2001–02 National Division Two

2001–02 National Division Two
Countries	England
Champions	Orrell
Runners-up	Plymouth Albion (also promoted)
Relegated	Preston Grasshoppers, Waterloo, Rosslyn Park
Attendance	85,620 (average 504 per match)
Highest attendance	2,100 Plymouth Albion at home to Fylde on 5 January 2002
Lowest attendance	85 Preston Grasshoppers at home to Newbury Blues on 2 March 2002
Top point scorer	Phil Jones Orrell 343 points
Top try scorer	Dan Ward-Smith Plymouth Albion 23 tries
← 2000-01 2002-03 →

The 2001–02 National Division Two was the second version (fifteenth overall) of the third division of the English domestic rugby union competition using the name National Division Two. New teams to the division included Orrell and Waterloo who were relegated from the 2000–01 National Division One while Stourbridge (champions) and Sedgley Park (playoffs) came up from the 2000–01 National Division Three North and Plymouth Albion as champions of the 2000-01 National Division Three South. The league points system was 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.

The title race was extremely tight and went to the last game with Orrell winning their rescheduled game away to Nottingham to draw dead level with Plymouth Albion at the top of the table and take the title by virtue of a better points difference – the fact Orrell had won both of their games against Plymouth was largely responsible for their victory. Both sides would be promoted to the 2002–03 National Division One with Orrell making an instant return following their relegation at the start of the season while Plymouth would make it a second promotion in a row. As well as gaining promotion the Devon-based side would also be easily the most popular side in the division with over 19,000 fans in total attending throughout the season. At the opposite end of the table Preston Grasshoppers and Waterloo would be the first sides to be relegated, followed by Rosslyn Park who battled to the end but never had quite enough to overtake relegation rivals Stourbridge and Kendal. Preston and Waterloo would drop down to the 2002–03 National Division Three North while Rosslyn Park went down to the 2002–03 National Division Three South, with Waterloo suffering their second consecutive relegation. It was quite a turn around for Rosslyn Park who went within a whisker to being promoted the previous season only to be relegated this season.

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