2015–16 National League 2 North

The 2015–16 National League 2 North is the seventh season (29th overall) of the fourth tier of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced. There was talk of this being the last season in this format due to RFU changes to tier four which were supposed to result in a restructuring of the league from two regional divisions (north and south) to three (north, south-east and south-west) for the 2016–17 season but this seems to have been put on hold due to protests from the northern clubs who stood to lose revenue from a smaller fixture list.

Contents

• Structure
• Participating teams and locations
• League table
• Round 13
• Round 14
• Round 16
• Round 17
• Round 18
• Round 20
• Round 21
• Rounds 13 14 18 rescheduled games
• Round 24
• Rounds 16 17 18 rescheduled games
• Rounds 18 20 21 rescheduled games
• Round 27
• Round 28
• Round 30
• Round 21 rescheduled games
• Round 24 rescheduled game
• Promotion play off
• Individual statistics
• References

Teams joining the division include Macclesfield and Tynedale (both relegated from National League 1), Sale and Sandal (both promoted from National League 3 North) and South Leicester (promoted from National League 3 Midlands). A further change this season saw Harrogate play their first game at their new ground at Rudding Lane - a move from their previous ground of Claro Road where they had been stationed for the past 119 years - beating local rivals Otley in front of a club record crowd of 1,050.

At the end of the season, Macclesfield made an instant return to National League 1 after their relegation the previous season by winning the championship with three games to go, defeating Chester 40-12 to take the title at Priory Park - the club's third National League 2 North title and a record so far in the division. The two bottom clubs at the end of the season were Huddersfield, who went down in Round 27, and Broadstreet, who followed one week later. While both teams were fairly competitive (gaining 7 and 8 wins apiece) the third relegation spot was much more keenly fought with five teams facing the drop up on the last round of the season. In the end it was Sandal who went down after one season spent in National League 2 North, losing their final game against Luctonians, while their relegation rivals all won. It was a particularly interesting contest between Sandal and fellow promoted club, Sale, who were actually in the final relegation spot on the last day (although they did have a rescheduled game still to play) but the Heywood Road side won against high flying Caldy to stay in the division. Another interesting feature of the season was Caldy's Nick Royle whose 25 tries saw him finish not only as the top try scorer in the league but also as the record all-time try scorer in the division with 161 tries overall.

As league runners up to Macclesfield by some distance, Sedgley Park had to travel down to Hertfordshire to face the 2015–16 National League 2 South runners up, Old Albanian, who hosted the game due to a superior league record. In the end Old Albanian were too good for Sedgley Park, winning 24 - 0 to claim the final promotion place to the 2016–17 National League 1.