Hartpury College RFC

Hartpury’s Rugby Programme began in September 2000 in partnership with local Aviva Premiership side Gloucester Rugby and, since then, has gone from strength to strength. Hartpury employs depth and experience in the coaching and leadership of the programme, producing excellent results year on year. Players also benefit from a dedicated team of non-coaching rugby staff, including professional fitness and conditioning support personnel and physiotherapists who oversee the outstanding fitness training and testing facilities and provide a wide range of strength and conditioning support.

The strong relationship between Hartpury College and Gloucester Rugby Club has also led to the development of the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) scheme on behalf of the RFU. The College AASE mens team won the league every year since it’s inception in 2009, before finally missing out in 2016.  The record was set straight in 2017, however, as Hartpury clinched their eighth AASE title in nine seasons.   The 2017-18 season also saw the squad appear at the inaugural World Schools Festival, at Paarl Boys Huigh School, in South Africa.  You can see historic league tables and results here.

In August 2009, Hartpury was proud to be recognised with a Beacon College Award by the RFU, reflecting the standards that Hartpury has set in providing rugby to students while combining a full range of educational opportunities.

Hartpury has also been strong in university rugby over recent seasons.  The BUCS (then BUSA) Championship was first won in 2007 and, since then, success has come regularly, culminating in victory in the inaugural BUCS Super Rugby competition in 2016-17.   After a slow start to the most recent season, Hartpury repeated their Twickenham victory in April 2018, meaning that the institution has been university champions in seven of the past 12 campaigns.

Hartpury RFC, now a semi-professional side still featuring a large number of student players and alumni, has made impressive progress through the English rugby pyramid since entry, at the bottom level, in 2004.  In the season 2013-14, the club advanced into National League 1, where performances were encouraging  – 5th place in the debut season was followed up by reaching the runners-up spot in 2015-16.

The season 2016-17 saw Hartpury RFC make history, not only being promoted as champions but also remaining unbeaten throughout the entire league season – a feat never before performed at this level.

Hartpury RFC spent their debut season Greene King IPA Championship proving themselves to be more than worthy of participation at this level, with some notable scalps collected along with some very narrow defeats.  2018-19 promises to be yet another extremely challenging, but no doubt enjoyable, campaign as once again Hartpury measure themselves against, largely, full-time professional opposition.