Full name | Leicester Lions Rugby Football Club | |
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Union | Leicestershire RU | |
Founded | 1998 | |
Location | Blaby, Leicestershire, England | |
Ground(s) | Westleigh Park (Capacity: 2,000 [1] ) | |
League(s) | National League 1 | |
2022–23 | 1st (promoted to National League 1) | |
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Official website | ||
www |
Leicester Lions are a rugby union club which currently play in the third tier of the English rugby union system, National League 1, following their promotion from National League 2 West in 2023. The Lions are a leading amateur club in Leicester and along with Loughborough University and Hinckley are the senior clubs in Leicestershire after Premiership Rugby side Leicester Tigers. The club was formed as a result of an amalgamation between two local clubs in 1998, these being Westleigh RFC (established in 1904) and Wigston RFC (established in 1946). [2] [3]
Leicester Lions boast several high-profile names amongst their former and current players and coaching staff. Jason Aldwinckle, the former Leicester Tigers' hooker is the forwards coach, while the former club captain and England Counties outside back Gareth Collins has taken over as head coach. Notable former Lions, Westleigh and Wigston players include England World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson, England lock Louis Deacon, Tigers back-rower Brett Deacon and Gloucester and England centre Billy Twelvetrees.
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Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Points | ||||||||
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1 | Rams | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 192 | 130 | 62 | 5 | 0 | 25 | ||||||
2 | Plymouth Albion | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 186 | 127 | 59 | 4 | 1 | 21 | ||||||
3 | Richmond | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 169 | 139 | 30 | 4 | 2 | 18 | ||||||
4 | Blackheath | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 154 | 99 | 55 | 3 | 2 | 17 | ||||||
5 | Chinnor | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 146 | 83 | 63 | 3 | 1 | 16 | ||||||
6 | Rosslyn Park | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 176 | 130 | 46 | 3 | 1 | 16 | ||||||
7 | Sedgley Park | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 138 | 181 | -43 | 2 | 0 | 14 | ||||||
8 | Bishop's Stortford | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 149 | 153 | -4 | 4 | 2 | 14 | ||||||
9 | Cinderford | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 105 | 130 | -25 | 0 | 1 | 13 | ||||||
10 | Birmingham Moseley | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 138 | 164 | -26 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||||||
11 | Darlington Mowden Park | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 93 | 133 | -40 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||||||
12 | Sale FC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 71 | 116 | -45 | 0 | 3 | 7 | ||||||
13 | Taunton Titans | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 133 | 195 | -62 | 4 | 2 | 6 | ||||||
14 | Leicester Lions | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 86 | 156 | -70 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||||||
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Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places. Updated: 30 September 2023 Source: "National League 1". RugbyEngland. |
Leicester Lions (1998–present)
Westleigh (Parent club)
Wigston (Parent club)
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Neil Antony Back MBE 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 career.
Louis Deacon is a former English professional rugby union footballer. He played lock.
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Dean Richards is a rugby union coach and former player for Leicester Tigers, England and British & Irish Lions. He was most recently the Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, a position he held for ten years between 2012 and 2022.
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Stephen Paul Redfern is an English former rugby union and professional rugby league player in the 1970s and 1980s. He played one test for England in 1984, and between 1976 and 1984 played club rugby for Leicester Tigers. His position was tighthead prop. He then played professional rugby league for Sheffield Eagles, but injury limited him to only 9 appearance.
Broadstreet Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England. The club currently play in Regional 1 Midlands; at the fifth tier of the English rugby union system, following their relegation from National League 2 South at the end of the 2017–18 season. The 2014–15 season was the third time the club had played in the fourth tier of English rugby, but the first time it had maintained at that level. Furthermore, the club have also recently enjoyed success, by winning the Warwickshire Cup.
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Syston Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Queniborough, Leicestershire. The club runs four senior sides, a vets, colts and all age groups from under-7 to under-19. The first XV currently plays in Regional 1 Midlands, at the fifth tier of the English rugby union system, following their promotion from Midlands 1 East at the end of the 2019–20 season.
South Leicester Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club based in Wigston, Leicestershire - just south of Leicester. The club runs two senior sides, plus a colts side and a full set of junior teams. The first XV were playing in the Midlands Premier, the fifth tier of the English rugby union system, following their relegation from National League 2 North at the end of the 2018–19 season, however, due to a run of bad results and a number of players leaving the club, they have withdrawn from the Midlands Premier.
The Leicestershire Rugby Union (LRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for those counties. The LRU administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in those two counties and administers the Leicestershire county rugby representative teams.
Jon Boden is a rugby union footballer/coach, currently playing at Fly-half or Centre for Leicester Lions in National League 2 North. He has played higher level rugby for Rugby Lions and Doncaster Knights, as well as European rugby with Italian side Gran Parma. An excellent kicker, as of the end of the 2015–16 season, Jon is the all-time points scorer in National League 2 North with over 2,000 points.
Gareth Collins is a former English-Welsh rugby union player who is currently head coach at Leicester Lions and Head of Psychology at The King's School Grantham. A Leicester Tigers youth player, Collins was a versatile back who made his name scoring tries, being one of the most prolific finishers in National League 2 North history with 152 tries scored during his time with Rugby Lions and Leicester Lions, which included a joint divisional record 32 tries in a season. As well as playing club rugby he has also represented Warwickshire in the county championships and has captained the England Counties XV.
The Leicestershire County Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organized by the Leicestershire Rugby Union. It was first introduced in 1890 with the inaugural winners being South Wigston. The competition was known as the Leicestershire League Cup until 1893 when it was changed to Leicestershire Senior Cup. The first competition was open to the top sides in the county apart from the Leicester FC first XV, who were considered too strong and would instead enter an 'A' team up until 1906. Smaller clubs in the county, as well as senior club second sides, played in the Leicestershire Junior Cup which had its inaugural competition three seasons earlier in 1887.
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East Midlands/Leicestershire 3 was a tier 11 English Rugby Union league with teams from Bedfordshire, parts of Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire taking part. Promoted teams moved up to East Midlands/Leicestershire 2 and relegated teams dropped to East Midlands/Leicestershire 4 until that division was cancelled at the end of the 1995–96 season.
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