Regional 2 North West

Regional 2 North West is a level six league in the English rugby union system, with the twelve teams drawn for the most part from Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and the Isle of Man with selected others from neighbouring counties. The other level six leagues in the Northern Division are Regional 2 North for teams in North East England and Cumbria; and Regional 2 North East for teams, predominantly, in Yorkshire. It was created as a product of the 2022 Adult Competition Review.^[1]

Regional 2 North West

Current season or competition: 2024–25 Regional 2 North West
Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	2022
Number of teams	12
Country	England
Holders	Birkenhead Park (2023–24)
Website	Northern Division

Birkenhead Park are the current champions and are promoted to Regional 1 North West.

Structure

The league consists of twelve teams who play the others on a home and away basis, to make a total of 22 matches each. The champions are promoted to Regional 1 North West and the bottom sides are relegated to Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire.

The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows:

• 4 points are awarded for a win
• 2 points are awarded for a draw
• 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
• 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
• 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match.

2025–26

Departing were Bowdon, promoted to Regional 1 North West, while Crewe & Nantwich (11th) and Eccles (12th) were relegated to Counties 1 Midlands West (North) and Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire respectively.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Altrincham Kersal Stelfox Avenue Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 7th Birkenhead Park Upper Park Birkenhead, Wirral Relegated from Regional 1NW (12th) Burnage Varley Park Stockport, Greater Manchester 5th Douglas Port-E-Chee Douglas, Isle of Man 6th Firwood Waterloo St Anthony's Road 9,000 (200 seats) Blundellsands, Merseyside 2nd North Ribblesdale Grove Park Settle, North Yorkshire Promoted from Counties 1 Yorkshire (champions) Northwich Moss Farm Northwich, Cheshire 8th Sandbach Bradwall Road[2] Sandbach, Cheshire 3rd Vale of Lune Powder House Lane Lancaster, Lancashire 4th West Park St Helens Red Rocks St. Helens, Lancashire Promoted from Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire (champions) Widnes Heath Road Widnes, Cheshire 9th Winnington Park Burrows Hill Hartford, Northwich, Cheshire 10th

Altrincham Birkenhead Burnage Douglas Waterloo North Ribblesdale Northwich Sandbach Vale of Lune WPSH Widnes Winnington Locations of the 2025-26 Regional 2 North West teams in NW England

2024-25

Departing were Birkenhead Park,^[3] who were promoted to Regional 1 North West, and Liverpool St Helens, who were relegated to Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire.^[4] Kirkby Lonsdale (11th) went on a level transfer to Regional 2 North^[5] as did Whitchurch on a level transfer back to Regional 2 West Midlands after just one season.

Joining were Sandbach^[6] and Northwich,^[7] relegated from Regional 1 North West, whilst Eccles^[8] and Widnes^[9] were promoted from Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Altrincham Kersal Stelfox Avenue Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 8th Bowdon Clay Lane Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 3rd Burnage Varley Park Stockport, Greater Manchester 5th Crewe & Nantwich Newcastle Road Nantwich, Cheshire 4th Douglas Port-E-Chee Douglas, Isle of Man 10th Eccles Gorton Street Eccles, Greater Manchester Promoted from Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire (runners-up) Firwood Waterloo St Anthony's Road 9,000 (200 seats) Blundellsands, Merseyside 2nd Northwich Moss Farm Northwich, Cheshire Relegated from Regional 1 North West (12th) Sandbach Bradwall Road[10] Sandbach, Cheshire Relegated from Regional 1 North West (11th) Vale of Lune Powder House Lane Lancaster, Lancashire 7th Widnes Heath Road Widnes, Cheshire Promoted from Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire (champions) Winnington Park Burrows Hill Hartford, Northwich, Cheshire 8th

Crewe & Nantwich Douglas Waterloo Greater Manchester Northwich Sandbach Vale of Lune Widnes Winnington Locations of the 2024-25 Regional 2 North West teams in NW England Altrincham Bowdon Burnage Eccles Locations of the 2024-25 Regional 2 North West teams in Greater Manchester

2023–24

Departing were Anselmians, who were promoted to Regional 1 North West^[11] while Broughton Park and Wilmslow^[12] were relegated to Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire. Glossop (9th) and Rochdale (4th) went on a level transfer to Regional 2 North East.

Joining were Burnage^[13] and Kirby Lonsdale,^[14] relegated from Regional 1 North West, and Liverpool St Helens promoted from Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire.^[15] Also coming in were Crewe & Nantwich and Whitchurch, both on a level transfer from Regional 2 West Midlands.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Altrincham Kersal Stelfox Avenue Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 6th Birkenhead Park Upper Park Birkenhead, Wirral 3rd Bowdon Clay Lane Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 2nd Burnage Varley Park Stockport, Greater Manchester Relegated from Regional 1 North West (11th) Crewe & Nantwich Newcastle Road Nantwich, Cheshire Level transfer from Regional 2 West Midlands (8th) Douglas Port-E-Chee Douglas, Isle of Man 10th Firwood Waterloo St Anthony's Road 9,000 (200 seats) Blundellsands, Merseyside 5th Kirkby Lonsdale Underley Park Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria Relegated from Regional 1 North West (12th) Liverpool St Helens Moss Lane St. Helens, Lancashire Promoted from Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire (champions) Vale of Lune Powder House Lane Lancaster, Lancashire 7th Whitchurch Edgeley Park Whitchurch, Shropshire Level transfer from Regional 2 West Midlands (9th) Winnington Park Burrows Hill Hartford, Northwich, Cheshire 8th

