Preston Grasshoppers R.F.C.

Preston Grasshoppers
Full name Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club
Union Lancashire RFU
Nickname(s) Hoppers
Founded 1869 (1869)
Location Preston, Lancashire, England
Ground(s) Lightfoot Green (Capacity: 5,000)
Chairman George Erdozain
CEO Richard Ellis
President Haydn Gigg
Coach(es) Paul Arnold
Captain(s) Paul Millea
League(s) National League 2 North
2017-18 Promoted from North Premier (champions)
Team kit
Official website
www.pgrfc.co.uk

Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team from Preston, Lancashire. The men's senior team play in National League 2 North - at the fourth level of the English rugby union system - following their promotion from North Premier as champions at the end of the 2017-18 season.

History

The club was founded on 28 September 1869 at a meeting held at the Bull Hotel, Preston, making it one of the oldest 'northern' rugby union teams.

Grasshoppers' players who have progressed to bigger stages include A.N. Hornby, the first man to captain both the English national rugby and cricket sides, Dick Greenwood and his son Will Greenwood, later to play outside centre for Harlequins and England, second row star Steve Borthwick, captaining Bath and playing a key role in the England international side, Wade Dooley, who won 55 caps in the second row for England, and Paul Grayson, who went on to play a number of games at fly half for England. Other past players gaining England caps include Don Rutherford and Iain Balshaw.

Wigan Athletic F.C. striker James Vaughan also played rugby union for the side, before switching to football.

When the national league structure was introduced in the mid nineties, Hoppers remained in National League 3 (North) until their promotion in 1998–99 season. This was achieved with the help of Australian Michael Lough and winger Ian Bruce who, between them, scored over 50 tries.

In 2013 Preston Grasshoppers 2nd team won the Preston Sports Awards Team Performance of the Year.[1] At the end of the 2015–16 Season Preston Grasshoppers accepted an offer from the RFU to replace the grass surface at Lightfoot Green Lane with an artificial 3G pitch. The terms of the agreement mean that the RFU have exclusive use of the pitch for the next 30 years.

In 2017/18 the club made an immediate return to National 2 North by winning the Northern Premier League at the first attempt. Under Head Coach Paul Arnold the side were the stand out side in the division with Number 8 Matthew Lamprey scoring 32 league tries during the campaign to set a new club record for tries in a league season, beating the previous best of 27 set by Michael Lough in the 1998/99 National 2 North Championship winning season.

Honours

[2][3]

Current standings

2018–19 National League 2 North Table
Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1Hull Ionians8701246169777035
2Hinckley8701252165875033
3Huddersfield8602207149585231
4Sedgley Park8503251191605227
5Chester7502173119543225
6Stourbridge8503257219385025
7Fylde8404217178395223
8Wharfedale8404203184195122
9Otley8404154191-373019
10South Leicester8314234269-354018
11Sheffield Tigers8305197217-203318
12Preston Grasshoppers8206203231-286418
13Leicester Lions8305191201-103217
14Tynedale7214210215-55217
15Macclesfield8107141277-136206
16Peterborough Lions8107117278-161116
  • 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. Blue background is the play-off place. Pink background are relegation places.
Updated: 20 October 2018
Source: "National League 2 North". NCA Rugby.

References

  1. ↑ "Skiddle Sponsors Preston Sports Awards - Could Grasshoppers Win Again?". Skiddle.
  2. ↑ http://www.pgrfc.co.uk/the-club/history/2000-present/
  3. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/content/articles/2006/12/20/ru_preston_grasshoppers_profile.shtml
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.