Loughborough Students Rugby Union Football Club
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| 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) |
| 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 |
| 2015–16 | 13th |
| Official website | |
| www |
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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.
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 they won the Middlesex Sevens.
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.
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