Loughborough Students RUFC

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Not to be confused with Loughborough RFC.

Loughborough Students
2022-23
6th
Team kit
Official website
www.lboro.ac.uk/sport/sports/rugby-union/

Loughborough Students Rugby Football Club represents Loughborough University in rugby union competition. Of the British universities, Loughborough has unparalleled success, having won the BUCS championship (in its former guises as the BUSA and UAU championship) on twenty-seven occasions. It fields sides in the BUCS league, (inter-university) and in the fourth tier of the English rugby union system, National League 2 West. The club has fielded over seventy internationals (male and female), many of whom won caps while playing for the club.

History

Loughborough Colleges

The history of the club predates the formation of

Universities Athletic Union (UAU) in the 1930–31, and the Loughborough Colleges XV beat Nottingham University 8 – 0 in their first match. It was not until 1939 that the Loughborough Colleges reached the UAU final for the first time. They lost in a closely fought match to Swansea
, whose win was the sixth in seven seasons.

It was in the post-Second World War period that Loughborough's reputation began to be made. Two future captains of England,

Ray Williams, who eventually became Secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union. It was no surprise when, in 1953, Loughborough Colleges finally won the UAU for the first time. The club became one of the Midlands leading clubs and in 1959 they won the Middlesex Sevens.[2]

In the sixties an already impressive fixture list was enhanced by John Robins, the coach from 1962. It included

David Cooke, Clive Rees, Fran Cotton, Steve Smith, and Dick Cowman. While at Loughborough, Jim Greenwood's pivotal coaching books, "Total Rugby" and "Think Rugby", were penned.[2]

Loughborough University is formed

In 1976, the Students' Unions of the

University of Technology and the Loughborough Colleges merged and the Loughborough Students Rugby Club was formed. The first Chairman of the new club was Tony Field. The team won the Middlesex 7s for the first and only time as Loughborough Students, Loughborough Colleges having won it four times previously. The team won the UAU in 1977, 1978 and 1979, with the 1978–79 side captained by the young centre Clive Woodward
.

Rex Hazeldine, later England's first fitness coach, replaced Greenwood and is credited with being an integral part of the revolution of attitudes to the game at international level. In 1984 the UAU was won once again, as was the Leicestershire Cup. A touring Australian Universities side was also defeated. In the 1985–86 season a team led by

John Player Cup, going out to London Wasps. The same team won the UAU Championships.[2]

Joining the RFU League

At the inception of the RFU League, the team was offered a place in National 2. They turned this down and in 1996, when the Students did apply to join they had to join at the bottom of the league system. It was soon apparent that the standard of rugby at the university had been left behind by the professional teams in the league and in 1998 a full-time Director of Rugby, Ian "Dosser" Smith, was appointed. Alan Buzza took over from Smith in 2001 and is credited with modernizing the club. League promotions in 2001–02 and 2002–03 engendered confidence and the club was further enhanced by the presence of a number of excellent players including Tom Evans Jones, Edward Binham, Justin Abrahams, Andy Vilk, Peter Janes, James Jones, Sam Ulph and captain Charlie Cooper. As far as a British Universities championship win was concerned, however, the drought continued until, under the coach Paul Westgate, back to back wins were achieved in 2005 and 2006. Dave Morris took over as head coach from Westgate and immediately gained League promotion in 2007 to Midlands 1. The next season promotion was achieved to National League 2 North making the team the first student side to take part in the National Leagues. They finished in sixth place and in the same season achieved a win over England under-20s.[2]

Current standings

2023–24 National League 2 West Table
Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1 Dings Crusaders (C) 25 21 1 3 898 382 516 17 3 106
2 Luctonians 25 19 0 6 795 438 357 19 4 99
3
Clifton
 25 15 2 8 778 584 194 16 7 87
4 Old Redcliffians 25 15 0 10 726 635 91 17 3 80
5 Exeter University 25 14 0 11 778 759 19 15 5 76
6 Camborne 25 13 1 11 796 795 1 19 3 76
7 Hinckley 25 13 2 10 703 704 -1 15 3 74
8 Loughborough Students 25 11 0 14 910 834 76 21 2 67
9 Chester 25 11 0 14 677 776 -99 15 1 60
10 Redruth 24 10 4 10 536 681 -145 10 2 60
11 Hornets 25 8 2 15 708 744 -36 13 9 58
12 Bournville 25 9 0 16 619 738 -119 14 7 57
13 Newport (Salop) (R) 25 5 0 20 489 911 -422 10 4 34
14 Dudley Kingswinford (R) 24 4 0 20 487 919 -432 8 3 27
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. 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 relegation places.
Updated: 13 April 2024
Source: National League 2 West RFU [3]


Honours

Former players

Men

British and Irish Lions

England

Ireland

Scotland

Wales

Other countries

Women

England

  • Nicky Ponsford
  • Sam Robson
  • Karen Almond
  • Val Moore
  • Pip Atkinson
  • Emma Mitchell
  • Charlotte Barras
  • Lois Moulding
  • Kim Shaylor
  • Katie Mullen
  • Sally Cockerill
  • Sarah Hunter (Captain)
  • Olivia Poore
  • Vicky McQeen
  • Roz Jermaine (nee Crowley)
  • Vicky Jackson
  • Sophie Nicholas (Sevens)
  • Claire Allen
  • Becky Essex

Ireland

Wales

  • Liza Burgess
  • Amanda Bennett
  • Belinda Trotter
  • Jenna Studley
  • Laura Prosser
  • Louise Rickard

Scotland

  • Lyndsey Douglas

References

  1. ^ "Loughborough Students". This Is Rugby. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d History at LSRFC Official site Archived 9 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "National League 2 West". England Rugby.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Loughborough_Students_RUFC&oldid=1208870308"