Counties 1 Eastern Counties (formerly London 2 North East) is an English level 7 Rugby Union League. When this division began in 1987 it was known as London 3 North East, changing to its current name ahead of the 2009–10 season. Following the RFU's Adult Competition Review, from season 2022–23 it adopted its current name Counties 1 Eastern Counties.
The current champions are Norwich.
Format The champions are promoted to Regional 2 Anglia. The number of teams relegated depends on feedback following promotion and relegation in the leagues above, but is usually to Counties 2 Eastern Counties.
The season runs from September to April and comprises twenty-two rounds of matches, with each club playing each of its rivals, home and away. 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.
2026-27
Departing were Bury St Edmunds II promoted to Regional 2 Anglia while Ely (10th), Ipswich (11th) and North Walsham II (12th) were relegated to Counties 2 Eastern Counties.
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Cantabrigian Sedley Taylor Road Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties (champions) Colchester II Raven Park Colchester, Essex 9th Holt Bridge Road Holt, Norfolk Relegated from Regional 2 Anglia (12th) Ipswich Humber Doucy Lane Ipswich, Suffolk 7th Newmarket Scaltback Pavilion Newmarket, Suffolk 8th Norwich Beeston Hyrne Norwich, Norfolk Relegated from Regional 2 Anglia (11th) Saffron Walden Chickney Road Henham, Essex 3rd Shelford II The Davey Field 2,000 (150 seats) Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire 6th Southwold The Common Southwold, Suffolk 4th Stowmarket Chilton Fields Stowmarket, Suffolk 2nd West Norfolk Gatehouse Lane North Wootton, King's Lynn, Norfolk 5th Woodbridge Hatchley Barn Woodbridge, Suffolk Promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties (champions)
2025–26 Participating clubs and locations Departing were Norwich promoted to Regional 2 Anglia while Cantabrigian (12th) and Diss (11th) were relegated to Counties 2 Eastern Counties.
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Bury St Edmunds II The Haberden 3,000 (135 seats) Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk 9th Colchester II Raven Park Colchester, Essex 10th Ely Cambridge Commodities Park Ely, Cambridgeshire 7th Ipswich Humber Doucy Lane Ipswich, Suffolk 4th Ipswich Y.M. The Street Ipswich, Suffolk Promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties (2nd) Newmarket Scaltback Pavilion Newmarket, Suffolk 2nd North Walsham II Norwich Road 1,600 Scottow, Norfolk 8th Saffron Walden Chickney Road Henham, Essex 5th Shelford II The Davey Field 2,000 (150 seats) Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire 6th Southwold The Common Southwold, Suffolk 3rd Stowmarket Chilton Fields Stowmarket, Suffolk Relegated from Regional 2 Anglia (12th) West Norfolk Gatehouse Lane North Wootton, King's Lynn, Norfolk Promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties (champions)
2024–25 Participating clubs and locations Departing were the champons Wymondham, promoted to Regional 2 Anglia while Ipswich Y.M. (10th), West Norfolk (11th) and Wisbech (12th) were relegated to Counties 2 Eastern Counties. Joining were Saffron Walden (11th) and Norwich (12th) both relegated from Regional 2 Anglia, while the champions Colchester II and the runner-up Newmarket were both promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties.
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Bury St Edmunds II The Haberden 3,000 (135 seats) Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk 3rd Cantabrigian Sedley Taylor Road Cambridge, Cambridgeshire 7th Colchester II Raven Park Colchester, Essex Promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties (champions) Diss Mackenders Roydon, Norfolk 8th Ely Cambridge Commodities Park Ely, Cambridgeshire 6th Ipswich Humber Doucy Lane Ipswich, Suffolk 2nd Newmarket Scaltback Pavilion Newmarket, Suffolk Promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties (2nd) North Walsham II Norwich Road 1,600 Scottow, Norfolk 9th Norwich Beeston Hyrne Norwich, Norfolk Relegated from Regional 2 Anglia (12th) Saffron Walden Chickney Road Henham, Essex Relegated from Regional 2 Anglia (11th) Shelford II The Davey Field 2,000 (150 seats) Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire 4th Southwold The Common Southwold, Suffolk 5th
League table Counties 1 Eastern Counties 2024–25TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTry bonusLoss bonusPoints 1 Norwich (P) 22 22 0 0 1038 351 687 21 0 109 2 Newmarket 22 15 2 5 668 515 153 13 2 79 3 Southwold 22 15 1 6 742 491 251 13 2 77 4 Ipswich 22 13 0 9 748 511 237 15 4 71 5 Saffron Walden 22 10 0 12 539 608 −69 10 7 57 6 Shelford II 22 10 0 12 530 694 −164 9 5 54 7 Ely 22 9 0 13 535 689 −154 11 5 52 8 North Walsham II 22 9 1 12 461 632 −171 11 2 51 9 Bury St Edmunds II 22 8 0 14 604 629 −25 12 7 51 10 Colchester II 22 7 0 15 644 689 −45 16 6 50 11 Diss (R) 22 6 0 16 418 617 −199 6 7 37 12 Cantabrigian (R) 22 6 0 16 404 905 −501 8 3 35If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places Updated: 5 January 2026Source:
2023–24 Participating clubs and location Departing were Saffron Walden and Holt, promoted to Regional 2 Anglia as champions and runner-up respectively, while Thurston (12th) was relegated to Counties 2 Eastern Counties.
