St Austell RFC is a Cornish

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 ...

club that is based in the town of

St Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell ...

and was founded in 1963. The club run three senior men's teams as well as ladies side, a colts and multiple junior/mini sides. The club's kit is red and white hoops and the first team currently play in

Tribute Western Counties West Counties 1 Western West (formerly known as Western Counties West for sponsorship reasons) is an English rugby union league. Originally a single division called Western Counties, in 1996 the division split into two regional leagues called Weste ...

with home games at Tregorrick Park. Tregorrick_Park_St_Austell_RFC

History

Early history

St Austell RFC was formed on 31 July 1963 by Wilf Vernalls and Des Robbins, with home games being played at Cyprus Avenue in Par Moor. There had been a previous rugby club in St Austell called the Hornets who had formed in 1933, but during the 1954–55 season this club relocated to Newquay, becoming known as the

Newquay Hornets Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...

. The club moved to Circus Field at Cromwell Road in 1967 but would have to wait until the mid 1970s until it emerged as a player on the Cornish senior circuit, defeating established clubs

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

and St Ives in 1976. Several years in 1978 the club reached the final of the Cornwall Cup for the first time, losing 7–6 to

Camborne Camborne ( kw, Kammbronn) is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove. Camborne was former ...

at the

Recreation Ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea, Illogan ...

. In 1986, St Austell sold their Circus Field ground to

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorks ...

spending several seasons without a ground until they moved into their current ground, Tregorrick Park, in 1988.

League rugby

With the creation of the Courage national leagues in 1987, St Austell were placed in Courage Cornwall/Devon (division 8 of the league system). They had a poor debut season in the new league, finishing second bottom in 10th place and were relegated to Courage Cornwall League 1. In 1991 St Austell reached the final of the Cornwall Clubs Cup (the secondary cup in Cornwall at the time) but ended up as losing finalists after a 13–0 defeat to

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map ...

. After 7 seasons in Cornwall League 1 the club finally achieved promotion in 1995 as they claimed their first ever league title and booked a return to Cornwall/Devon. Several years later a second league title and promotion was achieved as St Austell won

Western Counties West Counties 1 Western West (formerly known as Western Counties West for sponsorship reasons) is an English rugby union league. Originally a single division called Western Counties, in 1996 the division split into two regional leagues called West ...

to reach the dizzy heights of South West 2 West - which at tier 5 is the highest level the club has reached to date. The 2000–01 season ended up in disappointment for St Austell, as although they were competitive in the division, they were unable to stay up, going down in 10th place just two points behind relegation rivals

Ivybridge Ivybridge is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Hams, in Devon, England. It lies about east of Andy Hughes’ new house in Ivybridge now he’s forgotten Ugborough. It is at the southern extremity of Dartmoor, a N ...

. This relegation would see the club fall through the league system as they suffered two more relegations, first from Western Counties West and then from Cornwall/Devon. St Austell stabilized itself during the 2004–05 season when it bounced back with a league and cup double - winning promotion from Cornwall League 1 as champions and then winning the Cornwall Clubs Cup for the first time in the club's history, defeating

Perranporth Perranporth ( kw, Porthperan) is a seaside resort town on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is 1 mile east of the St Agnes Heritage Coastline, and around 8 miles south-west of Newquay. Perranporth and its long beach ...

11–9 at the final held at St. Clement's Hill in

. Several seasons in Cornwall/Devon ended in relegation in 2007 as the club finished in 10th place after a tough relegation battle, just 2 points off safety. St Austell then had a period of resurgence as it was promoted from Cornwall League 1 after finishing runners up in 2009. Two years later another second-place finish, this time in Cornwall/Devon, saw the club promoted to Western Counties West. In 2012 St Austell reached the final of the Cornwall Cup for the first time in 34 years losing 20–17 to

Wadebridge Camels Wadebridge Camels RFC is a rugby union club based in Wadebridge, Cornwall which has been in existence since 1955. They play at Molesworth Field. History Wadebridge played in the Tribute South West 1 West, for four seasons having won promotion ...

at the

Memorial Ground The Memorial Stadium, also commonly known by its previous name of the Memorial Ground, is a sports ground in Bristol, England, and is the home of Bristol Rovers F.C. It opened in 1921 dedicated to the memory of local rugby union players killed d ...

, Penryn. The 2012–13 season was the most successful season in St Austells history to date. Firstly the club had an excellent run in the RFU Intermediate Cup (a competition for sides based at level 7 of the league system), beating

Wimborne Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Poole ...

at home 14–8 in February to win the South-West section, making the national semi-finals. A 31–19 defeat away to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

at the beginning of April ended the club's chance of making the final at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays ...

but they had some compensation as the claimed the Tribute Western Counties West league title with a 38–5 win over Exeter Saracens in front of a club record attendance of 800 at Tregorrick Park. In 2014 St Austell reached the final of the Cornwall Cup held at the

in what was a repeat of the final of 1978, with

once again victorious in a 24–10 win. The following season St Austell were relegated from Tribute South West 1 West as well as experiencing another disappointment in a Cornwall Cup final, losing to nemesis Camborne, 23-13 after extra time at St Clements Hill,

. On 17 April 2017, St Austell won the Cornwall Cup for the first time in the club's history, in what was their fifth attempt, defeating fellow league side

33–22 at the final held at the Recreation Ground in Redruth in front of a crowd of 850.

Season summary

Honours

Cornwall League 1 Counties 2 Cornwall (sponsored by St Austell Brewery using the Tribute brand name) is an English level eight rugby union league for clubs based in Cornwall. The champions are promoted to Counties 1 Western West and two teams are relegated to ...

champions (2): 1994–95, 2004–05 * Cornwall Clubs Cup winners: 2005 *

champions (2): 1997–98, 2012–13 * RFU South West Intermediate Cup winners: 2013 * Cornwall Cup winners: 2017

Notable former players

Matthew Shepherd Matthew Joseph Shepherd (born February 21, 1976) is an attorney from his native El Dorado, Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for District 6, which includes western Union County. He was elected in the ...

- Cornish scrum-half/

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

who played for St Austell during his early career (scoring over 1,000 points) and who is currently at

Plymouth Albion Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Club are a rugby union club who play in Plymouth, England. The present club was founded in 1920 from a merger between Plymouth RFC (founded 1876) and Devonport Albion RFC (founded 1876). Since 2003 they have pla ...

. He has won the

county championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

with

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

as well as being selected for the

England Counties XV England Counties XV is a representative rugby union team, formed in 2002, open to English players who play in the County Championship and the third tier (and below) of the English rugby union system. Players from the Premiership and RFU Champ ...

Notes

References

External links

St Austell RFCCornwall RFU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Austell RFC Cornish rugby union teams English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1963 Sports clubs in Cornwall 1963 establishments in England Rugby Football club