Cambridge RUFC

The “Blood & Sand” were formed in 1923.  The club currently competes in National League 1, the third tier of English rugby, making it the leading club in the Eastern Counties region.  We play our home matches at the 1,250 capacity Grantchester Road ground “Volac Park”, in the suburb of Newnham, approximately1 mile 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, and 3 girls teams.

A number of our players, we are proud to report, have gone on to gain International Rugby honours, being Dickie Jeeps (England and British Lions), Andy Hancock (England), Bob Steven (Scotland), Trefor Evans (Wales), Ben Spencer (England) and Alex Goode (England) who played all of his junior rugby at Grantchester Road.

1^st XV

Cambridge RUFC joined the newly formed league structure in 1988 and by 1991 was playing in London 3 North East Division. After five years in this division, in 1996 the Club was promoted to London 2 North. The following charts our progress in English National Rankings since that time:

The highlights of the ups and downs:

• 1998-99: London 2 North Champions and promotion into London 1, a feeder league for the National Leagues
• 2001-02: Player attrition and an ageing squad led to relegation back to London 2 North
• 2003-04: A rebuilt side was second to an all-conquering London Scottish team in London 2 North and won an exciting play-off against Barnes 21-19 to regain promotion to London 1
• 2004-05: League victory came down to the last match of the season when we beat Bassingstoke 96-15 to pip Worthing to the title on points difference
• 2005-06: For the third consecutive season Cambridge were promoted at the end of the first season under player-coach, James Shanahan
• 2008-09: A run of 15 games without defeat culminating in a fine display in Birmingham to defeat the already crowned champions by 45–29 on the last day of the season. The final table had Cambridge on 108 points, three adrift of Birmingham. In previous seasons a finish in 2^nd place would have seen us promoted but the RFU chose this season to reorganise the leagues and so far, this represents the highest ranking CRUFC have achieved
• 2012-13: Financial issues at the club led to a rapid departure of players and coaches in the middle of the 2011-12 season. At that point we had enough points already to maintain our National 1 status but in the 2012-13 season we could not compete with a very young an inexperience side
• 2015-16: After 2 seasons of rebuilding under new coaches Rowland Winter and Craig Newby, Rowland led us to win National 2 South and take us back into National 1
• 2018-19: “The Great Escape” saw us move up from a relegation spot to 13^th in the final minutes of the season with a bonus point 5-24 away win, and a late Moseley try to default Caldy and drop them below us
• 2019-20: COVID-19 cut short the season to 25 matches, at which point we were 9th in the league. This dropped to 10th when predicted points were added for the remaining 5 matches.
• 2020-21: COVID-19 - the league was unable to take place this season.

Mini & Youth

Mini and Youth Rugby was started at Cambridge in January 1975, the first club in the Eastern Counties to take up this new and exciting challenge. From the initial 60 boys who turned out on that first morning, it rapidly expanded to over 350 players in 12 age groups from U7s to Colts, a participation level which is maintained to this day. We have also added girls’ rugby at U13, U15 and U18 in recent years. 

The basis of the coaching is built upon ex-players, and parents with regular input from current first team players and coaches. This involvement of a new population of rugby enthusiasts has not only fed players through, but also provided stability and personnel to the club committees at all levels; 3 recent Club Chairmen and a Club President have come from the ranks of the Mini & Youth parents. During the past 30+ years, countless players who cut their rugby teeth at Grantchester Road have gone on to play for senior clubs throughout the world, and we are proud that our own National Squad includes several players who started in our Mini and Youth Section.

Volac Park

CRUFC was settled in its current ground on Grantchester Road by the 1950s. In 1993 the Club was fortunate to be 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.

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 beyond recognition.

2005 saw a brand-new clubhouse rise above the old to accommodate our growing support and rising sponsorship; two years on and a 200-seat grandstand was added to the front of the clubhouse to give one of the most attractive rugby venues in the National Leagues.  Our upstairs suite regularly seats 180 for pre 1^st XV match lunches, and we have on occasion boosted this to 240 with downstairs seating.

In 2017 we completed renovations of our training rooms adding 4 changing rooms, a dedicated referees room, offices, gym and physio rooms giving a facility to lead us into our 2^nd century of rugby.

We are proud to list the names of players who have played at CRUFC and then gone on to represent their country or appear in the Varsity match.