The Rugby Lions, nicknamed The Lions, is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
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 based in
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
. The club plays its home matches at Webb Ellis Road. Its developmental squad is known as the Crusaders. The club also has a ladies team known as the Lionesses. It currently competes 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 ...
at the sixth tier of 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 ...
, having switched from
Midlands 1 West
Midlands 1 West is an English English rugby union system, level 6 rugby union regional league for rugby clubs in the western region of the The Midlands, Midlands, including sides from Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Birm ...
at the end of the 2017-18 season.
History
The Rugby Lions is one of only four rugby union teams in England permitted to wear an all-whit
strip with
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 ...
,
Rugby School
Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...
, and
St Paul’s School being the others. In recent times, the Lions have not exercised this right, with the home kit normally using black shorts. For the final game of the 2011–12 season against Hinckley however, the Lions appeared in white shorts as well. In a four-year span from April 2011 to September 2015, the Lions did not lose a single league fixture, winning all 60 matches in that period before their run was ended by a 31-35 defeat at Ledbury RFC in the 2015-16 season opener.
On 17 August 2012, the ''Rugby Advertiser'' released an announcement, within which was an RFU statement, which confirmed that the Lions had failed to pay off their debts in time, and had been removed from
National League 2 South
National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, ...
. It did not however say anything concerning whether or not the Lions would still compete in any division in 2012–13. At a public meeting held on 30 August, attended by over 200 people, club owner David Owen revealed that the Lions would indeed not be competing in any league for the 2012–13 season, but would instead be organising a series of friendlies. The club used the help of many supporters and local clubs to help out. With many of those present at the meeting putting their names down to volunteer. Twenty fixtures had to be fulfilled to demonstrate that the club was able to put out a side and run successfully as a club. Many former players including the clubs 'tailenders' team came together to enable the Lions to fulfill those matches.
![Rugby Lions ground](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Rugby_Lions_ground.jpg)
In May 2013, it was announced that the Lions' bid to be accepted back into the RFU league system had been successful, although they were forced to rejoin at the lowest possible level,
Midlands 5 West (South)
Midlands 5 West (South) is a level 10 English Rugby Union league and level 5 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the West Midlands region including clubs from parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Sta ...
. On 9 August 2013, it was announced that the Lions would be featured on BT Sport's rugby programming into the new season; with the Lions' First XV travelling to the studio to participate in filming on the indoor pitch.
Club honours
*
National League 2 North
National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...
champions:
1987-88
*
Courage League National Division Two champions:
1990-91
*
National League 3 Midlands
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
champions (2): 2005-06, 2011–12
*Warwickshire Shield Winners: (2): 2011-12, 2014–15
*
Midlands 5 West (South)
Midlands 5 West (South) is a level 10 English Rugby Union league and level 5 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the West Midlands region including clubs from parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Sta ...
champions: 2013-14
*Midlands Junior Vase Winners: (2): 2013-14, 2014–15
*
Midlands 4 West (South)
Midlands 4 West (South) is a level 9 English Rugby Union league and level 4 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the southern part of the West Midlands region including clubs from parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefords ...
champions: 2014-15
*Clonmel Cup Winners: 2014-15
*
Midlands 3 West (South)
Midlands 3 West (South) is a level 8 English Rugby Union league and level 3 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the southern part of the West Midlands region including clubs from parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefords ...
champions: 2015-16
*
Midlands 2 West (South)
Midlands 2 West (South) is a level seven English rugby union league and level two of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the southern part of the West Midlands region including Herefordshire, parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, ...
champions: 2016-17
2011–12 season
In July 2011, businessman – and ex-player – Michael Aland bought the club, with an ambition to becoming a Premiership side in around 5 years. Soon after, he recruited several highly experienced players and coaches, including
Neil Back
Neil Antony Back MBE (born 16 January 1969) is a former international rugby union footballer for England and the British & Irish Lions who also played for Nottingham RFC, Leicester Tigers, and captained both England and Leicester during his ...
(Head Coach) and
Ben Gollings
Ben Gollings (born 13 May 1980) is an English former rugby union player who currently works as a rugby coach for Fiji sevens team. Gollings is best known for his time with the England national rugby sevens team. He is the career leader in poi ...
(Player/Backs Coach).
Having been relegated to the
National League 3 Midlands
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
previous season, most players from the previous season had left the club. Players who remained with the club included Nick Walton, Ben Nuttall, Callum Tucker, Fraser Tait, Matt Mountford, Neil Davies, Paul Davies and Jack Young. This meant that almost all of the entire 2011–12 squad had to be either bought or promoted from the youth team. Some of the players brought in had been at the club before, such as Ade Hales and Beau Carney.
The new additions worked, with the Lions winning every game in the first half of the season, a run they carried on into 2012. The league title was secured with two games remaining on 31 March 2012 in the home game against Dudley Kingswinford, with the Lions triumphing 19–14. The Lions also won the Warwickshire Cup, winning 10–9 in the final against Sutton Coldfield.
Notable players (past and present)
{,
, - style="vertical-align:top"
, ,
*
Nick Adams (Ex-
Montauban
Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, an ...
and
Wasps
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...
)
*
Steve Brain (13 England caps)
*
Ben Gollings
Ben Gollings (born 13 May 1980) is an English former rugby union player who currently works as a rugby coach for Fiji sevens team. Gollings is best known for his time with the England national rugby sevens team. He is the career leader in poi ...
