BUCS Super Rugby

BUCS Super Rugby

Sport	Rugby union
First season	2016-17
Administrator	British Universities and Colleges Sport
No. of teams	10
Country	Great Britain
Most recent champion(s)	Loughborough University (2023-24 National Champions) [1] University of Exeter (2023-24 League Champions) [2]
Most titles	Hartpury University BUCS - 3 National Championships
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	North A or South A
Official website	www.bucs.org.uk/premier-sports/super-rugby.html

BUCS Super Rugby is the highest level of men's university rugby in Britain and a potential pathway for university players into elite rugby. ^[3] It comprises ten teams from universities in England and Wales. The league is named for its governing body, British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS).

History

BUCS Super Rugby was launched in 2016 as a new, top level of university rugby above the existing North A and South A leagues.

The eight teams in the inaugural 2016–17 season were those who finished in the top four of the North A and South A leagues in the preceding 2015–16 season.

The league expanded to nine teams in the 2017–18 season and ten teams in the 2018–19 season.

Current clubs

Club University First season in league Total number of seasons in league* Bath University of Bath 2016-17 7 Cardiff Cardiff University 2018-19 5 Cardiff Met Cardiff Metropolitan University 2016-17 7 Durham Durham University 2016-17 7 Exeter University of Exeter 2016-17 7 Hartpury** Hartpury University 2016-17 7 Leeds Beckett Leeds Beckett University 2016-17 7 Loughborough Loughborough University 2016-17 7 Nottingham University of Nottingham 2022-23 2 Swansea Swansea University 2019-20 4 * Excludes the 2020-21 season, which was cancelled due to Covid-19. ** Not to be confused with Hartpury University R.F.C., who play in the RFU Championship.

University of Bath Durham University University of Exeter Hartpury University Leeds Beckett University Loughborough University University of Nottingham Swansea University Cardiff Teams in Cardiff Cardiff University Cardiff Metropolitan University class=notpageimage| Locations of BUCS Super Rugby teams Cardiff University Cardiff Metropolitan University class=notpageimage| Locations of BUCS Super Rugby teams in Cardiff

Season structure

The season has three phases:

• League - a double round-robin tournament, where teams play each other home and away.
• Championship - a knockout tournament featuring the top eight teams from the League.
• Playoff - a knockout tournament featuring the team at the bottom of the League and the teams at the top of North A and South A leagues. The Playoff determines whether relegation and promotion occur.

League

The League season currently has 18 rounds and typically runs from September to March. League points are awarded in the following way:

• 4 points for winning a match
• 2 points for drawing a match
• 0 points for losing a match
• 1 losing bonus point for losing by 7 points (or less)
• 1 try bonus point for scoring (at least) 4 tries, regardless of the outcome.

In this points system winning teams get 4 or 5 points, drawing teams 2 or 3 points, and losing teams between 0 and 2 points.

Championship

The Championship competition has three rounds and typically takes place in April. It features the teams who finished in the top eight of the league.

Playoff

The team that finishes last in the league is not automatically relegated. Relegation from (and promotion to) BUCS Super Rugby is decided through a playoff in the format of a three-team, single-elimination tournament.

The playoff begins with a semi-final between the winners of the North A and South A leagues. The bottom placed BUCS Super Rugby team has a bye directly into the playoff game. The winner of the playoff game is the team that plays in the next season of BUCS Super Rugby.

	North vs South Playoff					BUCS Super Rugby Playoff
							Bottom placed team in BUCS Super Rugby
		North A champions					Winner of North vs South Playoff
		South A champions

Results

League and Championship

Final position	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season
	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20*	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
1	Hartpury (CH)	Exeter	Exeter (SF)	Durham	Durham (RU)	Loughborough (RU)	Exeter (RU)
2	Exeter (RU)	Northumbria	Hartpury (CH)	Exeter	Exeter (CH)	Exeter (CH)	Loughborough (CH)
3	Loughborough (SF)	Cardiff Met (RU)	Bath (SF)	Leeds Beckett	Cardiff Met (SF)	Durham	Hartpury (SF)
4	Durham	Leeds Beckett (SF)	Cardiff Met	Cardiff Met	Loughborough (SF)	Bath (SF)	Durham
5	Bath (SF)	Hartpury (CH)	Leeds Beckett (RU)	Hartpury	Swansea	Hartpury	Bath (SF)
6	Northumbria	Loughborough	Northumbria	Loughborough	Cardiff	Cardiff (SF)	Cardiff Met
7	Cardiff Met	Bath (SF)	Durham	Swansea	Hartpury	Cardiff Met	Leeds Beckett
8	Leeds Beckett	Durham	Cardiff	Bath	Leeds Beckett	Nottingham	Nottingham
9	-	Nottingham Trent	Loughborough	Cardiff	Bath	Swansea	Cardiff
10	-	-	Nottingham Trent (R)	Northumbria	Northumbria (R)	Leeds Beckett	Swansea

Green background (rows 1 to 8) are teams that progressed to the Championship tournament.

