2007–08 National Division Three South

2007–08 National Division Three South
Countries
Champions	Mounts Bay
Runners-up	Cinderford (also promoted)
Relegated	Luton, North Walsham, Clifton
Attendance	58,060 (average 348 per match)[b 1]
Highest attendance	2,100 Cinderford v Lydney 8 September 2007
Lowest attendance	66 Clifton v Barking 2 February 2008
Top point scorer	Lee Jarvis (Mounts Bay) 266 points
Top try scorer	Owen Bruynseels (Ealing Trailfinders) 20 tries

The 2007–08 National Division Three South was the eighth season (21st overall) of the fourth division (south) of the English domestic rugby union competition using the name National Division Three South. New teams to the division included Barking who were relegated from the 2006–07 National Division Two while promoted sides included London Scottish (champions) and Ealing (playoffs) who came up from London Division 1, Mounts Bay who came up as champions of South West Division 1 and Luton who were Midlands Division 1 champions.^[1][2][3][4] In the case of Luton, Midlands league champions usually moved up to National Division Three North but due to number imbalances in that division, for this season, they would go into National Division Three South instead. The league system was 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and additional bonus points being awarded for scoring 4 or more tries and/or losing within 7 points of the victorious team. In terms of promotion the league champions would go straight up into National Division Two while the runners up would have a one-game playoff against the runners up from National Division Three North (at the home ground of the club with the superior league record) for the final promotion place.

In what was a very competitive league there were a number of teams tipped to go up but in the end it was Mounts Bay who came out on top as champions 12 points clear and sealing promotion to the 2008–09 National Division Two – part of an incredible sequence of six successive promotions stretching back to Cornwall 1 in 2003–04.^[5][6] The battle for the runner up spot was keenly contested between Cinderford and newly promoted Ealing Trailfinders but in the end the Gloucestershire side took second spot despite losing their final game to the west Londoners. Cinderford would join Mounts Bay in National Division Two after defeating 2007–08 National Division Three North runners up Darlington Mowden Park in a very close playoff game viewed by over 2,000 spectators at Dockham Road.^[7][8] At the other end of the table newly promoted Luton went straight back down as the worst side in the division followed by North Walsham. The third and final relegation spot was very closely contested but eventually Clifton went down just 1 point behind relegation rivals Barking and Havant – a last gasp away victory against relegation rivals Havant not being enough as Barking had a shock win against champions Mount Bays to keep them up instead.^[5] Luton and North Walsham would drop to London Division 1 while Clifton would go into South West Division 1.^[9][10]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Barking	Goresbrook	1,000	Barking, London
Bridgwater & Albion	Bath Road	5,000	Bridgwater, Somerset
Canterbury	Merton Lane	1,000	Canterbury, Kent
Cinderford	Dockham Road	2,500	Cinderford, Gloucestershire
Clifton	Station Road	2,500 (400 seats)	Clifton, Bristol
Dings Crusaders	Landseer Avenue	1,500	Lockleaze, Bristol
Ealing Trailfinders	Trailfinders Sports Ground	3,020	Ealing, London
Havant	Hook's Lane	1,500	Havant, Hampshire
London Scottish	Athletic Ground	4,500	Richmond, London
Luton	Newlands Road		Luton, Bedfordshire
Lydney	Regentsholme	1,500	Lydney, Gloucestershire
Mounts Bay	Mennaye Field	3,500	Penzance, Cornwall
North Walsham	Norwich Road	1,200	Scottow, North Walsham, Norfolk
Rosslyn Park	The Rock	2,000	Roehampton, London

2007–08 National Division Three South table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Mounts Bay (C)	26	23	0	3	772	337	+435	13	2	107	Promoted
2	Cinderford (P)	26	20	2	4	719	305	+414	9	2	95	Promotion play-off
3	Ealing	26	18	1	7	689	402	+287	13	4	91
4	Canterbury	26	18	0	8	608	473	+135	10	3	83[a]
5	London Scottish	26	17	0	9	633	410	+223	12	3	83
6	Dings Crusaders	26	13	1	12	492	441	+51	7	6	67
7	Lydney	26	13	0	13	501	485	+16	6	5	63
8	Bridgwater & Albion	26	13	0	13	495	558	−63	6	4	62
9	Rosslyn Park	26	12	0	14	502	463	+39	5	6	59
10	Havant	26	8	0	18	394	567	−173	3	6	41
11	Barking	26	8	1	17	488	708	−220	3	4	41
12	Clifton (R)	26	8	1	17	476	852	−376	4	2	40	Relegated
13	North Walsham (R)	26	6	0	20	384	711	−327	3	6	33
14	Luton (R)	26	2	0	24	380	821	−441	3	5	16

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 2 February 2008.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 12 January 2008.

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• Game rescheduled from 1 December 2007.

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• Game rescheduled from 1 December 2007.

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The league runners up of National Division Three South and North would meet in a playoff game for promotion to National Division Two. Cinderford were the southern division runners up and as they had a superior league record than northern runners-up, Darlington Mowden Park, they hosted the play-off match.

^[7]

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Barking	10[b 2]	1,766	177	300	100	18%
Bridgwater & Albion	13	8,109	624	973	375	12%
Canterbury	13	3,049	254	436	164	25%
Cinderford	13	5,918	455	2,100	200	18%
Clifton	11[b 3]	1,499	136	312	66	5%
Dings Crusaders	13	1,920	148	276	105	10%
Ealing Trailfinders	13	3,624	279	506	134	9%
Havant	13	3,351	258	350	180	17%
London Scottish[b 4]	11	5,670	515	1,320	300	11%
Luton	12[b 5]	3,256	271	626	150
Lydney	12[b 6]	5,795	483	675	340	32%
Mounts Bay	10[b 7]	5,408	541	1,000	300	15%
North Walsham	11[b 8]	4,191	381	1,400	230	30%
Rosslyn Park	12[b 9]	4,504	375	560	170	19%

• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

• NCA Rugby Archived 1 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine