Warringah Rugby Club is a

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 on the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Only located 25 km from the city centre, the club is close to many magnificent beaches, the Sydney Academy of Sport and

Narrabeen Narrabeen is a beachside suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Narrabeen is 23 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and is ...

Lake. The club currently competes in the

New South Wales Rugby Union The New South Wales Rugby Union, or NSWRU, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union within most of the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within Australia it is considered t ...

competitions, the

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

and

Tooheys New Cup {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Tooheys New Cup, or TNC, was a rugby union competition established by the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) in 2002. Played in the second half of the rugby season after the Super 12 competition was comple ...

. Warringah Rugby has one of the largest numbers of registered junior players in Australia.

Club history

The club was formed in 1963 due to a high demand of junior rugby players searching for clubs on the northern peninsula. Being one of the most rapidly developing areas in Sydney at the time this subsequently led to the establishment in the 1962/1963 season of the Warringah Junior Rugby Union. The Senior Club was formed to supplement the already established Warringah Junior Rugby Union and commenced playing in the Sydney second division in 1964. Its aims were to provide rugby for juniors, colts and grade players and to eventually join the 1st Division Championship competition. In 1970 the Club won the 2nd Division 1st grade Premiership and was promoted to the 1st Division for the 1971 season. More affectionately known as the Rats or Ratties, the club took on this tag after experiencing many difficult years with many humiliating defeats. The players were reminded by Doug Leslie Snr (

Rats of Tobruk The Rats of Tobruk were soldiers of the Australian-led Allied garrison that held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps, during the Siege of Tobruk in World War II. The siege started on 11 April 1941 and was relieved on 10 December. ...

), that to give up in the face of adversity is never an option. The tradition of the Rats of Tobruk, of bonding together and making commitments in the true spirit of mateship should always be remembered and will prevail just in the same way as the Desert Rats of Tobruk prevailed. From that time on the Club became known as the Green Rats and their long held friendship with the ‘Rats of Tobruk Veterans Association’ and their legacy is honoured by a memorial on the hill at the southern end of ‘Rat Park’.

Honours

2005, 2017

International players

Australia

Hugh Pyle Hugh Pyle (born 21 September 1988 in Sydney) is a rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is Rugby union positions#5. lock, lock. He previously represented the Melbourne Rebels, Rebels in Super Rugby making his franchise debut in ...

Brett Sheehan Brett Sheehan (born 16 September 1979) is an Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer. He was also included in Australia's squad for matches during the 2006 Tri Nations Series. Sheehan previously played for the Queensland Reds, play ...

Mark Gerrard Mark Gerrard (born 4 September 1982) is a former Australian professional rugby union footballer. He currently is the assistant coach for the Austin Gilgronis in Major League Rugby (MLR) competition in the United States. In 2011, he was one o ...

Rod Macqueen Roderick Ian Macqueen, AM is an Australian former rugby union coach. He coached Australia at the Rugby World Cup, and the Waratahs, Brumbies and Rebels in the Super Rugby competition. Career One of Macqueen's first major coaching positions was ...

* Dominic Vaughan * Stephen Lidbury * Mark Bell * Manuel Edmonds * Lachlan Mackay *

Wycliff Palu Wycliff Palu (born 27 July 1982), known as Cliffy Palu, is an Australian former professional rugby union footballer of Tongan descent. He played for the New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby and represented in 58 tests. Early life Palu was ...

* Pat McCabe *

Pekahou Cowan Pekahou J. M. Cowan (born 2 June 1986) is an Australian rugby union footballer who plays for Wellington in New Zealand's National Provincial Championship. His usual position is prop and he can play on both sides of the scrum. Early life Cowan wa ...

Beau Robinson Beau Robinson (born 15 August 1986) is a former Australian rugby union player, now Leadership & Culture Coach. Robinson played for the NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds in the Super Rugby, and represented Australia making his senior debut in 2 ...

* Sam Harris *

Scott Fardy Scott Fardy (born 5 July 1984) is an Australian rugby union player who last played for Leinster in the Pro14 & the European Rugby Champions Cup from 2019 to 2021 before retirement. His playing position is either lock or blindside flanker. H ...

Australia A

* Mark Catchpole * George Websdale * Andrew Apps * Craig Coffey * Ray Smith

Female international players

* Bronnie Mackintosh * Genevieve Delves * Lisa Fiaola * Jamie Blazejewski * Cheryl Soon * Jenny Williams * Brownyn Calvert * Helen Theunissen * Chris Ross * Alex Hargreaves * Cobie-Jane Morgan * Tui Ormsby

Other international players

Gregor Townsend Gregor Peter John Townsend, (born 26 April 1973) is a Scottish rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Scotland national team having previously been an assistant coach from 2009 to 2012. As a player, he won ...

Abdel Benazzi Abdelatif Benazzi ( ar, عبد اللطيف بن عزي; born 20 August 1968) is a French- Moroccan rugby union player who represented both Morocco and France.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) p71 He pla ...

Michael Lipman Michael Lipman (born 16 January 1980, in London) is a retired English rugby union Flanker. Lipman played professionally in both the United Kingdom and Australia and has also played at International level for England. Early career in Australia ...

Danny Cipriani Danny Cipriani (; born 2 November 1987) is an English professional rugby union player currently unattached. He most recently played for Premiership Rugby side Bath and previously played for Gloucester, Sale Sharks and Wasps in the Premiership ...

* Enrique Rodríguez *

Francis Bindschedler Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural ...

Michael Ehrentraut Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

* James Cunningham *

Sailosi Tagicakibau Sailosi Tagicakibau (born 14 November 1982) is a rugby union footballer who has played at wing for London Irish and Wasps in the Aviva Premiership. He spent the majority of his career with English Premiership side London Irish, making in exce ...

Mungo Mason Mungo Mason (born 4 October 1995) is a Scottish professional rugby union player who plays as a flanker (back row) for Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby (MLR). He previously played for the San Diego Legion in the MLR and Edinburgh in the Pro14. ...

(Sevens)

References

External links

* www.warringahrugby.com.au {{Shute shield Rugby union teams in Sydney Rugby clubs established in 1963 1963 establishments in Australia Northern Beaches