(All-time top
Sevens points scorer)
*
Leigh Hinton (Ex-
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
)
*
Launcelot Percival (3
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 ...
caps)
*
Andy Vilk (
England Sevens
The England national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. England's best finish in the Sevens Series is second place, which they have achieved four times, most recently i ...
)
*
Peter Wackett (Ex-
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
)
*
Mark Mapletoft (Ex Gloucester and Harlequins)
*
To'o Vaega (Samoa National team)
*
Eddie Saunders (All time record club try scorer)
*
Walter Little (50 New Zealand caps)
Seasons
Key
*P = Played
*W = Games won
*D = Games drawn
*L = Games lost
*F = Points for
*A = Points against
*Pts = Points
*Pos = Final position
*NL2N =
National League 2 North
National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...
*MP =
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 ...
*M1E =
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 ...
*M1W =
Midlands 1 West
Midlands 1 West is an English English rugby union system, level 6 rugby union regional league for rugby clubs in the western region of the The Midlands, Midlands, including sides from Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Birm ...
*M2WS =
Midlands 2 West (South)
Midlands 2 West (South) is a level seven English rugby union league and level two of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the southern part of the West Midlands region including Herefordshire, parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, ...
*M3WS =
Midlands 3 West (South)
Midlands 3 West (South) is a level 8 English Rugby Union league and level 3 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the southern part of the West Midlands region including clubs from parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefords ...
*M4WS =
Midlands 4 West (South)
Midlands 4 West (South) is a level 9 English Rugby Union league and level 4 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the southern part of the West Midlands region including clubs from parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefords ...
*M5WS =
Midlands 5 West (South)
Midlands 5 West (South) is a level 10 English Rugby Union league and level 5 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the West Midlands region including clubs from parts of Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Sta ...
*NL Cup = National League Cup
*Warks Cup = Warwickshire Cup
*Mid Jnr Vase = Junior Vase Midlands Section
*Jnr Vase = Junior Vase
*Mid Int Vase = Intermediate Cup Midlands Section
*Warks Shield = Warwickshire Shield
*Clon Cup = Clonmel Cup
*W = Winner
*RU = Runner-Up
*F = Final
*SF = Semi-Finals
*QF = Quarter-Finals
*R3 = Third Round
*R2 = Second Round
*R1 = First Round
Season results
{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center"
, + Results of league and cup competitions by season
, -
!scope="col" rowspan="2" scope="col", Season
!scope="col", Division
! style="width:20px;" scope="col", P
! style="width:20px;" scope="col", W
! style="width:20px;" scope="col", D
! style="width:20px;" scope="col", L
! style="width:20px;" scope="col", F
! style="width:20px;" scope="col", A
! style="width:20px;" scope="col", Pts
!scope="col", Pos
! rowspan="2" style="width:6%;" scope="col" class="unsortable", NL Cup
! rowspan="2" style="width:6%;" scope="col" class="unsortable", Warks Cup
! rowspan="2" style="width:6%;" scope="col" class="unsortable", Mid Jnr Vase
! rowspan="2" style="width:6%;" scope="col" class="unsortable", Jnr Vase
! rowspan="2" style="width:6%;" scope="col" class="unsortable", Mid Int Vase
! rowspan="2" style="width:6%;" scope="col" class="unsortable", Warks Shield
! rowspan="2" style="width:6%;" scope="col" class="unsortable", Clon Cup
, -
!scope="row", 2009–10
,
, 30
, 13
, 0
, 17
, 665
, 641
, 72
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2010–11
,
, 29
, 3
, 0
, 26
, 397
, 1479
, 20
, bgcolor=red,
, align=centre, R1
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2011-12
,
, 26
, 26
, 0
, 0
, 1242
, 269
, 127
, style="background:gold;",
,
, style="background:gold;",
,
,
,
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2012–13
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2013-14
,
, 16
, 16
, 0
, 0
, 941
, 84
, 80
, style="background:gold;",
,
,
, style="background:gold;",
, style="background:silver;",
,
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2014-15
,
, 18
, 18
, 0
, 0
, 843
, 109
, 83
, style="background:gold;",
,
,
, style="background:gold;",
,
,
, style="background:gold;",
, style="background:gold;",
, -
!scope="row", 2015-16
,
, 22
, 17
, 2
, 3
, 685
, 181
, 90
, style="background:gold;",
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2016-17
,
, 22
, 18
, 0
, 4
, 800
, 350
, 91
, style="background:gold;",
,
,
,
,
, style="background:silver;",
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2017-18
,
, 26
, 8
, 2
, 16
, 542
, 711
, 48
,
,
, SF
,
,
,
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2018-19
,
, 26
, 7
, 0
, 19
, 612
, 795
, 48
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
!scope="row", 2019-20
,
, 22
, 10
, 0
, 12
, 455
, 551
, 49
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
References
* {{cite news, url=http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/rugby/rugby-lions-will-back-after-7084963, title=Look: Rugby Lions 'will be back' after Twickenham final loss, work=Coventry Telegraph, access-date=10 May 2014 , date=7 May 2014
External links
Official club website
Premiership Rugby teams
English rugby union teams
Rugby clubs established in 1873
Rugby union in Warwickshire
Rugby, Warwickshire