1987–88 Courage League National Division One

1987–88 Courage League National Division One
1987–88 Courage League National Division One
Countries	England
Date	5 September 1987 – 30 April 1988
Champions	Leicester Tigers (1st title)
Runners-up	Wasps
Relegated	Coventry; Sale
Matches played	64
	1988–89 →

The 1987–88 Courage League National Division One was the first season of the first tier of the English rugby union league system. It was the first season of a truly national rugby union league, which is currently known as the Gallagher Premiership.

Quick facts Countries, Date ...

There was no fixture list; the teams arranged fixtures amongst themselves. One match would count between each of the twelve teams involved and the points scheme was such that a team received four points for a win, two for a draw and one point for a loss. Most teams played eleven games, although some played ten due to cancellations. There was also unequal home and away fixtures, with some sides (Coventry, Harlequins) playing up to seven games at home, while others (Waterloo) as little as four.

Leicester Tigers finished first in the league table and were crowned champions. Coventry and Sale were relegated to the 1988–89 Courage League National Division Two for next season, the latter side having lost all of its eleven matches. Rosslyn Park and Liverpool St Helens were promoted from the 1987–88 Courage League National Division Two for the following season.^[1]

[1]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bath	The Recreation Ground	8,200	Bath, Somerset
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol, Avon
Coventry	Coundon Road	9,000	Coventry, West Midlands
Gloucester	Kingsholm	11,000	Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Harlequins	The Stoop	8,500	Twickenham, London
Leicester Tigers	Welford Road	16,000	Leicester, Leicestershire
Moseley	The Reddings	10,000	Birmingham, West Midlands
Nottingham	Ireland Avenue	4,950	Beeston, Nottinghamshire
Orrell	Edge Hall Road	5,500	Orrell, Greater Manchester
Sale	Heywood Road	5,400	Sale, Greater Manchester
Wasps	Repton Avenue	3,000^[2]	Sudbury, London
Waterloo	St Anthony's Road	9,000	Blundellsands, Merseyside

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Leicester Tigers (C)	10	9	0	1	225	133	+92	37	Champions
2	Wasps	11	8	1	2	218	136	+82	36
3	Harlequins	11	6	1	4	261	128	+133	30
4	Bath	11	6	1	4	197	156	+41	30
5	Gloucester	10	6	1	3	206	121	+85	29
6	Orrell	11	5	1	5	192	153	+39	27
7	Moseley	11	5	0	6	167	170	−3	26
8	Nottingham	11	4	1	6	146	170	−24	24
9	Bristol	10	4	1	5	171	145	+26	23
10	Waterloo	10	4	0	6	123	208	−85	22
11	Coventry (R)	11	3	1	7	139	246	−107	21	Relegated
12	Sale (R)	11	0	0	11	95	374	−279	11	Relegated

Home \ Away	BAT	BRI	COV	GLO	HAR	LEI	MOS	NOT	ORR	SAL	WAS	WAT
Bath Rugby		15–9			21–9		14–0		23–18			10–17
Bristol Rugby				16–21			21–10			37–3	12–12
Coventry	9–9	25–3			12–15			15–20	11–24	24–19		15–10
Gloucester RFC	9–16		39–3				18–12	17–9		61–7	13–24
Harlequins		28–22^[4]		9–9		9–12		34–8	6–12	66–0		37–4
Leicester Tigers	24–13	15–10	32–16							42–15	12–9	39–15
Moseley			26–3		11–32	3–21			28–10		19–12	27–3
Nottingham	25–15	3–16				13–22	21–12		12–12
Orrell		13–25		9–13		30–6				19–0		30–6
Sale	17–46						15–19	0–17			6–14
Wasps	19–15		49–6		17–16			17–9	23–15
Waterloo				16–6				10–9		29–13	13–22

1987–88 Courage League National Division One

Participating teams

League table

Results table

Fixtures and results

September 1987

October 1987

November 1987

December 1987

January 1988

February 1988

March 1988

April 1988

Cancelled games

Sponsorship

See also

References

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