Cambridge Rugby Union Football Club or CRUFC ('The Blood & Sand') is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

club representing the city of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

, England. Formed in 1923 the club currently competes in the third tier of the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

, following promotion from

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, N ...

in 2016. The club plays its home matches at the 1,250 capacity

Grantchester Road Grantchester Road is a rugby stadium in Cambridge, England. Situated on Grantchester Road, off Barton Road in the southwest of Cambridge, it is the home ground of Cambridge R.U.F.C., and is also used by University of Cambridge , mottoeng ...

ground, in the suburb of Newnham, approximately two kilometres south-west of the city centre. The club runs three senior squads: the national league squad, a development squad, and a social squad. At junior level the club runs one of the oldest mini and youth rugby sections in the country, starting back in the early 1970s, with a colts team for under-18s.

History

Cambridge RUFC was formed in 1923 and was settled in its current ground by the 1950s. In 1993 the club was offered the opportunity to buy the lease on its existing three pitches and to buy adjoining land for a further three pitches from

King's College King's College or The King's College refers to two higher education institutions in the United Kingdom: *King's College, Cambridge, a constituent of the University of Cambridge *King's College London, a constituent of the University of London It ca ...

. Floodlights were added to one of these pitches in 2003 so that evening games might be played and the light available for training was improved. Cambridge RUFC joined the newly formed league structure in 1988 and by 1991 was playing in

London 3 North East London 3 North East was an English rugby union league that was the eighth level of club rugby union in England and was available to sides from north east London, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Promoted clubs move into London 2 Nort ...

. After five years in this division, the club was promoted to

London 2 North London 2 North is a Tier 6 English Rugby Union League. It is the other half of 'London 2' Leagues (the other being London 2 South). References 6 Rugby union leagues in London {{London-sport-stub ...

and after four years in this division, was promoted at the end of the 1998–99 season to

London 1 Regional 1 South East (up until 2022-23 known as London & South East Premier and up until 2016-17 known as National League 3 London & South East) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level ...

, which feeds into the National Leagues. In the Club's first season in London 1, they achieved 4th place, plus a run to the semi-final of the NPI Cup, falling just one match from Twickenham, after defeat away at Hull by 21–17. London 1 status was secured again for the 2001–02 Season, but the squad led to relegation at the end of that season. However, by the end of the 2003–04 season, a rebuilt side regained promotion to London 1. Cambridge also won the Eastern Counties Cup for the first time and regained the Cambridgeshire Cup from perennial rivals Shelford. This time, the stay in London 1 was to be even shorter; At the end of an exciting season the League championship lay between Worthing and Cambridge at the start of the final round of matches: Worthing at home to Canterbury and Cambridge at home to Basingstoke. The championship would go to the team achieving the greatest points difference. In the event, Cambridge won by 96–15 and Worthing were condemned to the play-offs. Cambridge went on to beat Norwich in the Eastern Counties Cup Final and Shelford in the Cambridgeshire Cup Final — the second successive treble, and promotion to National League rugby for the first time. In the 2005–06 season Cambridge once again secured promotion after a two horse race. This time with Norfolk & East Anglian Giants North Walsham who had been present in this league for well over a decade. Cambridge squeezed past them with a last day win at Reading while North Walsham failed by 21–20 at Southend. This was all the more lucky as North Walsham had secured the bonus point for four tries but failed with all four conversions. In the 2006–07 season Cambridge managed to consolidate their position in

National Division Two National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leag ...

with a 9th-place finish. In the 2008–09 season Cambridge finished second in the league and would have been promoted had it not been for the re-organisation of the leagues in mid season.

Current season

League history

Overall

Players

A number of players have gone on to gain International rugby honours, including

Dickie Jeeps Richard Eric Gautrey Jeeps, (25 November 1931 – 8 October 2016), known as Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton having started his career with Cambridge Rugby Club. He represented and captained both the E ...

(

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and British Lions), Andy Hancock (England),

Bob Steven Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

(

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Trefor Evans Trefor Pryce Evans (born 26 November 1947, in Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Presto ...

(

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Simon Culhane Simon Culhane (born 10 March 1968 in Invercargill, New Zealand) is a former rugby union player who won six caps playing at fly-half for the New Zealand rugby union side (the All Blacks). Culhane made his international test debut at the age ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, including appearances in the 1995 World Cup Finals, and

Alex Goode Alexander David Goode (born 7 May 1988) is an English professional rugby union player playing for Saracens in Premiership Rugby. Biography All-rounder Goode appeared at the national schools athletics finals, played county tennis and was part ...

(

). Many more have earned age grade or England Counties caps. In 2014 Martin Wolfenden represented Zimbabwe in the qualifying competition for the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...

. The club's most capped player is the late

Shaun Gadsby Shaun Gadsby (20 May 1963 – 22 April 2015) was an English rugby player for Cambridge R.U.F.C. Gadsby was an openside flanker. He also played cricket. He was born in Wimpole, Cambridgeshire. He was educated at Felsted School. Gadsby had a s ...

who made 505 appearances for the club, his last being in the 2003/04 season aged 40.

Honours

Senior team

: champions: 1991–92 * London Division Two North: 1998–99 * Eastern Counties Cup (3): 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06 * Cambridgeshire Cup (3): 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06 * London 2 (north v south) promotion play-off winner: 2003–04 * London Division One: 2004–05 *

(2): 2005–06, 2015–16

Youth teams

* Eastern Counties U-17s Cup (3): 1992, 2002, 2006 * Eastern Counties U-19s Cup (3): 1994, 2003, 2004 * National U-19 Plate (1): 2002

External links

Official website
{{Authority control English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1923 Rugby union in Cambridgeshire Sport in Cambridge Grantchester