2019–20 National League 2 South
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The 2019–20 National League 2 South was the eleventh season (33rd overall) of the fourth tier (south) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced.
2019–20 National League 2 South | |
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Countries | ![]() |
Date | 7 September 2019 – 14 March 2020 |
Champions | Taunton Titans (1st title) |
Runners-up | Tonbridge Juddians (also promoted) |
Relegated | Bournemouth, Old Redcliffians, Sutton & Epsom |
Matches played | 196 |
Attendance | 60,934 (average 311 per match) |
Highest attendance | 1,076 Dings Crusaders v Clifton 14 September 2019 |
Lowest attendance | 0[lower-alpha 1] Tonbridge Juddians v Sutton & Epsom 21 December 2019 |
Top point scorer | ![]() (Taunton Titans) 230 points |
Top try scorer | ![]() (Tonbridge Juddians) 22 tries |
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the Rugby Football Union officially cancelled the season on 20 March 2020, after an initial postponement of all rugby in England including training.[2][3] After the cancellation was announced the RFU used a best playing record formula to decide the final table.[4] This meant that Taunton Titans, who were 3 points clear when the league was suspended, were promoted as champions along with runners up Tonbridge Juddians, who went up as the best runner up as they had more considerably more points than 2019–20 National League 2 North runner up Fylde.
The relegated teams included Bournemouth, Old Redcliffians and Sutton & Epsom, all of whom had occupied the bottom three spots before league suspension, with 14th placed Sutton & Epsom 13 points behind 13th placed Westcliff and safety. Taunton Titans and Tonbridge Juddians will join the 2021–22 National League 1 (the highest level either club have reached), while Bournemouth and Old Redcliffians drop down to South West Premier and Sutton & Epsom to London & South East Premier.
Other interesting news from the season was Taunton's Gary Kingdom who finished as top scorer in the division for the third time, tying him with Worthing Raiders prolific Matthew McLean. An unwanted record was also made with Tonbridge Juddians official attendance of 0 from their game Sutton & Epsom on 21 December 2019 being the lowest ever recorded in a National League 2 South game. This was due to the game being played behind closed doors due to safety concerns caused by flooding.