Loughborough Students RUFC

Not to be confused with Loughborough RFC.
Loughborough Students
Full name Loughborough Students Rugby Union Football Club
Union Rugby Football Union
Founded 1919
Location Loughborough, England
Ground(s) Loughborough University Stadium (Capacity: 3,000[1])
Director of Rugby Dave Morris
Coach(es) Haydn Coley, George Chuter, Ciaran Beattie, Jim Henry
Captain(s) James Freeman
League(s) National League 1
BUCS Premier North A
2014–15 12th
Team kit
Official website
www.loughboroughsport.com/au-rugby-mens

Loughborough Students Rugby Union Football Club is the rugby club that 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 third tier of the English rugby union system, National League 1. 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 Loughborough University. The students of Loughborough College formed what is considered the original side in September 1919. Loughborough began competing in the 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. The 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, Eric Evans and Jeff Butterfield played for the club in this period, as did 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 the won the Middlesex Sevens.[2]

In the sixties an already impressive fixture list was enhanced by John Robins, the coach from 1962. It included Leicester, Gloucester, Rosslyn Park, Moseley and London Irish. John Robins went on to become the first British Lions coach. During his tenure at Loughborough, the UAU was won from 1962 to 1968 with only 1965 eluding the club. John Robins left Loughborough in 1967, and was replaced by the Scotland and Lions international Jim Greenwood. In 1970 Greenwood coached the Colleges to victory in the Middlesex Sevens, and in the first Twickenham UAU final, the Colleges beat Nottingham University 22 – 3. The 1970–71 side included six future internationals, Lewis Dick, 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 Student's Unions of the University of Technology and the Loughborough Colleges merged and the Loughborough Students Rugby Club was formed. 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 Andy Robinson won through to the third round of the 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 and Sam Ulph. As far 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

2014–15 National League 1 Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1 Ealing Trailfinders (P) 30 27 0 3 1099 518 581 25 3 136
2 Rosslyn Park 30 26 0 4 909 508 401 20 3 127
3 Coventry 30 22 1 7 1011 694 317 16 6 112
4 Fylde 30 16 2 12 844 738 106 18 4 90
5 Hartpury College 30 19 0 11 784 685 99 10 3 89
6 Blackheath 30 16 1 13 758 731 27 16 4 86
7 Richmond 30 14 2 14 837 866 –29 15 5 80
8 Blaydon 30 13 0 17 666 693 –27 13 8 73
9 Darlington Mowden Park 30 13 1 16 782 732 50 14 6 69[n 1]
10 Esher 30 12 1 17 720 738 –18 11 7 68
11 Wharfedale 30 12 1 17 595 801 –206 11 4 65
12 Loughborough Students 30 11 0 19 681 709 –28 12 7 63
13 Cinderford 30 11 0 19 606 686 –80 10 5 59
14 Old Albanian (R) 30 12 1 17 688 771 –83 9 4 58[n 2]
15 Tynedale (R) 30 8 0 22 593 999 –406 6 5 43
16 Macclesfield (R) 30 3 0 27 481 1185 –704 6 3 21
  • 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
  1. ↑ Darlington Mowden Park deducted 5 points after selecting an unregistered player on 13 September 2014 against Wharfedale.[3]
  2. ↑ Old Albanian deducted 5 points after selecting two unregistered players on 31 January 2015 against Fylde[4]

Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are relegation places.
Updated: 25 April, 2015
Source: "National League 1". NCA Rugby.

Club honours

Honours

Men

British and Irish Lions

England

Ireland

  • Ken Armstrong
  • Jonathon Bell
  • Mark Bruce (Sevens)

Scotland

Wales
  • Dai Haywood
  • Leighton Jenkins
  • Derwyn Jones
  • Ken Jones
  • John Mantle

Other

Women

England

  • Nicky Ponsford
  • Karen Almond
  • Val Moore
  • Emma Mitchel
  • Charlotte Barras
  • Lois Moulding
  • Kim Shaylor
  • Sally Cockerill
  • Sarah Hunter (Captain)


Ireland

Jo O'Sullivan

Wales

References

  1. ↑ "Loughborough Students". This Is Rugby. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 History at LSRFC Official site
  3. ↑ "DMP drop five points". The RUGBYPaper (317). 12 October 2014. p. 43.
  4. ↑ Edwards, Michael (18 March 2015). "Five points deducted from Old Albanian". The Herts Advertiser. Retrieved 11 April 2015.

External links