2017–18 National League 1

2017–18 National League 1
Countries	England
Date	2 September 2017 – 28 April 2018
Champions	Coventry (3rd title)
Runners-up	Darlington Mowden Park
Relegated	Fylde, Old Albanian, Hull Ionians
Matches played	240
Attendance	156,700 (average 653 per match)
Highest attendance	3,758 Coventry v Hull Ionians 28 April 2018
Lowest attendance	103 Loughborough Students v Cambridge 23 December 2017
Tries scored	1651 (average 6.9 per match)
Top point scorer	262 (Coventry)
Top try scorer	21 (Ampthill) (Coventry)
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The 2017–18 National League 1, known for sponsorship reasons as the SSE National League 1 is the ninth season of the third tier of the English rugby union system, since the professionalised format of the second tier RFU Championship was introduced; and is the 31st season since league rugby began in 1987.

Following defeat at Blackheath on 10 March, Fylde are the first team to be relegated.^[1][2] A week later Coventry became the league champions with five games to go after beating Caldy away on the 17 March.^[3] On 21 April Old Albanian became the second team to go down with a game to go, losing 21-24 away to Plymouth Albion.^[4] The third and final relegation spot went to the taken by Hull Ionians who lost 21-38 away to champions Coventry on 28 April 2018 in front of a divisional record attendance of 3,758.^[5] As champions, Coventry are promoted into the 2018–19 RFU Championship, while relegated sides Fylde and Hull Ionians drop to the 2018–19 National League 2 North, and Old Albanian into the 2018–19 National League 2 South.

Of further interest were a number of divisional records set or equalled during the course of the season. These included a record crowd (3,758 at Coventry) and record overall league average attendance (653), while Coventry's promotion meant they now had 3 tier titles (equal with Otley). Ampthill also equalled a more obscure record of four league draws previously achieved by both Wharfedale and Richmond.

Structure[]

The league consists of sixteen teams with all the teams playing each other on a home and away basis to make a total of thirty matches each. There is one promotion place with the champions promoted to the Greene King IPA Championship. There are usually three relegation places with the bottom three teams relegated to either National League 2 North or National League 2 South depending on the geographical location of the team.

Participating teams and locations[]

Twelve of the sixteen teams participated in the preceding season's competition. The 2016–17 champions, Hartpury College, were promoted to the 2017–18 RFU Championship, replacing London Welsh who went into liquidation, in the second half of the season, and ceased to exist as a professional team.^[6] Due to London Welsh's liquidation only two teams (instead of the usual three) were relegated last season – Macclesfield and Blaydon – both of whom drop to the 2017–18 National League 2 North.

The promoted teams are Bishop's Stortford and Caldy, champions of the 2016–17 National League 2 South and 2016–17 National League 2 North respectively, and Old Elthamians who won the promotion play-off against Sale FC.^[7][8][9] National League 1 is the highest level all three of these sides have ever reached.

League table[]

2017–18 National League 1 table
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Try bonus	Losing bonus	Points
1	Coventry (C)	30	27	0	3	1213	495	718	26	0	134
2	Darlington Mowden Park	30	23	1	6	838	637	201	19	2	115
3	Plymouth Albion	30	20	2	8	844	549	295	18	6	108
4	Ampthill	30	19	4	7	797	540	257	17	5	106
5	Blackheath	30	17	2	11	764	636	128	13	3	88
6	Old Elthamians	30	15	1	14	714	709	5	14	5	81
7	Birmingham Moseley	30	14	2	14	680	770	−90	13	6	79
8	Bishop's Stortford	30	15	1	14	750	713	37	8	8	78
9	Esher	30	11	2	17	774	827	−53	18	8	74
10	Cambridge	30	14	0	16	613	600	13	8	8	68
11	Caldy	30	12	0	18	726	743	−17	12	8	68
12	Rosslyn Park	29	10	2	17	752	810	−58	15	7	66
13	Loughborough Students	30	10	3	17	756	894	-138	10	6	62
14	Hull Ionians (R)	30	10	1	19	685	941	−256	14	3	59
15	Old Albanian (R)	30	9	1	20	620	941	−321	11	5	54
16	Fylde (R)	30	3	0	27	405	1087	−682	4	4	20
Points system: 4 points for a win; 2 points for a draw; 1 point if a team loses by seven points or less (losing bonus); 1 point if the team scores four or more tries in a match (try bonus) If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won 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 relegation places. Updated: 12 May 2018 Source: [10]