Birkenhead Crewe & Nantwich Douglas Waterloo Greater Manchester Kirkby Lonsdale Liverpool St Helens Vale of Lune Whitchurch Winnington Locations of the 2023–24 Regional 2 North West teams in NW England Altrincham Bowdon Burnage Locations of the 2023–24 Regional 2 North West teams in Greater Manchester

League table

Regional 2 North West 2023–24
	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Try bonus	Loss bonus	Points	Points deducted
1	Birkenhead Park P	22	19	1	2	778	405	373	20	1	97	0
2	Firwood Waterloo	22	16	1	5	661	404	257	13	3	80	0
3	Bowdon	22	15	1	6	555	442	113	12	4	76	0
4	Crewe & Nantwich	22	14	1	7	549	390	159	9	3	70	0
5	Burnage	22	10	0	12	623	549	74	13	8	61	0
6	Whitchurch	22	10	0	12	425	481	−56	8	6	54	0
7	Vale of Lune	22	8	2	12	519	544	−136	7	4	47	0
8	Altrincham Kersal	22	8	1	13	456	592	−136	6	4	44	0
9	Winnington Park	22	7	1	14	582	721	−139	10	3	43	0
10	Douglas	22	8	2	12	377	428	−51	4	5	41	0
11	Kirkby Lonsdale	22	7	1	14	420	627	−207	6	5	41	0
12	Liverpool St Helens (R)	22	4	1	17	371	733	−362	5	5	26
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Number of draws Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places. Updated: 7 November 2024 Source:[16]

2022–23

This was the first season following the Rugby Football Union (RFU) Adult Competition Review. The league was substantially similar to North 1 West (although smaller as 14 teams were reduced to 12) with nine teams returning supplemented by three from North 2 West - Anselmians, Rochdale and Winnington Park.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Altrincham Kersal Stelfox Avenue Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 10th North 1 West Anselmians Malone Field Eastham, Merseyside 1st North 2 West[17] Birkenhead Park Upper Park Birkenhead, Wirral 5th North 1 West Bowdon Clay Lane Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 12th North 1 West Broughton Park Hough End Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester 8th North 1 West Douglas Port-E-Chee Douglas, Isle of Man 13th North 1 West Firwood Waterloo St Anthony's Road 9,000 (200 seats) Blundellsands, Merseyside 4th North 1 West Glossop Hargate Hill Lane Charlesworth, Glossop, Derbyshire 7th North 1 West Rochdale Moorgate Avenue Rochdale, Greater Manchester 2nd North 2 West Vale of Lune Powder House Lane Lancaster, Lancashire 9th North 1 West Wilmslow Memorial Ground Wilmslow, Cheshire 11th North 1 West Winnington Park Burrows Hill Hartford, Northwich, Cheshire 4th North 2 West[18]

Anselmians Birkenhead Douglas Glossop Waterloo Greater Manchester Rochdale Vale of Lune Wilmslow Winnington Locations of the 2022-23 Regional 2 North West teams in NW England Altrincham Bowdon Broughton Park Locations of the 2022-23 Regional 2 North West teams in Greater Manchester

League table

Regional 2 North West 2022–23
	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Try bonus	Loss bonus	Points	Points deducted
1	Anselmians (P)	22	20	0	2	743	290	453	16	2	99	0
2	Bowdon	22	19	0	3	772	472	300	18	0	94	0
3	Birkenhead Park	22	16	0	6	785	409	376	15	4	83	0
4	Rochdale	22	15	0	7	592	401	191	13	3	76	0
5	Firwood Waterloo	22	13	0	9	673	554	119	12	3	67	0
6	Altrincham Kersal	22	10	0	12	483	490	−7	10	4	54	0
7	Vale of Lune	22	9	0	13	452	595	−143	8	1	45	0
8	Winnington Park	22	8	0	14	530	702	−172	7	5	44	0
9	Glossop	22	8	0	14	489	675	−186	7	5	44	0
10	Douglas	22	6	0	16	429	636	−207	5	4	33	0
11	Broughton Park (R)	22	3	1	18	374	829	−455	4	2	20	0
12	Wilmslow (R)	22	4	1	17	340	609	−269	3	2	18	−5
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Number of draws Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places. Updated: 6 November 2024 Source:[19]

Regional 2 North West (2022– )

League restructuring by the RFU created twelve leagues at level six. The champions are promoted to Regional 1 North West and the bottom sides are relegated to Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire

Regional 2 North West
Season	No of teams	No of matches	Champions	Runners-up	Relegated team(s)	Ref
2022–23	12	22	Anselmians	Bowdon	Broughton Park (11th) and Wilmslow (12th)	[19]
2023–24	12	22	Birkenhead Park	Northern	Cockermouth (12th)	[16]
Green background is the promotion place.