2015–16 National League 2 South
| 2015–16 National League 2 South | |
|---|---|
| Countries |
 England
|
| Date | 5 September 2015 – 14 May 2016 |
| Champions | Cambridge (2nd title) |
| Runners-up | Old Albanian (also promoted) |
| Relegated | Launceston, Southend Saxons, Dorking |
| Attendance | 88,674 (average 369 per match) |
| Highest attendance | 1,145 Cambridge v Dorking on 30 April 2016 |
| Lowest attendance | 72 Barnes v Taunton Titans on 2 January 2016 |
| Top point scorer |
Gary Kingdom Taunton Titans 283 points |
| Top try scorer |
Albert Portsmouth Cambridge 31 tries |
|
← 2014–15
2016–17 →
|
|
The 2015–16 National League 2 South is the seventh season (29th overall) of the fourth tier (south) 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.
New faces to the division include Old Albanians (relegated from National League 1), Bury St Edmunds and Barnes (both promoted from National League 3 London & SE) and Redingensians Rams (promoted from National League 3 South West). The league system is 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and additional bonus points being awarded for scoring 4 or more tries and/or losing within 7 points of the victorious team. In terms of promotion the league champions are promoted to National League 1 while the second-placed team play-off against the second-placed team from National League 2 North (at the home ground of the club with the superior league record) for the final promotion place. During the course of the season the two league derby games between the Launceston and Redruth also double up as the Cornish Super Cup with Redruth being the defending 2014–15 champions. Redruth retained the cup, winning the Christmas fixture at the Recreation Ground 17 – 0 before winning away at Polson Bridge 34 – 17 to take the cup 51 – 17 on aggregate.
After a truly dreadful season, Launceston were the first team to be relegated, losing 13 – 19 away to relegation rivals Southend Saxons on the 5 March 2016 with seven games still left to play. The relegation of the Cornish club was not surprising to many of the fans at Polson Bridge as they had lost almost a full team to Plymouth Albion during the pre-season — victims of both Albion's relegation from the Championship and that the Albion director of rugby, Graham Dawe, having coached (and subsequently signed) many of the Launceston players while in charge of the Cornwall team that had won the 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup. This, coupled by the club being on their third head coach in a little over a year, contributed to what was perhaps the worst season in the club's league history with the club failing to win a game and conceding over 1,000 points (it was also one of the poorest performances in National League 2, comparable with Newbury in 2010–11 who at least managed to win a game).
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