the best side in the division and finishing 22 points clear of the rest of the pack to gain promotion to the 2012–13 National League 1.^[1][2] While Loughborough Students were clear winners the battle for second place was much tighter with Caldy eventually taking the runners up place just 1 point ahead of Preston Grasshoppers and Hull. Caldy's luck would run out in the promotion playoff, however, losing 20 - 13 away to 2011–12 National League 2 South runners up Richmond.^[3][4] Apart from Kendal who were the first team to go down, it was very tightly contested at the bottom of the table as with bonus points paying a huge role in determining Nuneaton's relegation, with the Nun's 10 victories being supplanted with just 6 bonus points.^[5][6] The final side to go down was Harrogate who finished 1 point adrift of 13th placed Leicester Lions, with more wins than the Leicestershire side but not enough bonus points.^[7] Kendal and Harrogate would drop to National League 3 North while Nuneaton would fall to National League 3 Midlands.^[8][9]

Twelve of the teams listed below participated in the 2010–11 National League 2 North season; Otley were relegated from the 2010–11 National League 1, Bromsgrove (champions) and Sheffield Tigers (playoffs) would come up from National League 3 Midlands while Stockport were promoted as champions of National League 3 North.^[10][11][12]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bromsgrove	Finstall Park		Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
Caldy	Paton Field	4,000	Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside
Harrogate	Claro Road	3,000	Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Huddersfield	Lockwood Park	1,500 (500 seats)	Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Hull	Ferens Ground	1,500 (288 seats)	Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Hull Ionians	Brantingham Park	1,500 (240 seats)	Brantingham, East Riding of Yorkshire
Kendal	Mint Bridge	3,000 (300 stand)	Kendal, Cumbria
Leicester Lions	Westleigh Park	2,000	Blaby, Leicestershire
Loughborough Students	Loughborough University Stadium	3,000	Loughborough, Leicestershire
Luctonians	Mortimer Park	2,200	Kingsland, Herefordshire
Nuneaton	Liberty Way	4,314 (514 seats)	Nuneaton, Warwickshire
Otley	Cross Green	5,000	Otley, West Yorkshire
Preston Grasshoppers	Lightfoot Green	5,000	Preston, Lancashire
Sheffield Tigers	Dore Moor	1,000	Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Stockport	The Memorial Ground	500	Stockport, Greater Manchester
Westoe	Wood Terrace		South Shields, Tyne and Wear

2011–12 National League 2 North table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Loughborough Students (C)	30	24	2	4	939	500	+439	15	2	117	Promoted
2	Caldy	30	19	0	11	869	631	+238	13	6	95	Promotion play-off
3	Preston Grasshoppers	30	18	2	10	870	636	+234	14	4	94
4	Hull	30	18	1	11	698	581	+117	13	7	94
5	Luctonians	30	19	0	11	694	557	+137	9	4	89
6	Huddersfield	30	17	3	10	662	525	+137	8	5	87
7	Westoe	30	15	0	15	681	715	−34	12	7	79
8	Bromsgrove	30	14	2	14	806	617	+189	13	6	79
9	Sheffield Tigers	30	14	0	16	605	623	−18	9	8	73
10	Stockport	30	13	0	17	642	653	−11	9	7	68
11	Hull Ionians	30	13	0	17	594	767	−173	8	5	65
12	Otley	30	11	1	18	610	836	−226	12	3	61
13	Leicester Lions	30	10	3	17	613	712	−99	7	7	60
14	Harrogate (R)	30	11	2	17	555	725	−170	6	5	59	Relegated
15	Nuneaton (R)	30	10	2	18	524	757	−233	1	5	50
16	Kendal (R)	30	5	0	25	473	1000	−527	4	9	33

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 February 2012.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 February 2012.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 February 2012.

---

---

---

• Initially rescheduled from 14 January 2012 but postponed again. Game rescheduled to 25 February 2012.

• Initially rescheduled from 14 January 2012 but postponed again. Game rescheduled to 25 February 2012.

• Initially rescheduled from 4 February 2012 but postponed again. Game rescheduled to 25 February 2012.

---

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 25 February 2012.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to ?.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to ?.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to ?.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to ?.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to ?.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 25 February 2012.

---

---

• Game rescheduled from 4 February 2012.

• Game rescheduled from 11 February 2012.

• Game rescheduled from 11 February 2012.

• Game rescheduled from 4 February 2012.

• Game rescheduled from 4 February 2012.

---

---

---

• Game rescheduled from 11 February 2012.

• Game rescheduled from 11 February 2012.

• Game rescheduled from 11 February 2012.

• Game rescheduled from 11 February 2012.

• Game rescheduled from 11 February 2012.

---

---

---

---

---

---

Each season, the runners-up in the National League 2 North and National League 2 South participate in a play-off for promotion into National League 1. Richmond were runners-up in the South and would host the game as they had a better record in the league in comparison to the North runners up Caldy.^[17][18]

^{[3][4][19][20]}

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bromsgrove	12[a 2]	4,671	389	1,000	190
Caldy	15	2,920	195	429	113	5%
Harrogate	15	3,590	239	650	130	8%
Huddersfield	15	4,064	271	412	171	18%
Hull	14[a 3]	2,840	203	350	140	14%
Hull Ionians	15	3,670	245	450	150	16%
Kendal	14[a 4]	4,043	289	400	240	10%
Leicester Lions	14[a 5]	1,803	129	245	100	6%
Loughborough Students	15	5,850	390	1,214	100	13%
Luctonians	15	6,446	430	780	278	20%
Nuneaton	15	2,891	193	263	136	4%
Otley	14[a 6]	4,743	339	526	257	7%
Preston Grasshoppers	15	5,298	353	614	175	7%
Sheffield Tigers	14[a 7]	2,099	150	225	105	15%
Stockport	15	2,200	147	303	120	29%
Westoe	15	2,421	161	250	101

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

• English Rugby Union Leagues
• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

• NCA Rugby Archived 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine