Cranbrook Rugby Football Club is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club in Cranbrook,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. They were founded in 1958 and play in

London 3 South East 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. It is made up of teams predominantly from London, Sussex and Kent. The twelve teams play home and a ...

having recently been promoted as runners up from

Kent 1 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 September through to April ...

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 The Kent Vase is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organized by the Kent Rugby Football Union. It was first introduced during the 2001-02 season, with the inaugural winners being Bromley. It is the third most important rugby uni ...

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. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

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, initially consisting of 2,900 residential properties, rising to up to 6,551 properties by 2027. It is located east-north-east of the centre of Exeter, just north-west of the villa ...

, 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 Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

Allianz Park Barnet Copthall is a sports venue on the Hendon-Mill Hill borders in London, which houses several complexes, including a local authority-owned swimming pool and gymnasium facilities, a golf-driving range with 9 hole pitch and putt run by Metro ...

. In the league, they won promotion from Shepherd Neame Kent 1 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 confir ...

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 Ruaridh McConnochie (born 23 October 1991) is a Scottish rugby union player. He was a member of the silver medal winning team in Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and a full England International, making his debut against Italy at St Jam ...

started his career with Cranbrook before representing the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Great Britain national rugby sevens team The Great Britain national rugby sevens team is the men's international rugby 7s team that is the representative team of Great Britain. After having played at the World Games in 2001 and 2005, they made their Olympic debut at the 2016 Summer ...

s and later the

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasion ...

Nathan Earle Nathan Earle (born 4 June 1988) is an Australian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team . Career Earle rode for in 2014 and 2015. He transferred to Australian team for the 2016 season. He then transferred to the Japanese for ...

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

Club honours

Kent 3 Kent 3 was an English Rugby Union league that was the third tier for clubs in south-east London and Kent. Promoted teams went up to Kent 2 and relegation was to Kent 4 until that league was abolished at the end of the 2000–01 season. Dwindlin ...

champions: 1992–93 *

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

winners (2): 2013–14, 2014–15

References

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