PLAYOFFS… WHAT’S NEXT

Following last weekend’s five-point win over the new National League 2 West (N2W) Champions Camborne, our 1^st XV secured a place in the National League 2 Promotion Playoffs starting on 9^th May.

Given this is the first season of this playoff structure, we have received a mountain of enquiries about what that means for our side following the win. So, we have put together the following information to try to explain things for members.

The only certainty about 9^th May currently is that we will be involved in one of the two playoff games. Outside of that, none of the other three affected leagues are decided in terms of playoff contender, with no less than seven different sides still potentially involved from National League 1 (NL1), 2 East (N2E) and 2 North (N2N).

The structure of the playoffs is that the two highest ranked sides are at home in week one (9^th May) with the highehighest-rankedst ranked remaining side at home in week two (16^th May). The 11th-placed side in NL1 will be the number one-ranked team in the playoffs and then the three 2^nd placed sides from the National League 2 divisions will be ordered on playing record.

Currently in the mix from NL1, we have Dings Crusaders, Clifton and Birmingham Moseley and the league looks like the following heading into the final round of fixtures:

#	TEAM	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/-	TB	LB	Pts
10	Dings Crusaders	25	9	0	16	679	890	-211	15	5	56
11	Clifton (PO)	25	9	0	16	598	860	-262	12	4	52
12	Birmingham Moseley (R)	25	7	1	17	625	724	-99	13	8	51

 

This is then the race for the three playoff places from the three Level 4 divisions:

#	TEAM	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/-	TB	LB	Pts
1 (E)	Bury St Edmunds	25	19	1	5	1033	631	402	21	4	103
2 (N)	Tynedale	25	20	0	5	896	489	407	18	3	101
2 (W)	Luctonians	25	20	0	5	813	512	301	19	2	101
2 (E)	Oundle	25	19	2	4	901	684	217	20	1	101
3 (N)	Macclesfield	25	19	0	6	999	691	308	20	2	98

 

It is a tight-run thing across the board. Obviously one of the N2E sides will be removed as the winner. If the above were how it finished, then Tynedale would be the 2^nd ranked side heading to the playoffs, based on their superior points difference, as we have the same number of league points, wins and draws. Lucs would be 3^rd, with Oundle ranked 4^th based on number of wins. If the above was how it stayed it would result in the following fixtures on 9^th May:

Clifton (1) v Oundle (4)

Tynedale (2) v Luctonians (3)

 

The fixtures to keep your eye on this week then are as follows:

National League 1

Birmingham Moseley (12^th) v Bishops Stortford (6^th)

Blackheath (2^nd) v Clifton (11^th)

Dings Crusaders (10^th) v Rosslyn Park (5^th)

 

National League 2 East

Bury St Edmunds (1^st) v Old Albanians (3^rd)

Havant (8^th) v Oundle (2^nd)

 

National League 2 North

Sheffield Tigers (8^th) v Macclesfield (3^rd)

Wharfedale (7^th) v Tynedale (2^nd)

 

National League 2 West

Lymm (11^th) v Luctonians (2^nd)