The RFU have confirmed the club placings within National League Rugby for the 2025/26 season.

Following a review and decision made by RFU Governance and the Adult Competitions Committee, Chester and Lymm will be playing in National Two West for season 2025/26.

Though the current league structure mostly works well for clubs in most seasons, this year there were some anomalies with clubs in the leagues who are on the border of the geographical boundaries, as you would expect where there is movement of clubs up and down.

The RFU Adult Competitions Management committee and RFU Governance committee therefore agreed changes to league placements, in line with the regulations, and decided that the best outcome for the game overall was for Lymm and Chester to be placed in National Two West for season 2025/26.

The RFU explained: “We do work hard to review the travel scenario facing all clubs and make what we believe are the best decisions while recognising that sometimes there is no perfect solution. We understand that this will have been a challenging scenario for the clubs involved, so it has also been agreed that there should be a review of the league structure during the season, ensuring significant input from clubs, to explore other options that might minimise the travel burden for 2026/27.”

National League Rugby chairman John Inverdale commented: “The geographic problems posed by splitting England into three [National Two North, East and West] was never more illustrated than by the almost impossible situation, and the game had to make decisions to try and be as fair as possible to as many teams as possible.

“As the RFU statement outlines, it has been agreed that there should be a review of the league structure during the season, and we will work hard to ensure there is significant input from clubs around this.”

Club placings for 2025/26

National One: Birmingham Moseley, Bishop’s Stortford, Blackheath, Clifton, Dings Crusaders, Leeds Tykes, Leicester Lions, Plymouth Albion, Rams, Rotherham Titans, Rosslyn Park, Sale FC, Sedgley Park, Tonbridge Juddians.

National Two North: Billingham, Darlington Mowden Park, Fylde, Hull, Hull Ionians, Macclesfield, Otley, Preston Grasshoppers, Rossendale, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, Sheffield Tigers, Tynedale, Wharfedale.

National Two East: Barnes, Bury St Edmunds, Canterbury, Dorking, Esher, Guernsey, Havant, Henley, London Welsh, Old Albanian, Oundle, Oxford Harlequins, Sevenoaks, Westcombe Park.

National Two West: Barnstaple, Camborne, Chester, Cinderford, Exeter University, Hinckley, Hornets, Loughborough Students, Luctonians, Lymm, Old Redcliffians, Redruth, Syston, Taunton Titans.

League Fixtures for the 2025-26 season are being finalised and will be published in due course. Further information around play-off proposals which impact National League Rugby still need to be agreed and finalised. We will provide updates as soon as we hear them.

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