BUCS Super Rugby

BUCS Super Rugby is the highest level of men's university rugby in Britain and a potential pathway for university players into elite rugby.[1] It comprises ten teams from universities in England and Wales. The league is named for its governing body, British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS).

BUCS Super Rugby
SportRugby union
Inaugural season2016-17
AdministratorBritish Universities and Colleges Sport
No. of teams10
CountryGreat Britain
Most recent
champion(s)		Loughborough University (2022-23 League Champions)
University of Exeter
(2022-23 National Champions)
Most titlesHartpury University BUCS - 3 National Championships
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toNorth A or South A
Official websitewww.bucs.org.uk/premier-sports/super-rugby.html

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

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

Alumni with international caps

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

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

References
  1. "RFU". England Rugby. Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  2. "BUCS Super Rugby 2020/21 season cancelled due to unpredictable coronavirus pandemic".
  3. "Radwan hat-trick as England crush Canada". BBC Sport.
  4. Alderman, Elgan. "Thibaud Flament: From Loughborough University fifths to debut for France".
  5. "Chiefs youngster makes Test debut".
  6. "A glimpse into the rise of athletic Christ Tshiunza".
  7. "Wales Rugby Union Squad vs Georgia 2022".
  8. "Dafydd Jenkins EURFC Profile".
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