Nick Royle (born 1983) is a former

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 ...

Rugby Sevens International

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 ...

player. He plays as a winger. He is currently playing 15-aside rugby for

Caldy Caldy (historically spelt Calday) is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward (country subdivision), Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wi ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

. As of 2018 he is the most prolific try scorer in

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in Northern England. The remainder of England is covered by the two counterpart leagues National L ...

with over 190 tries. Royle has also had success with

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

in the Bill Beaumont Cup - winning the competition 3 times. As well as playing international sevens, he was selected by the

England Counties XV England Counties XV is a representative rugby union team, formed in 2002, open to English players who play in the County Championship and the third tier (and below) of the English rugby union system. Players from the Premiership and RFU Champi ...

Career

In 2002 Royle was playing

for

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, then in the second tier of English rugby. He made a number of league and cup appearances for the club, mostly as a substitute, and scored several tries. The next season, he dropped several divisions to

(then known as National 3 North) to spend a year playing for Liverpool St Helens, who unfortunately ended up being relegated from the league. During the summer of 2004 he switched to rugby league, playing for

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

sides

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

and rivals

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

. Despite making a number of appearances in the Super League, Royle returned to rugby union for the 2005-06 season and was signed by Premiership side

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

, who loaned him out to local Lancashire side, Fylde, who were playing in the fourth division. He scored 16 tries for a Fylde side that finished mid table. The following year, Royle's performances continued to improve with Fylde as he finished as the league's top try scorer with 31 tries and his club side finished in 5th place. He also equaled the division's record of seven tries in one game during the 106-0 thrashing of relegated Orrell on 31 March 2007. The 2007-08 season with Fylde was less prolific for Royle, although he still managed 20 tries in league and cup competitions and Fylde just missed out on a playoff spot when they finished 3rd. In September 2007 Royle's form saw him picked by the

for the FIRA/AER Rugby Festival held in south-west

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He played in all 3 games at the festival scoring 3 tries. The next couple of seasons would see Royle continue his prolific try scoring with Fylde, during which he was called up for the England Sevens team in 2009, England Counties and the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

. Royle was also involved with the

country side that won the Bill Beaumont Cup in the summer of 2009 - scoring a try in the 32 - 18 win against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

at the final at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. A second county championship win with Lancashire would be repeated in the 2010 Bill Beaumont Cup, as Royle played in the 37-27 victory over

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. He would also be picked by

for their 2009 tour of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

- playing all 3 games and scoring 2 tries. The 2011-12 season would see Royle be called up once more by the England Sevens team, finishing best try scorer of the Sevens Grand Prix Series with 35 tries. In 2012 Royle decided to leave Fylde on what was initially thought to be a temporary (but financially lucrative) deal to play for the Vale of Lune, a local side which played three divisions below Fylde. While at the Vale of Lune, Royle broke the club's season try scoring record of 36 set by former player Mark Nelson (got who was also Royle's coach at Fylde) with 38 league tries during the 2013-14 season. While at Vale of Lune, Royle was also called up to the

county rugby side, with whom he helped win the 2013 Bill Beaumont Cup (his third successive cup victory for his county), scoring 2 tries as Lancashire defeated

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

at the final held at Twickenham, and finishing the tournaments top try scorer with 5. Royle returned to national rugby with

for the 2014-15 season, playing in National League 2 North (tier 4). Royle finished the 2015-16 season as the division's top try scorer with 25 tries, also becoming the divisions all-time top try scorer. The 2016-17 season was an extremely successful one for Royle and his club, as he contributed 32 tries to finish once again as the top try scorer in the division for a record breaking 3rd time, and Caldy were promoted to

National League 1 National One, up until 2023 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 Lea ...

as champions - the highest level the club has reached. The next season he scored 19 tries in National League 1 as Caldy finished their first season in the new division in a respectable 11th place. Although he had a good second season individually, his tries (20 in all) were not enough to keep Caldy up and they were relegated at the end of 2018-19.

Season-by-season playing stats

Club

County or representative

Honours and records

National League 2 North *Tier 4 (North) all-time top try scorer (161 tries) *Tier 4 (North) most tries in a match: 7 (tied) Fylde * National Division 3 North top try scorer: 2006-07 (31 tries) *

champions: 2010-11 Vale of Lune * North Division 1 West top try scorer: 2013-14 (38 tries) *Most league tries in a season (38 tries) Caldy *

top try scorer: 2015-16 (25 tries) *

champions (2): 2016-17, 2019-20 *

top try scorer: 2016-17 (32 tries) Lancashire * Bill Beaumount Cup winner (3): 2009, 2010,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* Bill Beaumount Cup runner up: 2012 * Bill Beaumount Cup top try scorer:

(5 tries) International/Representative *Selected for

: 2009 *Selected for

: 2009 *Selected for England Sevens: 2009, 2011

Notes

References

External links

Sale Sharks profileRFU England Sevens ProfileSeason by Season Playing Record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royle, Nick 1983 births Living people English rugby union players Sale Sharks players Male rugby sevens players Fylde Rugby Club players Rugby union players from Widnes Lancashire County RFU players