Derby Rugby 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 it ...

team based in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, England. The club runs four senior sides, a veterans team, a ladies team, a colts team and a full set of junior sides. The first XV currently plays in

Midlands 1 East Regional 2 East Midlands is an English level 6 rugby union regional league for rugby clubs in the eastern region of the Midlands, including sides from Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and occasion ...

, a sixth tier league in the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

, following their relegation from

Midlands Premier Regional 1 Midlands (until 2022–23 known as Midlands Premier and up until 2016–17 known as National League 3 Midlands) is a level five semi-professional league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When ...

at the end of the 2018–19 season.

History

Derby Rugby Club was officially formed in 1891–92. It is believed that rugby union was played under the Derby name for a few seasons prior to this date but no written evidence to support this exists. The club has played at a number of grounds and has been at the present site at Haslams Lane since June 2002. Since then the club has progressed from Midlands 2 West to the national leagues, winning promotion in 2011–12 from Midlands 1 East to National League 3 Midlands, renamed in 2016 to Midlands Premier. In 2016 the club was selected by the English Rugby Union to have an Artificial Grass Pitch (AGP) installed as part of its programme to invest funds earned by England hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup into development of English rugby facilities. The artificial grass pitch opened in April 2018.

Honours

* Midlands 1 (east v west) promotion play-off winners (2): 2001–02, 2015–16 *

champions: 2011–12

Notable players

* Jonathan Joseph began his career at DRFC

References

External links

Official club website
English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1891 Rugby union in Derbyshire Sport in Derby 1891 establishments in England {{England-rugbyunion-team-stub