2025–26 National League 2 East

2025–26 National League 2 East
Countries	England
Date	6 September 2025 – 25 April 2026
Relegated	Oxford Harlequins
Matches played	154
Attendance	64,288 (average 417 per match)
Highest attendance	1,123 – Havant v Barnes, 14 March 2026
Lowest attendance	113 – Oxford v O Albanian, 8 November 2025
Tries scored	1346 (average 8.7 per match)
Top point scorer	235 – Benjamin Penfold (Bury St Edmunds)
Top try scorer	22 – Grant Snelling (Oundle)

The 2025–26 National League 2 East is the fourth season of the fourth-tier (east) of the English domestic rugby union competitions; one of three at this level. The others are National League 2 North and National League 2 West.

Oxford Harlequins were the first club to be relegated, a 21 – 71 defeat away to title challengers Oundle on 14 March 2026 condemning them to the drop with four games still left to play.

The league consists of fourteen teams who play the others on a home and away basis, to make a total of 26 matches each. The champions are promoted to National League 1 while the runners up go into the four team National 2 playoffs with the runners up from National League 2 North and National League 2 West and the 11th placed side in National League 1.^[1]

The bottom two teams are relegated to Regional 1 South Central or Regional 1 South East, while the 12th placed side go into the four team Regional 1 playoffs with the 12th placed sides from National League 2 North and National League 2 West, as well as the Regional 1 playoff winners.^[2]

The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows:

• 4 points are awarded for a win
• 2 points are awarded for a draw
• 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
• 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
• 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match.

Team	Ground	Capacity	City/Area	Previous season
Barnes	Barn Elms	1,000	Barnes, London	3rd
Bury St Edmunds	The Haberden	3,000 (135 seats)	Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk	9th
Canterbury	Marine Travel Ground	1,500 (75 seats)	Canterbury, Kent	4th
Dorking	The Big Field	1,500	Dorking, Surrey	2nd
Esher	Molesey Road	3,500	Hersham, Surrey	Relegated from National League 1 (13th)
Guernsey Raiders	Footes Lane	5,000 (720 seats)	Saint Peter Port, Guernsey	7th
Havant	Hook's Lane[3]	1,500 (500 seats)	Havant, Hampshire	11th
Henley Hawks	Dry Leas	4,000	Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire	8th
London Welsh	Old Deer Park[4]	5,850 (1,000 seats)	Richmond, London	Promoted from Regional 1 South Central
Old Albanian	Woollam's Playing Fields	1,000	St Albans, Hertfordshire	6th
Oundle	Occupation Road		Oundle, Northamptonshire	Promoted from Regional 1 South East
Oxford Harlequins	Horspath Sports Ground[5]	1,000	Horspath, Oxfordshire	12th
Sevenoaks	Knole Paddock	1,000	Sevenoaks, Kent	10th
Westcombe Park	Goddington Dene	3,200 (200 seats)	Orpington, London	5th

2025–26 National League 2 East table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Old Albanian	22	17	0	5	836	608	+228	18	2	88	Promotion place
2	Bury St Edmunds	22	16	1	5	915	558	+357	18	4	88	Promotion Play-off
3	Oundle	22	16	2	4	791	585	+206	17	1	86
4	Dorking	22	13	2	7	676	438	+238	11	5	72
5	Barnes	22	13	1	8	625	490	+135	12	5	71
6	Canterbury	22	13	0	9	661	551	+110	12	5	69
7	Westcombe Park	22	10	0	12	638	612	+26	15	6	61
8	Havant	22	10	1	11	711	752	−41	16	1	59
9	London Welsh	22	9	0	13	602	735	−133	14	7	57
10	Guernsey Raiders	22	10	1	11	566	720	−154	11	2	55
11	Esher	22	8	0	14	617	726	−109	12	4	48
12	Henley Hawks	22	6	2	14	531	558	−27	8	8	44	Relegation Play-off
13	Sevenoaks	22	6	0	16	594	730	−136	9	4	37	Relegation place
14	Oxford Harlequins (R)	22	2	0	20	441	1141	−700	9	2	19

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Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Barnes	11	2,511	228	415	131	23%
Bury St Edmunds	11	4,983	453	543	263	15%
Canterbury	10	5,217	522	985	183	35%
Dorking	12	7,172	598	920	301	17%
Esher	11	6,712	610	920	301	17%
Guernsey Raiders	10	5,505	551	896	200	11%
Havant	11	8,891	808	1,123	416	54%
Henley Hawks	11	3,068	279	364	218	7%
London Welsh	11	6,561	596	1,019	346	10%
Old Albanian	11	3,700	336	434	200	34%
Oundle	11	3,337	303	450	181	N/A
Oxford Harlequins	12	2,263	189	307	113	19%
Sevenoaks	11	3,494	318	495	202	32%
Westcombe Park	11	2,350	214	500	120	7%

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• 2025–26 National League 1
• 2025–26 National League 2 North
• 2025–26 National League 2 West

• NCA Rugby