Fixtures[]

Round 1[]

^[11][12]

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Round 2[]

^[13]

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Round 3[]

^[14]

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Round 4[]

^[15]

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Round 5[]

^[16]

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Round 6[]

^[17]

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Round 7[]

^[18]

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Round 8[]

^[19]

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Round 9[]

^[20]

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Round 10[]

^[21]

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Round 11[]

^[22]

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Round 12[]

^[23]

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Round 13[]

^[24]

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Round 14[]

• Postponed due to bad weather (snow), game rescheduled to 24 February 2018.^[25]

• Postponed due to bad weather (snow), game rescheduled to 24 February 2018.^[26]

^[27]

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Round 15[]

• Postponed due to a frozen pitch, game rescheduled for 24 February 2018.^[28]

^[29]

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Round 16[]

^[30]

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Round 17[]

• Postponed due to waterlogged pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 17 March 2018.^[31]

• Postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 17 March 2018.^[32]

^[33]

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Round 18[]

• Postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Match rescheduled for 24 February 2018.^[34]

^[35]

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Round 19[]

• Postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Game rescheduled for 31 March 2018.^[36]

^[37]

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Round 20[]

^[38]

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Round 21[]

^[39]

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Round 22[]

^[41]

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Round 23[]

^[42]

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Rounds 14, 15 & 18 (rescheduled matches)[]

• Game rescheduled from 13 January 2018.

• Game rescheduled from 16 December 2017.

• Game rescheduled from 9 December 2017.

• Game rescheduled from 9 December 2017.

^[43]

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Round 24[]

• Postponed due to bad weather (snow). Game rescheduled for 31 March 2018.

• Postponed due to bad weather (snow). Game rescheduled for 30 March 2018.

• Postponed due to bad weather (snow). Game rescheduled for 30 March 2018.

• Postponed due to bad weather (snow). Game rescheduled for 17 March 2018.

• Postponed due to bad weather (snow). Game rescheduled for 31 March 2018.

• Postponed due to bad weather (snow). Game rescheduled for 5 May 2018.

^[44]

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Round 25[]

• Fylde are relegated.^[2]

^[45]

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Rounds 17 & 24 (rescheduled matches)[]

• Game rescheduled from 6 January 2018.

• Game rescheduled from 6 January 2018.

• Game rescheduled from 3 March 2018. Coventry win league title.^[3]

^[46]

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Round 26[]

^[47]

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Rounds 19 & 24 (rescheduled matches)[]

• Game rescheduled from 3 March 2018.

• Game rescheduled from 3 March 2018.

• Game rescheduled from 3 March 2018.

• Game rescheduled from 3 March 2018.

• Game rescheduled from 20 January 2018 but postponed again due to a waterlogged pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 12 May 2018.^[48]

^[49]

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Round 27[]

^[50]

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Round 28[]

^[51]

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Round 29[]

• Old Albanian are relegated.^[4]

^[52]

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Round 30[]

• Hull Ionians are relegated. Coventry's attendance of 3,758 is a divisional record.^[5]

^[53]

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Round 24 (rescheduled game)[]

• Game rescheduled from 3 March 2018.

^[54]

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Round 19 (rescheduled game)[]

• Game originally rescheduled from 20 January 2018 and then from 31 March 2018.

^[55]

Attendances[]

Club	Home games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Ampthill	15	4,819	321	738	155	11%
Birmingham Moseley	15	12,005	800	2,130	475	16%
Bishop's Stortford	15	9,145	610	1,152	313	38%
Blackheath	15	10,560	704	1,650	293	43%
Caldy	15	6,299	420	784	254	10%
Cambridge	15	6,963	464	912	313	37%
Coventry	15	28,030	1,869	3,758	1,357	47%
Darlington Mowden Park	15	14,428	962	1,879	622	4%
Esher	15	11,364	758	1,203	469	22%
Fylde	15	7,565	504	723	380	6%
Hull Ionians	15	4,037	269	408	127	18%
Loughborough Students	15	3,851	257	512	103	9%
Old Albanian	15	4,963	331	420	270	33%
Old Elthamians	15	6,360	424	1,653	186	24%
Plymouth Albion	15	16,834	1,122	2,898	671	13%
Rosslyn Park	15	9,577	638	862	324	32%

Individual statistics[]

• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).

Season records[]

Notes[]

See also[]

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

References[]

External links[]

• NCA Rugby