Tunbridge Wells RFC 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 that plays in Regional 1 South Central from

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...

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 ...

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History

Tunbridge Wells RFC was officially formed as Old Skinners RFC in 1931 as a rugby union club for former pupils of The Skinners' School. In 1970, membership of the club became open to non-Skinners pupils with Old Skinners being renamed as Tunbridge Wells RFC in 1973. Despite becoming an open club, Tunbridge Wells retain their links with The Skinners' School, specifically by not selecting Skinners pupils who represent Skinners while they are competing in the Daily Mail Cup to assist them. In 1985, Tunbridge Wells had a new clubhouse constructed, which was opened by

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. Since the creation of league rugby in 1987, Tunbridge Wells played mainly in London 1 South where they also played league matches against future RFU Championship side,

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and regularly attempted to enter National League 3 London & SE. In 2011, Tunbridge Wells were relegated to London 2 South East. The following season they were relegated again to London 3 South East. The club managed to reverse the trend and win promotion back to the London 2 South East league after finishing in the runner up position in the London 3 South East league in the 2012–13 season. They also compete in Kent cup competitions. In addition to the 1st XV the club regularly fields other adult sides (including a social and Vets side) competing in various Kent RFU league competitions. In the 2012–13 season the 2nd XV won the Invicta 1 league. In 2012, Tunbridge Wells set up a scheme where players from their youth teams would act as ambassadors to local schools for the club to assist with coaching and participation in rugby. This innovative plan was praised by 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 ...

as "a great idea" as a number of other rugby clubs also set up similar schemes following on from Tunbridge Wells'. Tunbridge Wells are also affiliated to English Premiership team,

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 ...

. The 1st XV went unbeaten in the 2015–16 season winning the London 2 South East league title and the RFU Intermediate Cup. They were then promoted again in the 2016–17 season to the London and South East Premier League.

Honours

* London 2 South East champions (4): 1987–88, 2000–01, 2005–06, 2015–16 * Kent 1 champions: 1995–96 * Kent Plate winners (3): 1999, 2000, 2008 * RFU Intermediate Cup winners: 2015–16 * London 1 (north v south) promotion play-off winners: 2016–17

Notable players

* Colin Smart –

* Bill Hayward – USA Eagles * Martin Corry –

Captain, Lions Captain, Leicester Tigers Captain, Barbarians Captain * Matthew Cook –

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* Will Edwards – England 7s, Harlequins * Robert Greig –

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* Mark Davey –

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

* Ryan le Roux - Spain national rugby union, 7s and 15s

References

{{Royal Tunbridge Wells Rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1931 Sport in Royal Tunbridge Wells Rugby union clubs in Kent