Nuneaton R.F.C.

Nuneaton RFC

Full name	Nuneaton Rugby Football Club
Founded	1879
Ground(s)	Liberty Way
League(s)	National League 2 North
2008-09	1st (National 3 North)
Official website
www.nuneatonrugby.co.uk

Nuneaton RFC is an English rugby union club. They were founded in 1879 and play at Liberty Way in Nuneaton. They currently play in National League 2 North.

History

Nuneaton R.F.C. was founded on 5 November 1879 in the town’s Newdegate Arms Hotel, with the first recorded game versus Tamworth on 7 February 1880. A 2nd XV was formed in 1893 following amalgamation with the local side St. Mary’s. The shirts were originally black with a red sash, which subsequently changed to the traditional red, white and black hooped shirts in 1911. By the outbreak of World War I, the Nuns had established a creditable reputation within rugby circles as a result of their performances. Fixtures included the likes of Leicester, Rugby, Northampton, Bedworth and Allesley. However, the war left them without a ground. The Nuns embarked on a ground sharing scheme with the town’s cricket club in 1919 which only lasted a year. Many improvements were made to the ground making it one of the best in the area and in 1930 the club purchased the freehold from the brewery owners. The ground was known as the Harry Cleaver Ground, in recognition of one of the Club’s stalwarts and remained its home until the last game which was played on 30 November 1995. The current Liberty Way site, which comprises 50 acres (200,000 m²) compared to the previous five acres, was acquired and the first match was played on 9 December 1995. The Club’s most successful period was from 1947 to 1954 especially the 1949/50 season, which saw ground attendance records shattered when the scalps of Coventry, London Irish and Saracens were taken, followed by an historic eight day period when Leicester, Northampton and Coventry were all beaten. The Club was one of the first to recognise the demise of schools rugby and in the early 1970s embarked on a program to introduce Mini and Junior rugby. This early initiative has been well rewarded with the Mini & Junior’s growing from strength to strength with numerous players going on to represent the 1st XV, Premiership and International sides. The professional era of the 1980s saw many changes within the structure of rugby football in general, with payment for players its most dominant feature, but this provided little advantage to Nuneaton. The current league system was established in 1987 with the Nuns being placed in Division Three North, where its fortunes waxed and waned until April 2003, when promotion to National League Two was achieved.

Life in National Division Two lasted only two seasons. The 2003/04 season saw the Nuns lose five of their first eight league games. However, they suffered only three more reversals in their remaining matches and ultimately finished third, narrowly missing out on promotion. Nuns then came back down to earth when they were relegated back into National Division Three North at the end of the 2004/2005 season. Early season form was very much to blame picking up only one win and a draw from 13 fixtures, leaving them firmly rooted at the bottom of the league at the turn of the year. Things did start going Nuns way in the second half of the season finishing third bottom, but still one point from safety. The Club retained many of its players for the 2005/2006 season and recruited well, which was reflected in the season’s results, when the team remained unbeaten in the league until mid February. Four losses in the remaining part of the season, two to the eventual league winners Bradford & Bingley, saw the Nuns finish as runners up. Promotion back to National Division Two was achieved following a 15-6 play off victory over North Walsham in mid May. However The Nuns only lasted two seasons in National Two again. The 2006/07 season saw the Nuns appoint Paul Westgate as Director of Rugby and they managed to stay in the league after finishing in 11th place. At the end of the season Paul Westgate resigned and was replaced by former Samoa international and Rotherham coach Mike Umaga, Umaga struggled to keep a side he had inherited up and Nuneaton were relegated to National Three North.

The 2008/09 season saw Nuneaton run away with the National Three North title and promotion to the newly formed National One. The season was very successful with a young squad, who all had drive, ambition and a great team spirit. Mike Umaga was also named Midlands Coach of the Year.^[1]

Liberty Way Ground

The Nuns moved to Liberty Way in 1995, after purchasing 50 acres (200,000 m²) from Warwickshire County Council. It contains several full-size pitches. There are 4 large changing rooms, with showers, a referee's room and a physiotherapist room. There is also a large function room with a large bar.

In 2006 Nuneaton RFC sold around 5 acres (20,000 m²) of land to football club Nuneaton Borough AFC. The football club and rugby club originally had a ground share agreement for the sharing of the new football stadium, the 2007-08 saw the two clubs share without any major problems. However in the summer of 2008 Nuneaton Borough AFC went in to liquidation and the newly formed Nuneaton Town FC did not honour the groundshare agreement. This led to Nuneaton RFC using one of their other pitches at the Liberty Way site during the promotion winning 2008-2009 season as no new agreement could be reached for the sharing of the stadium.

^[2]

Current squad

Forwards

Peter Cook Prop
Adam Woodfield Prop
Paul Ryan Prop
Phil Ryan Prop
John Pateman Prop
Mark Dunkerley Prop
Will Symonds Prop
Liam Dolan Hooker
Oli Taylor Hooker
Tom Green Hooker
Adam Ross Hooker
Llyr Griffiths Second Row
Arron Turner Second Row
Will Ward Second Row
Sam Wallis Second Row
Darren Forder Flanker
Matt Aston Back Row
Nick Smith Back Row
George Symonds Back Row
Sam Gibbons Back Row
Andrew Dockray Back Row
Alex Fan Back Row

Backs

Huw Thomas Scrum Half
Tom Smitham Scrum Half
Lee Chapman Fly Half
Jack Jolly Fly Half
Tim Douglas Centre
Will Cave Centre
Richard Johnson Centre
Elliot Brown Wing
Stefan Cooksammy Wing
George Wallis Wing
Kieron Collins Wing
Tom Challis Wing
Luke Braddow Wing
Kane Nixon Full Back
Jamie Barnard Full Back

External links

• Nuneaton RFC website

References

1. ^ Mike Umaga - Midlands Coach of the Year
2. ^ Nuneaton football and rugby clubs in ground-share talks