Berkshire only has one university – the University of Reading – and a handful of colleges. Rugby is growing at the university but a development plan has yet to be undertaken to establish and nurture rugby in the colleges.
If you are at one of the further educational colleges in the county and wish to get involved in midweek collegiate rugby then reach out to BerkshireRFU@gmail.com
READING UNIVERSITY
READING UNIVERSITY – MEN’S RUGBY
Reading University have four teams playing league rugby with their first team currently play in Premier 2 (Level 3) of the BUCS Rugby Union program having been promoted in Season 2018/19.
The 1st and 2nd teams compete in high level competitve matches, with away fixtures agaisnt some of the best universities in the South East and South West. The 1st XV compete in South B, whilst the 2nd XV play in South Eastern 2A.
The 1st and 2nd XV train together, creating a competitive platform that the whole squad benefits from.
RURFC’s 3rd and 4th XV are key components in the club. Not only are they being promoted through the leagues on a yearly basis, they provide the bulk of the club and are a great means of either introducing boys to the sport or providing the chance for experienced players to get a run out if they are tied up with academic work. Successful representation while playing for the 3rd or 4th XV is a good way to be noticed by RURFC captains who may recommend you for selection in a higher team.
They compete in this league with Hartpury 3’s , Exeter 3’s UWE 1’s, Portsmouth 1’s, Brighton 1’s and Gloucestershire 1’s. The 2nd XV play in Southern Eastern 2A
CLUB RUGBY
The University have a partnership with Rams RFC, who currently play National Division 1 (Level 3) and are also coached by the Rams head coach Seb Reynolds. This enables the players to progress from their BUCS rugby and a pathway to play national rugby.
They also now have a Reading University representative side that plays on a Saturday since the beginning of this season (2019/20) season in Berks Bucks and Oxon Div 2 South (Level 10)
REPRESENTATIVE HONOURS
Many of the players have also represented the Berkshire RFU county U20 squad and have had the opportunity to play at Twickenham as part of that success in the Jason Leonard U20 County Championship
WOMEN’S RUGBY
They currently play in the South Eastern 2A division of the BUCS league, which is suitable for players of all abilities. These games take place on Wednesday afternoons which are set aside from academic timetables for sport.
They are coached by Amy Parsons who is.a Level 2 coach.
CLUB & COUNTY RUGBY
Several of the players also play for local Women’s teams whose fixtures are on Sundays. Local teams include Reading Abbey, Reading Ladies and Rams Sirens as well as represent Berkshire county.
They also train on Monday evenings from 7pm to 9pm and Wednesday afternoons from 2pm to 4pm (if we don’t have a game). This year we intend to have a few friendly games in the first term before the league begins.
Varsity is a crucial game of the season to us and a major event in the sporting calendar of both Reading University and our rivals, Oxford Brookes University.
Updated 11th Nov 2021
