National Three North Stats Review - Places 8th to 14th
Published: 31/05/2009
Kendal
· After a two year absence Kendal return to National League rugby and finish in eighth place some eight points clear of the next side in the division
· Winger Lewis Boyd was the leading try scorer with a club record 28 tries which put him in second place in the division just one behind leader Gareth Collins (Leicester Lions) better than the 19 scored by John Ladell back in 2004/05
· Boyd was also the leading point’s scorer with 140 but with the boot Dan Stephens led the way with 96
· In matches against the top four sides they did well with three wins and a draw to go with four defeats
· Centre Ian Voortman was the only ever present and played in every minute of every match apart from the two times he was sin binned
· Winger Boyd also played in every match starting 25 and coming on as a replacement once as well which was the same story for No 8 Craig Wilson
· Kendal were one of just three sides to concede more tries at home than on the road
· They had 10 players start 22 matches ort more which was the most in the division
Preston Grasshoppers
· Hoppers finished in ninth place which is down two places on last season and their lowest in their four year stint in the division having finished third the season before
· Fly half Marcus Jackson was top points scorer with 186 which was the seventh highest total in the division in his first full season for the club having played four matches the previous season
· In the try scoring stakes there was a tie for top spot between scrum half Darren Wilson and winger Russell Flynn with 11 which was four more than Oliver Viney managed the previous season to top the try charts
· In matches against the top four they managed two wins to go with six defeats with wins at home against Caldy and Fylde
· Back row forward Andrew Dochray played the most matches starting 25 of the 26 matches whilst prop Richard Carlton started 23 matches but came on in two others to make it 25 appearances
· Only had 13 sin binnings which was the four lowest total in the division
· Hoppers half backs scored 15 tries which was the second most by a half back pairing in the division after Fylde who scored 20 from there
Huddersfield
· In their first ever season of National League rugby Huddersfield finished in 10th place some 13 points of the relegation zone
· They only managed two try bonus points all season and they were both picked up late in the season
· Winger Alex Shaw and back rower Nick Sharpe were joint leading try scorers with seven as Huddersfield struggled to score tries
· Shaw was the only player to start all 26 matches and play in every minute of every match, just behind him with 25 starts were prop Anthony Stringwell and back row man Mike Whitehead
· In the points scoring Chris Johnson again led the way with 248 points from his 22 starts after playing a huge roll last season in their promotion to the National Leagues
· 18 of their 55 tries came from the back row, 33% their highest % in the division
Hull Ionians
· In their fourth season back in National Three North Hull Ionians had their worst finish 11th three places lower than last season
· They struggled to score with only the two relegated sides scoring fewer points but did better defensively with having a better record than three of the sides above them in the table
· Fly half James Ferguson was the leading scorer with just 100 points which was 72 less than he managed last season when the topped Ionians scoring for the first time
· James Greene was the top try scorer with nine, two more than centre Travis Plumridge, and was an improvement on the two previous seasons when six and eight were enough to finish top try scorer
· Second row Richard Hill made the most starts with 23, one more than flanker Richard Wigham, and these were the only two players to start over 20 matches for the club
· With 24 they had the second most players sin binned during the season
Bradford & Bingley
· Finished two places lower than last season when they returned to the division after a one season run in National Two and made it five seasons of National League rugby since winning North One back in 2003/04
· Fly half Steve Brimacombe topped scored with 146 points for the first time in his first full season at the club
· In the try scoring stakes wing Mark Kirkby led the way with 10 tries as he returned to the top of the Bees try scoring list after missing out last season to centre Richard Tafu, Kirkby has not topped the Bees try scoring list three times in the last four seasons
· Back row forward Neil Spence started all 26 league matches and apart from being replaced one as a temporarily played every minute of every match
· Wing Kirkby played 25 matches missing just one game all season and has now scored 46 tries in his four seasons at the Bees from 86 matches
· Were the only side to have two players sent off during the season
· Although finishing third bottom the Bees were the eighth highest try scorers in the division
· They had the worst try return from any back row in the division with just five of their 71 tries coming from that position
Darlington Mowden Park
· DMP’s eight year stay in the National Leagues came to an end as they finished second bottom and some eight points from safety, but it could have been so different
· They picked up nine losing bonus points from their 19 defeats which was the most in the division three more than anyone else
· Prop Dan Miller started 25 of the clubs 26 league matches and came on as a replacement in the other, one more appearance than fellow front rowers Danny Brown and Howard Murray
· Jon Benson topped scored for DMP for a second successive season with 138 points, 50 fewer than he managed last season, during the season he passed 100 league points which he has accumulated playing for West Hartlepool, Leeds, Rotherham, Doncaster, Otley as well
· In the try scoring two players scored eight tries to top the list, scrum half Martin Lithgow and centre/wing Adam McKenzie, who was a Scottish Under 20 International this season, and he scored his tries in just seven starts compared to 22 for Lithgow
· Despite being at the wrong end of the table they only had 10 players sin binned during the season the lowest number in the division
· Their front row scored 11 tries which was the second best by a front row in the division, one behind Harrogate
Halifax
· Halifax are relegated back to North One after a seven year run in the National Leagues which included three seasons in National Two as they suffer back to back relegations
· It took them till their last match of the season to claim their only win of the campaign with a home success over Harrogate
· They were the lowest scorers and conceded the most points and just managed two try bonus points all season and two losing bonus points in their 24 defeats
· Iain Gordon was the leading points scorer with 144 which was the 11th best return in the division
· In the try scoring stakes flanker Dominic Moon led the way with seven one more than centre Tim Mennell
Gordon and Moon were ever presents for the club starting all 25 matches the club played and Gordon was not replaced in any of them
