Cranbrook Rugby Football Club is an English

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club in Cranbrook,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. They were founded in 1958 and play in

London 3 South East Counties 2 Kent (formerly London 3 South East) is an English level 8 Rugby Union League involving club sides from Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex and the south-east London. The twelve teams play home and away matches from September to April. F ...

having recently been promoted as runners up from

Kent 1 Counties 3 Kent (formerly Kent 1 known as Shepherd Neame Kent 1 for sponsorship reasons) is an English level 9 Rugby Union League and is made up of teams predominantly from south-east London and Kent. The teams play home and away matches from S ...

History

Though rugby had been recorded as being played in Cranbrook in the 1930s, Cranbrook RFC in their current form were founded in 1958. They were founded by Mike McMinnies after taking part in a rugby match between students of Cranbrook School and some former Cranbrook School pupils in 1957. The club play at the Tomlin Ground which was planned to undergo a £1.69 million redevelopment in 2019. Cranbrook won the Kent Vase in 2014 and retained it the next year. In 2019, Cranbrook hosted a training camp run by

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

team Harlequins. This was subject to a mistaken report issued by the '' Midweek Herald'' newspaper which mistakenly claimed it was being run in

Cranbrook, Devon Cranbrook is a new town being developed in East Devon, England, which at the 2021 census, had a population of 6,743 residents across 8 "phases". However, the town is growing at a fast pace. It is located 6 mi (9 km) east-north-east of Exeter an ...

, some away, rather than at Cranbrook RFC. During the 2019–20 season, the club reached the regional final of the

RFU Junior Vase The RFU Junior Vase is a rugby union national knockout cup competition in England run by the Rugby Football Union, which has been competed for since 1990. It is mostly contested by 1st XV teams at level 9 of the English rugby union system, altho ...

but lost to Hendon at the home of Premiership

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

, Allianz Park. In the league, they won promotion from

Shepherd Neame Kent 1 Counties 3 Kent (formerly Kent 1 known as Shepherd Neame Kent 1 for sponsorship reasons) is an English level 9 Rugby Union League and is made up of teams predominantly from south-east London and Kent. The teams play home and away matches from S ...

to London 3 South East after the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

cancelled the season but Cranbrook earned promotion under the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

's best playing record formula.

International players

Ruaridh McConnochie started his career with Cranbrook before representing the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Great Britain national rugby sevens team The Great Britain men's national rugby sevens team is the men's international rugby 7s team that is the representative team of Great Britain. The team competes in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series as well as the Olympic Games and Europe ...

s and later the

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France national rugby union team, France, Ireland national rugby union team, ...

. Nathan Earle also played for Cranbrook before joining Saracens and playing for England.

Club honours

* Kent 3 champions: 1992–93 *

champions (2): 1996–97, 2013–14 * Kent Salver winners: 2011–12 * Kent Vase winners (2): 2013–14, 2014–15

References

{{Reflist Rugby union clubs in Kent Cranbrook, Kent Rugby clubs established in 1958