The University of St Andrews Rugby Football Club is an affiliated member of the University of St Andrews Athletic Union in

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The club runs four men's and two women's teams, which play in the university leagues.

History

It was founded in 1858, making it one of the oldest football clubs in the world. In 2008, the club celebrated its sesquicentennial year, marking its 150th anniversary. The club is one of the founder members of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second-oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league sys ...

(SRU) and is often quoted as being the birthplace of 'running and passing' rugby, a distinct tactical advancement from the initial 'solo break/kick and chase' tactics which characterised the early years of the game's development. The club's 1st XV play their home games at University Park, in the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) North Premier 2 North. In 2007, the 2nd XV were Scottish University Cup champions and currently play in BUCS Scottish Division 2A. In 2022, the 3rd XV won BUCS Scottish 4A, and a 4th XV was started for the first time. On 24 March 2012 the 1st XV won the RBS Caledonia Division 2 Midlands title, beating Kinross 75–0 to lift the trophy. They were promoted to Caledonia League 1 three weeks later, beating Moray RFC, Caledonia 2 North Champions, 21–0. In the 2013–14 season, they won BUCS 1A Scotland unbeaten, winning 9 games from 9. The 1st XV also defeated Edinburgh for the first time at the annual Varsity Match since it has been hosted at London Scottish's ground in Richmond. In the 2014–15 season, having pulled out of the regional league system, they only competed in BUCS leagues. The 1st XV won BUCS 1A Scotland again. In the 2021-22 season, the club were named Scottish University Sport Club of the Year after the men's 1st, 2nd and 3rd XVs all won their respective leagues. Notably the men's 1st XV also secured promotion to BUCS Premier 2 North and are currently on a two-game win streak in the Scottish Varsity Match against Edinburgh University.

Sevens

The club run the St. Andrews University Sevens tournament held annually every April. This is the largest student run sevens event in the country.

Notable former players

Men

St Andrews has produced 21 (Men's) international players: 19 for Scotland and 1 each for England and Ireland. Four of which have become

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

: Tyrone Howe, Duncan Macrae,

Chris Rea Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is a British Rock music, rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist from Middlesbrough. Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty-five studio albums, ...

and Robert Stevenson. This means that St Andrews has produced more internationalists than any other Scottish university, bar

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

.Jones, p126 Notably, St Andrews provided three players for the first ever rugby international: * Robert Munro; * Alfred Clunies-Ross; and * J. S. Thomson.Marshall, p144 Other subsequent international players include: * Peter Anton * David Bell * Kim Elgie, capped for Scotland, and also for South Africa at cricket. * Cameron Glasgow * C. C. P. Hill/Colin Hill * Damian Hopley represented England 1993 - 1995 * Rab Bruce Lockhart * Jon Petrie * Hamish Scott * Ian Swan * Alex Thomson * David Whyte * J. S. Wilson

Women

Scotland

The following former St. Andrews University RFC players have represented Scotland at senior international level.

Honours

Men

The Scottish Varsity The Scottish Varsity, also known as The Royal Bank of Scotland Scottish Varsity Match due to sponsorship reasons, is an annual rugby union fixture between the University of St Andrews RFC, University of St Andrews and the Edinburgh University RF ...

** Champions (7): 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2024 * St. Andrews University Sevens ** Champions (1): 1942 * Waid Academy F.P. Sevens ** Champions (2): 1992, 1995 * Midlands District Sevens ** Champions (5): 1929, 1954, 1958, 1963, 1965

References

;Sources * Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ) * Godwin, Terry ''Complete Who's Who of International Rugby'' (Cassell, 1987, ) * Jones, J.R. ''Encyclopedia of Rugby Football'' (Robert Hale, London, 1958) * Marshall, Francis, ''Football; the Rugby union game'', (1892) (London Paris Melbourne, Cassell and company, limited) * Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; )

External links

Rugby
at University of St Andrews * * {{DEFAULTSORT:University Of St Andrews Rugby Football Club Rugby

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

Rugby union in Fife 1858 establishments in Scotland Rugby union teams in Scotland