2023–24 National League 2 North
Rugby union competition in England / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2023–24 National League 2 North is the 36th season of the fourth-tier (north) of the English domestic rugby union competitions; one of three at this level. The others are National League 2 East and National League 2 West. The champions are promoted to National League 1 and the bottom two teams are relegated to either Regional 1 North East or Regional 1 North West, depending on their location.
2023–24 National League 2 North | |
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Countries | England |
Date | 2 September 2023 – 27 April 2024 |
Champions | Rotherham Titans (2nd title) |
Relegated | Huddersfield |
Matches played | 182 |
Attendance | 69,848 (average 384 per match) |
Highest attendance | 1,800 – Preston Grasshoppers v Fylde, 9 September 2023 |
Lowest attendance | 112 – Otley v Lymm, 14 October 2023 |
Tries scored | 1484 (average 8.2 per match) |
Top point scorer | 327 – Richard Hayes (Rotherham Titans) |
Top try scorer | 24 – Samuel Taylor (Otley) |
Rotherham Titans finished the season as champions on 27 April 2024 following an away win against Billingham.[1] The title battle went right to the last day of the season, with Titans finishing just two points clear of Yorkshire rivals Leeds Tykes who had looked certain champions up until very last few games, with Rotherham's home win over Tykes on 23 March 2024 ultimately being the catalyst for who would take the league. In winning the league Rotherham would be promoted back into the 2024–25 National League 1 after an absence of four seasons.
Huddersfield were the first side to be relegated, losing away to Billingham on 23 March 2024 to go down with three games left to play.[2] The battle for the second relegation spot would go all the way until the end of the season, with Billingham's bonus point loss against champions Rotherham, being just enough to see them pip Hull Ionians by virtue of a better better points for against record, with both sides equal on 44 points apiece. Despite finishing 13th, Ionians resounding 94-26 victory against already relegated Huddersfield, was enough to see them stay up as the best ranked National League 2 side, as they had a better for and against record than the 2023–24 National League 2 East side Wimbledon who also finished on 44 points and had an equal number of wins (6). In the end the only relegated club from National League 2 North, Huddersfield would drop down to Regional 1 North East after spending six seasons at level 4.