Hartpury College R.F.C.

Hartpury College
Full name Hartpury College Rugby Football Club
Union Gloucestershire RFU
Founded 2004 (2004)
Location Hartpury, Gloucestershire, England
Ground(s) College Stadium (Capacity: 2,000)
Coach(es) John Barnes, Mark Cornwell, Alan Martinovic
League(s) RFU Championship
2017–18 10th
Team kit
Official website
hartpuryrfc.co.uk

Hartpury College RFC is an English rugby union club. The men's first team play in the second tier of the English rugby union league system, the RFU Championship, having won promotion from National League 1 at the end of the 2016-17 season.

The club is based at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, England, and is made up primarily of the college's students and staff.[1] Hartpury College share a close relationship with English Premiership side Gloucester, who use Hartpury's facilities as their permanent training base and provide a small number of academy players, all of whom are current or recently departed students, to supplement the Hartpury College team. Several Hartpury College players have gone on to play for Gloucester and other professional teams.[2] They also jointly run the Gloucester-Hartpury Women team in Women's Super Rugby.

History

Hartpury College Rugby Academy was formed in September 2000 in partnership with Gloucester Rugby, consisting of a University side that competed in the BUCS league system and under-18 teams. In 2004, The college's vision of a Saturday side came to fruition, and became known as Hartpury College RFC.

Starting in the eleventh tier of the league pyramid, Hartpury lost their first ever match in the Gloucester Three North league. That was to be the last time that the club lost a league match until 2009, when they lost to Thornbury after four consecutive promotions, an EDF Junior Vase and an EDF Senior Vase. That setback did not prevent Hartpury from gaining further promotions to National League 1. During this time the team both the level six Champions Cup and EDF Intermediate Cup at Twickenham. In the 2016-17 season, their third at Level 3, Hartpury created history in winning National League 1 with a 100% record - winning all 30 of their fixtures and only twice failing to secure a four-try bonus point.

As a result, the club now play in the Greene King IPA Championship. The first season saw them finish in 10th place, but comfortably clear of relegation. The finish continued Hartpury's remarkable record of having improved their final league position in every single year of their existence.

Current standings

2017–18 RFU Championship Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Loss bonus Points
1Bristol (C)222101949417532181103
2Ealing Trailfinders22161576652224415283
3Bedford Blues2211296545767814668
4Cornish Pirates221201068157710410967
5Jersey Reds221318542480628365
6Yorkshire Carnegie221228518547-299263
7Doncaster Knights229112582615-3313657
8Nottingham2210111547619−727352
9Richmond229013444597-1536446
10Hartpury College226115480623-1439742
11London Scottish226115521707-1868640
12Rotherham Titans (R)222020376780−4042414
  • 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 is the relegation place.
Updated: 28 April 2018
Source: "Greene King IPA Championship". NCA Rugby.

Current squad

The Hartpury squad for the 2018–19 season is:[3][lower-alpha 1]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Will Crane Hooker England England
Jordan Liney Hooker Wales Wales
Luke Stratford Hooker England England
Will Tanner Hooker England England
Mike Flook Prop England England
Alex Gibson Prop England England
Rupert Harden Prop England England
Ciaran Knight [lower-alpha 1] Prop England England
Des Merrey Prop England England
Dan Murphy Prop England England
Alex Seville [lower-alpha 1] Prop England England
Wayne Thompson Prop England England
Alex Craig [lower-alpha 1] Lock Scotland Scotland
Rob Fuller Lock England England
Ben Kelland Lock England England
Simon Linsell Lock England England
Joe Quinn Lock England England
Tom Everard Back row England England
Mat Gilbert Back row England England
Iain Grieve Back row England England
Will Hopwood Back row England England
Rob Langley Back row England England
Tom Pashley Back row England England
Rhys Oakley Back row Wales Wales
Ollie Walker Back row New Zealand New Zealand
Player Position Union
Richard Bolt Scrum-half England England
Charlie Chapman [lower-alpha 1] Scrum-half England England
Harry Cochrane Scrum-half Scotland Scotland
Robbie Shaw Scrum-half United States United States
Luke Cozens Fly-half England England
Sam Leeming Fly-half England England
Nick Carpenter Centre England England
Luke Eves Centre England England
James Forrester Centre England England
Steve Leonard Centre England England
Elias Caven Wing England England
Jake Henry Wing England England
Tom Seabrook [lower-alpha 1] Wing England England
Ed Sheldon Wing England England
Aquile Smith Wing England England
Ben Foley Fullback England England
Mike Wilcox Fullback England England
  • Notes:
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Charlie Chapman, Alex Craig, Ciaran Knight, Alex Seville and Tom Seabrook are members of the Gloucester Rugby Academy.[4]

Honours

Notable former players

References

  1. ↑ Team Homepage. Pitchero.com. Accessed 24 March 2012.
  2. ↑ Hartpury College RFC. Schoolsrugby.co.uk. Accessed 24 March 2012.
  3. ↑ "Team". Hartpury RFC. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  4. ↑ "Five Gloucester Rugby players sign for Hartpury on dual registration deals" (Press release). Gloucestershire Live. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.