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Bury St Edmunds II The Haberden 3,000 (135 seats) Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk 8th Cantabrigian Sedley Taylor Road Cambridge, Cambridgeshire 7th Diss Mackenders Roydon, Norfolk 11th Ely Cambridge Commodities Park Ely, Cambridgeshire 5th Ipswich Humber Doucy Lane Ipswich, Suffolk Relegated from Regional 2 Anglia (11th) Ipswich Y.M. The Street Ipswich, Suffolk 9th North Walsham II Norwich Road 1,600 Scottow, Norfolk Promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties (2nd) Shelford II The Davey Field 2,000 (150 seats) Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire 4th Southwold The Common Southwold, Suffolk 6th West Norfolk Gatehouse Lane North Wootton, King's Lynn, Norfolk 10th Wisbech Chapel Road Wisbech, Cambridgeshire Promoted from Counties 2 Eastern Counties (champions) Wymondham The Foster Harrison Memorial Ground Wymondham, Norfolk 3rd
League table Counties 1 Eastern Counties 2023–24TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTry bonusLoss bonusPointsPoints deducted 1 Wymondham (P) 22 19 0 3 797 338 459 13 2 91 2 Ipswich 22 16 0 6 625 392 233 15 4 85 +2 3 Bury St Edmunds II 22 16 0 6 799 455 344 15 2 81 4 Shelford II 22 16 0 6 638 468 170 16 0 81 +1 5 Southwold 22 14 0 8 585 410 175 12 4 73 +1 6 Ely 22 14 0 8 705 369 336 12 2 65 +5 7 Cantabrigian 22 11 0 11 688 724 −36 12 0 56 8 Diss 22 8 0 14 349 683 −344 3 3 40 +2 9 North Walsham II 22 5 0 17 387 780 −393 6 1 27 10 Ipswich Y M (R) 22 4 1 17 382 612 −230 5 3 27 +1 11 West Norfolk (R) 22 6 0 16 285 697 −412 4 2 25 −5 12 Wisbech (R) 22 2 1 19 318 630 −312 5 3 8 −10If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places Updated: 4 January 2026Source:
2022–23 Participating clubs and location This was the first season following the RFU Adult Competition Review with the league adopting its new name of Counties 1 Eastern Counties. Six teams returned and the league was supplemented with the top four teams from London 3 Eastern Counties and two reserve sides. Essex and London teams transferred to Counties 1 Essex or were promoted to Regional 2 Anglia.
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Bury St Edmunds II The Haberden 3,000 (135 seats) Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Raging Bull Shield Div 2 (3rd) Cantabrigian Sedley Taylor Road Cambridge, Cambridgeshire 5th Diss Mackenders Roydon, Norfolk 10th Ely Cambridge Commodities Park Ely, Cambridgeshire L3EC (2nd) Holt Bridge Road Holt, Norfolk L3EC (1st) Ipswich Y.M. The Street Ipswich, Suffolk L3EC (3rd) Saffron Walden Chickney Road Henham, Essex 7th Shelford II The Davey Field 2,000 (150 seats) Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire Essex Merit League Div 1 (2nd) Southwold The Common Southwold, Suffolk 9th Thurston Robinson Field Thurston, Suffolk L3EC (4th) West Norfolk Gatehouse Lane North Wootton, King's Lynn, Norfolk 11th Wymondham The Foster Harrison Memorial Ground Wymondham, Norfolk 6th
League table Counties 1 Eastern Counties 2022–23TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTry bonusLoss bonusPointsPoints deducted 1 Saffron Walden (P) 22 22 0 0 831 239 592 17 0 106 +1 2 Holt (P) 22 18 0 4 771 508 263 17 0 90 +1 3 Wymondham 22 13 1 8 554 413 141 11 5 70 4 Shelford II 22 12 1 9 657 581 76 10 1 61 5 Ely 22 12 0 10 574 504 70 9 2 59 6 Southwold 22 10 1 11 487 505 −18 7 4 54 +1 7 Cantabrigian 22 9 1 12 493 719 −226 11 0 49 8 Bury St Edmunds II 22 9 1 12 545 485 60 9 3 45 −5 9 Ipswich Y M 22 6 2 14 400 597 −197 7 7 42 10 West Norfold 22 7 0 15 448 730 −282 10 2 41 −1 11 Diss 22 5 0 17 505 755 −250 10 4 34 12 Thurston (R) 22 5 1 16 370 599 −229 3 4 29 If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places Updated: 3 January 2026Source:
Teams for 2021–22
The teams competing in 2021-22 achieved their places in the league based on performances in 2019–20, the 'previous season' column in the table below refers to that season not 2020–21.
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Cantabrigian Sedley Taylor Road Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Promoted from London 3 EC (runners-up) Chelmsford Coronation Park Chelmsford, Essex Promoted from London 3 Essex (champions) Diss Mackenders Roydon, Norfolk 5th Ipswich Humber Doucy Lane Ipswich, Suffolk 3rd Saffron Walden Chickney Road Henham, Essex 7th South Woodham Ferrers Saltcoats Playing Field South Woodham Ferrers, Essex 8th Southwold The Common Southwold, Suffolk 2nd Stowmarket Chilton Fields Stowmarket, Suffolk 6th Wanstead Centenary Fields Wanstead, London 9th West Norfolk Gatehouse Lane North Wootton, King's Lynn, Norfolk Promoted from London 3 EC (champions) Woodford Highams Woodford, London Relegated from London 1 North (14th) Wymondham The Foster Harrison Memorial Ground Wymondham, Norfolk 4th
Season 2020–21
On 30 October the RFU announced that a decision had been taken to cancel Adult Competitive Leagues (National League 1 and below) for the 2020/21 season meaning London 2 North East was not contested.
Teams for 2019–20