Red background is a team that was relegated after losing a playoff to a North A / South A team.

(CH) Champions. (RU) Runners-up. (SF) Losing semi-finalists. (R) Relegated
* No Championship tournament was held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Promotion and relegation

Season Club promoted at start of season Promoted from Club relegated at end of season Relegated to 2022-23 Nottingham BUCS North A None N/A 2021-22 None N/A Northumbria BUCS North A 2020-21 Season cancelled [4] due to COVID-19 2019-20 Swansea BUCS South A None N/A 2018-19 Cardiff BUCS South A Nottingham Trent BUCS North A 2017-18 Nottingham Trent BUCS North A None N/A

Alumni with international caps

Inclusion criteria: Played in a senior international test after playing in BUCS Super Rugby

Player Year of first international cap University Year of last BUCS Super Rugby appearance Alex Dombrandt 2021 [5] Cardiff Metropolitan University 2018 Thibaud Flament 2021 [6] Loughborough University 2019 Freddie Steward 2021 [7] Loughborough University 2019 [8] Dan Kelly 2021 Loughborough University 2020 Sebastian Negri 2016 Hartpury College 2017 Harry Randall 2021 Hartpury College 2018 Sam Skinner 2018 University of Exeter 2016 Ben Thomas 2021 Cardiff University 2018 Christ Tshiunza 2021 [9] University of Exeter 2021 [10] Stephen Varney 2020 Hartpury College 2019 Ross Vintcent 2024 [11] University of Exeter 2023 [12] Dafydd Jenkins 2022 [13] University of Exeter 2022 [14]

Place in the BUCS Rugby Union pyramid

BUCS Super Rugby is the top division of men's university rugby in Britain. It sits in the Premier tier of the BUCS Rugby Union pyramid, along with North A, North B, South A and South B.

Premier	BUCS Super Rugby
	North A									South A
	North B									South B
Tier 1	Scottish 1A			Northern 1A				Midlands 1A				Western 1A				South Eastern 1A
Tier 2	Scottish 2A			Northern 2A		Northern 2B		Midlands 2A		Midlands 2B		Western 2A		Western 2B		South Eastern 2A				South Eastern 2B
Tier 3	Scottish 3A			Northern 3A		Northern 3B		Midlands 3A		Midlands 3B		Western 3A		Western 3B		South Eastern 3A				South Eastern 3B
Tier 4	Scottish 4A			Northern 4A		Northern 4B		Midlands 4A		Midlands 4B		Western 4A		Western 4B		South Eastern 4A		South Eastern 4C		South Eastern 4B
Tier 5				Northern 5A		Northern 5B		Midlands 5A				Western 5A				South Eastern 5A				South Eastern 5B
Tier 6																South Eastern 6A

Media coverage

Some BUCS Super Rugby matches are streamed live on the BUCS Sport YouTube channel. In the 2018-19 season some matches were broadcast on FreeSports.

See also

• Rugby union in England
• Rugby union in Wales
• British Universities and Colleges Sport
• Varsity Rugby

References

1. "Sensational season finale at the StoneX" . Retrieved 14 May 2024.
2. "BUCS BSR League Table". BUCS Super Rugby. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
3. "RFU". England Rugby. Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
4. "BUCS Super Rugby 2020/21 season cancelled due to unpredictable coronavirus pandemic".
5. "Radwan hat-trick as England crush Canada". BBC Sport.
6. Alderman, Elgan. "Thibaud Flament: From Loughborough University fifths to debut for France".
7. Bobby Bridge (5 July 2021). "Freddie Steward's England debut - how the national media rated the Leicester Tigers ace". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
8. Harvey, Joe. "326 34 Google +0 275 0 "You could tell quickly that he was destined for big things" - Freddie Steward, England's rising star". Talking Rugby Union. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
9. "Chiefs youngster makes Test debut".
10. "A glimpse into the rise of athletic Christ Tshiunza".
11. "Ireland v Italy Rugby Fixtures". Six Nations. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
12. "Ross Vintcent University of Exeter EURFC Profile". University of Exeter. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
13. "Wales Rugby Union Squad vs Georgia 2022". 15 November 2022.
14. "Dafydd Jenkins EURFC Profile".