National Two South Team of the Year

Chris Heal and the TRU Team runs the rule over the standout performers from National Two South this season.

Our National Two South team was a tough one to call. There were big performances across the division as the race for the title, the battle for promotion and the fight for survival were all intense throughout the season.

In the end, Bishop’s Stortford clinched automatic promotion to National One and we have included four players from the champions’ squad in our dream team. In the backs, Tom Banks was sharp and lively at scrum-half for the league winners and he was also voted Stortford's Players Player of the Year.

The likes of Tom Coleman could easily have been included at fly-half, but we chose Tom White from Old Elthamians. OEs sealed promotion to National One via the play-off two weeks ago and in that game and during the course of this season, White hardly put a foot wrong as he helped guide OEs to their most successful league finish in their history.

Elsewhere in the backs, Kieran Goss (former Cornish Pirates player) and skipper Danny Barnes certainly played their part in Chinnor nearly clinching a top two finish. It was a wonderful season for Matt Williams’ side and they will be competing towards the right end of the table once again next term. Dan Frost of Taunton was unlucky to miss out after another tremendous campaign at Hyde Park while the lively Dom Lespierre was rampant for OEs in the final few weeks of the season so he slots in on the wing.

Two teams fighting at the wrong of the division this season were Worthing Raiders and London Irish Wild Geese, but both survived the drop on the final day. Ben Loosmore and George Owen were the standout performers for their clubs.

In the forwards, Redruth’s impressive Tom Phillips is joined by Stortford due Declan Caufield and Tom McCrone in the front five along with Nathan Hannay and Shaun Buzza while the back row unsurprisingly includes three players from the top three sides in the division.

National Two South Team of the Year

15 Kieran Goss (Chinnor)

14 George Owen (London Irish Wild Geese)

13 Ben Loosmore (Worthing Raiders)

12 Danny Barnes (Chinnor)

11 Dom Lespierre (Old Elthamians)

10 Tom White (Old Elthamians)

9 Tommy Banks (Bishop’s Stortford)

8 Tom Burns (Chinnor)

7 Hamish Barton (Old Elthamians)

6 Stephen Ball (Bishop’s Stortford)

5 Shaun Buzza (Redruth)

4 Nathan Hannay (Chinnor)

3 Tom McCrone (Bishop’s Stortford)

2 Declan Caulfield (Bishop’s Stortford)

1 Tom Phillips (Redruth)