Berwick RFC

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Berwick Rugby Club
Image:BRFC Logo.gif
Full name Berwick Rugby Football Club
Founded 1926
Union Rugby Football Union

Scottish Rugby Union

Location Berwick-upon-Tweed, England
Ground(s) Scremerston
Capacity 10,000
Chairman Flag of England Board of Members
League BT Scotland Premiership Division Three
2007-08 11th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
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Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
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Away colours
Official website
http://www.berwickrugbyclub.co.uk/
Flag of England

Berwick Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team originally founded in 1926, but were reformed in 1968. The team is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, just over the border in England. Despite this they currently play in the BT Scotland Premiership Division Three.

Berwick Rugby club was first formed in the SRU in 1926 and played in the South District Union. Its playing standard improved until the early 1930's and although it survived annual difficulties of finding players and pitches it could not survive the outbreak of the Second World War which robbed it of both. When the club was re-born in 1968 it had three main aims - to strive for as high a standard of rugby as possible for the club and its individual members, to create a good physical environment for rugby, and to be part of the sporting and social fabric of Berwick.

Pursuit of the first aim has taken the Club to the BT Scottish Premiership (Division 2). In 2004 it won the National Shield and in 2006 reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. To date, the highest individual honours are headed by the seventeen full Scottish caps won by Craig Smith and the thirty three by Gavin Kerr. Both were in the 2006 Six Nations Squad. Gavin was a member of the 2003 World Cup Squad and the Six Nations Squads of 2004 and 2005. Mark Lee captained the Scottish VII in 2002 Commonwealth Games and played with the British Army in 2005. Andrew Skeen played for the Scotland VII in the 2006 IRB Tournament. Current Berwick players have won many age-group, School and Student international and regional honours and the Club boasts a full international referee in Iain Ramage. In 2001 the Club was invited to join the Border League, becoming only the second English Club in rugby's oldest league. The Club has sides in the Border League, the new cross-Border League, the Border Semi-Junior League and age-group competitions from minis to Colts on both sides of the Border. The Club has an increasingly skilled Ladies section which won promotion in 1999 and 2000 and was runner-up in the National Bowl in 2004.

Progress with facilities has matched playing performance. Thanks to the vision and leadership of Club committees, the support of both Rugby Unions and support from local businesses and individuals, the Club has progressed from homelessness in 1968 to its present enviable headquarters now embellished by a training gym and floodlit training pitch. The Club hosts regional events and overseas teams and its coaches encourage the game in the local schools - the best possible "thank you" for school help in the Club's early days. The quest for player development is ceaseless and embraces national Development Squads and the Club's own "Academy" structure which will seek the ambitious young of all ages and both genders.

The Club's third aim is all around us. The Club lives the philosophy put forward by the SRU in July 2004, namely that "a rugby club should be at the centre of its community and the focus of development". As the Club progresses across the bumpy territory of Scottish "open" rugby it is very much Berwick's rugby club. Its members are virtually all natives or residents of Berwick or nearby and it draws massive economic and social strengths from this. It will need the resources of leadership and cohesiveness which have served it so well hitherto. The true quality of the Club is reflected in the contributions of all its members (playing and non-playing, past and present) who produce the high levels of fitness, fulfilment and friendship that come from belonging to Berwick Rugby Club.



Berwick play their home games at Scremerston.

Berwick's Sevens Tournament takes place annually in April and the competition is part of the Kings of the Sevens tournament.

Current holders of the trophy are the Jed-Forest RFC

Notable players for Berwick RFC include Craig Smith and Gavin Kerr who has been capped for Scotland

[edit] Current squad

Nat. Position Player
Flag of England HK Chris Riddel
Flag of England HK Gareth Black
Flag of England HK Robert Haggerston
Flag of England PR Richard Ayr
Flag of England PR Charlie Pyle
Flag of England PR Jamie Young
Flag of England PR Chris Darling
Flag of England LK Aaron Hall
Flag of England LK Duncan Budge
Flag of England LK Grant Younger
Flag of England LK Tim Sanderson
Flag of England FL Ian Moody
Flag of England FL Gareth Riddel
Flag of England FL Nick Law
Flag of England FL Tony McDougal
Flag of England FL Daniel Romaines
Flag of England FL David Gilchrist
Flag of England FL Adam Pearson
Nat. Position Player
Flag of England SH Andy Tait
Flag of England SH James Patterson
Flag of England SH Marcel Corola
Flag of England FH Ben McCreath
Flag of England FH Matthew McCreath
Flag of England FH Matthew Hackett
Flag of England CE Colin Young
Flag of England CE Mark Laidlaw
Flag of England CE Max Learmonth
Flag of England CE Russel Henderson
Flag of England WG Gareth Hill
Flag of England WG Nathen Trotter
Flag of England WG Mike Barr
Flag of England WG Tommy McColl

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[edit] External links

[edit] See also