2003–04 National Division Three South

2003–04 National Division Three South
Countries
Champions	Blackheath
Runners-up	Launceston (also promoted)
Relegated	Old Colfeians, Basingstoke
Attendance	N/A[a 1]
Top point scorer	Derek Coates (Blackheath) 368 points
Top try scorer	Gert De Kock (Westcombe Park) 19 tries
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 National Division Three South was the fourth season (17th 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 Launceston who were relegated from the 2002–03 National Division Two while promoted clubs included Southend (champions) and Haywards Heath (playoffs) coming up from London Division 1 and Dings Crusaders as champions of South West Division 1.^[1][2][3] The league system was 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw with the league champions going straight up into National Division Two and the runners up playing a playoff against the runners up from National Division Three North for the final promotion place.

The season saw an incredibly tight title race between Blackheath and Launceston. Both sides would finish dead level on 44 points each but Blackheath finished as champions thanks to a better for and against record.^[4] Launceston would join the London side in the 2004–05 National Division Two, making an instant return by defeating 2003–04 National Division Three North runners up Halifax in their promotion playoff in what was a very tight game played at the Yorkshire-based club.^[5][6] At the other end of the table the relegation battle was much less close with Old Colfeians and Basingstoke being the two sides to be relegated.^[4] Both Old Colfeians and Basingstoke would be demoted to London Division 1 for the next season.^[7]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Barking	Goresbrook	1,000	Becontree, Dagenham, London
Basingstoke	Down Grange	2,500 (250 seats)	Basingstoke, Hampshire
Blackheath	Rectory Field	6,000	Blackheath, London
Dings Crusaders	Landseer Avenue	1,500	Lockleaze, Bristol
Haywards Heath	Whitemans Green		Cuckfield, Haywards Heath, West Sussex
Launceston	Polson Bridge	3,000	Launceston, Cornwall
North Walsham	Norwich Road	1,200	Scottow, North Walsham, Norfolk
Old Colfeians	Horn Park		Lee, London
Old Patesians	Everest Road		Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
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

2003–04 National Division Three South table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Blackheath (C)	26	22	0	4	839	350	+489	44	Promoted
2	Launceston (P)	26	22	0	4	832	371	+461	44	Promotion play-off
3	North Walsham	26	19	0	7	674	435	+239	38
4	Redruth	26	16	0	10	581	473	+108	32
5	Barking	26	15	0	11	648	522	+126	30
6	Southend	26	13	0	13	702	703	−1	26
7	Old Patesians	26	13	0	13	614	659	−45	26
8	Weston-super-Mare	26	12	0	14	555	570	−15	24
9	Westcombe Park	26	11	1	14	639	584	+55	23
10	Haywards Heath	26	10	0	16	491	578	−87	20
11	Tabard	26	10	0	16	537	676	−139	20
12	Dings Crusaders	26	8	1	17	386	624	−238	17
13	Basingstoke (R)	26	6	0	20	456	940	−484	12	Relegated
14	Old Colfeians (R)	26	4	0	22	469	938	−469	8

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2004.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2004.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 March 2004.

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• Game rescheduled from 18 October 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 31 January 2004.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 March 2004.

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• Game rescheduled from 28 February 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 31 January 2004.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 27 March 2004.

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• Game rescheduled from 20 March 2004.

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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. Halifax were the northern divisions runners up and as they had a superior league record than southern runners-up, Launceston, they hosted the play-off match.

^[5]

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Barking	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Basingstoke	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Blackheath	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Dings Crusaders	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Haywards Heath	0	0	0	0	0
Launceston	0	0	0	0	0	0%
North Walsham	1	450	450	450	450	38%
Old Colfeians	0	0	0	0	0
Old Patesians	0	0	0	0	0
Redruth	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Southend	0	0	0	0	0
Tabard	0	0	0	0	0
Westcombe Park	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Weston-super-Mare	1	300	300	300	300	10%

• 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