2004–05 National Division Three South

2004–05 National Division Three South
Countries
Champions	Barking
Runners-up	Redruth (also promoted)
Relegated	Haywards Heath, Tabard, Weston-super-Mare
Attendance	44,315 (average 369 per match)[a 1]
Highest attendance	1,500 Redruth v North Walsham 5 March 2005 Redruth v Barking 12 March 2005
Lowest attendance	100 Reading v Tabard 20 November 2004 Reading v Westcombe Park 12 March 2005 Reading v Hertford 2 April 2005
Top point scorer	Adam Westall (Lydney) 332 points
Top try scorer	Cam Avery (Havant) 23 tries

The 2004–05 National Division Three South was the fifth season (18th 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 Lydney who were relegated from 2003–04 National Division Two as well as Havant (champions) and Hertford (playoffs) who were promoted from London Division 1 while Reading came up as champions of South West Division 1.^[1][2][3] The season would also see the introduction of a new points system with 4 points being awarded for a win, 2 points being awarded for a draw (replacing the old system of 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw) with the addition of a bonus point being given for scoring 4 or more tries as well as a bonus point given if you manage to lose a game 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.

At the end of the season Barking finished as champions with a fantastic record of 24 wins out of 26 games, finishing 12 points ahead of runners up Redruth, with the Cornish side perhaps having finished champions in a different season with just 3 defeats.^[4] Redruth would join Barking in the 2005–06 National Division Two by defeating the 2004–05 National Division Three North runners up Macclesfield in the north–south playoff in front of a huge crowd of 4,000 fans at the Recreation Ground in Redruth.^[5] At the other end of the table Haywards Heath and Tabard were the first teams to be relegated. Weston-super-Mare were more competitive but still went down in the final relegation place, 7 points off 11th placed Old Patesians.^[4] Haywards Heath and Tabard would drop down to London Division 1 while Weston-super-Mare went into South West Division 1.^[6][7]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Barking	Goresbrook	1,000	Becontree, Dagenham, London
Dings Crusaders	Landseer Avenue	1,500	Lockleaze, Bristol
Havant	Hook's Lane	1,500	Havant, Hampshire
Haywards Heath	Whitemans Green		Cuckfield, Haywards Heath, West Sussex
Hertford	Highfields		Ware, Hertfordshire
Lydney	Regentsholme	1,500	Lydney, Gloucestershire
North Walsham	Norwich Road	1,200	Scottow, North Walsham, Norfolk
Old Patesians	Everest Road		Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Reading	Holme Park		Sonning, Reading, Berkshire
Redruth	The Recreation Ground	3,500 (580 seats)	Redruth, Cornwall
Southend	Warners Bridge Park		Southend, Essex
Tabard	Cobden Hill		Radlett, Hertfordshire
Westcombe Park	Goddington Dene	3,200	Orpington, London
Weston-super-Mare	Recreation Ground	3,000	Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

2004–05 National Division Three South table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Barking (C)	26	24	1	1	904	343	+561	17	1	116	Promoted
2	Redruth (P)	26	22	1	3	726	303	+423	12	2	104	Promotion play-off
3	North Walsham	26	18	0	8	556	387	+169	14	1	87
4	Lydney	26	17	1	8	767	463	+304	14	3	87
5	Hertford	26	14	1	11	588	505	+83	8	4	70
6	Reading	26	13	0	13	674	743	−69	14	1	67
7	Havant	26	12	1	13	664	609	+55	13	3	66
8	Dings Crusaders	26	13	0	13	516	538	−22	6	4	62
9	Westcombe Park	26	11	1	14	586	708	−122	9	1	56
10	Southend	26	10	0	16	519	619	−100	5	4	49
11	Old Patesians	26	9	1	16	527	622	−95	7	3	48
12	Weston-super-Mare (R)	26	7	1	18	449	727	−278	8	3	41	Relegated
13	Tabard (R)	26	5	0	21	463	793	−330	4	5	29
14	Haywards Heath (R)	26	3	0	23	387	966	−579	4	4	20

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 12 February 2005.

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• Game rescheduled from 6 November 2004.

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• Game rescheduled for 26 March 2005.

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• Game rescheduled from 5 March 2005.

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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. Redruth were the southern division runners up and as they had a superior league record than northern runners-up, Macclesfield, they hosted the play-off match.

^[5]

• Does not include promotion playoff game.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Barking	9[a 2]	3,224	358	1,200	185	36%
Dings Crusaders	9[a 3]	2,120	236	427	153	16%
Havant	10[a 4]	5,084	462	692	346	31%
Haywards Heath	11[a 5]	2,040	185	250	140
Hertford	12[a 6]	5,782	482	720	345
Lydney	5[a 7]	2,440	488	570	320	33%
North Walsham	11[a 8]	5,045	459	1,000	180	38%
Old Patesians	2[a 9]	316	158	198	118
Reading	10[a 10]	2,220	222	700	100
Redruth	11[a 11]	9,916	901	1,500	450	26%
Southend	10[a 12]	1,538	154	230	114
Tabard	10[a 13]	2,200	220	400	200
Westcombe Park	7[a 14]	1,750	250	350	150	8%
Weston-super-Mare	2[a 15]	640	320	350	290	11%

• 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 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine