Nottingham Rugby Club is a rugby union club based in Nottingham, England. The club's first team currently plays in the Champ Rugby, the second tier of the English rugby union system.

The first XV are nicknamed The Archers, in reference to the famous Robin Hood. Now situated in the Lady Bay area of Nottingham, the club was formerly based at Meadow Lane, the home ground of Notts County F.C. They previously played at Ireland Avenue in Beeston until the end of the 2005–06 season.

History

The club was established circa 1877 by Alexander Birkin after returning from Rugby School, where he was introduced to the sport. The Birkin family later purchased the land at Ireland Avenue that would be the home of the club until 2006.[citation needed]

The club's heyday was in the late 1980s with a number of top international players representing the first XV. These included Simon Hodgkinson, Rob Andrew, Gary Rees, Dusty Hare and Brian Moore (also a Lion) representing England and Chris Gray representing Scotland.[citation needed]

The advent of professionalism[citation needed] saw the Green & Whites fall on hard times and the first XV narrowly avoided relegation to the regional divisions in 2002–03. The club has bounced back since then and was promoted into National League One in 2003–04. The club finished a creditable 7th in 2005–06 before leaving Ireland Avenue after 102 years. Alistair Bow was appointed chairman in 2010 after having been a director since 2008.[citation needed]

On 30 July 2010 the club signed an agreement to become part of Notts County PLC.

In early July 2012 it was announced that Martin Haag had become the new director of rugby at the club. Martin Haag appointed Dan Montagu captain on 21 July 2015. He replaced Brent Wilson who retired at the end of 2014–15 season. Since then Ian Costello has been appointed as Head Coach, with Neil Fowkes and Alex O'Dowd rounding out the coaching team.[citation needed]

A change in funding by the RFU ahead of the 2020–21 season forced the club into become only a part-time professional club.

Ground

Founded in 1877, the club originally played in a field behind the White Hart Inn in Lenton. In 1904 the club purchased land in the village of Beeston and were able to have their first permanent ground, initially known as Rylands Road but becoming Ireland Avenue by 1947. By the advent of league rugby in the late 1980s the capacity of Ireland Avenue was 4,990 which included a covered grandstand with 590 seats and space for around 4,400 standing. The club would play at Ireland Avenue for over a century, eventually selling the ground for housing development in 2004.

The club spent a couple of seasons ground sharing at Notts County's home, Meadow Lane between 2004 and 2006. Since 2006 the club have been based at Lady Bay Sports Ground at Lady Bay. Ground capacity at Lady Bay was originally 3,500 but this has risen to 3,700 for the 2024–25 season, when a Lady Bay ground record of 3,690 watched the club's Premiership Rugby Cup game against Leicester Tigers on 22 November 2024.

Honours

  • Midland Counties Senior Cup winners: 1905–06
  • Midland Counties Junior Cup winners: 1907–08
  • Noel Syson Cup (Notts, Lincs & Derby Sevens) winners: 1935, 1936, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1959, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1983
  • Middlesex Sevens winners: 1944–45
  • Midland Merit Table champions: 1984–85
  • Selkirk Sevens winners: 1990–91

Current standings

2025–26 Champ Rugby table
PosTeamvtePldWDLPFPAPDTBLBPtsQualification
1Ealing Trailfinders2626001125437+688230127Play-off semi-finals
2Bedford Blues261817802643+15920397
3Coventry26160101053723+33022793Play-off quarter-finals
4Worcester Warriors2615011899652+24721687
5Chinnor2616010697635+6212682
6Hartpury261529772632+14014381
7Cornish Pirates2613112770671+9916373
8Doncaster Knights2612311729655+7415473
9Nottingham2612113639647−814872
10Ampthill2612014828890−6218571
11Caldy269017574814−24011552
12Richmond267118525823−2987441Relegation play-off
13London Scottish (R)266020475923−4488335
14Cambridge (R)2601254471190−7437413Relegated
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Number of matches drawn
  3. Difference between points for and against
  4. Total number of points for
  5. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  6. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Current squad

The Nottingham squad for the 2025–26 season is:

Nottingham 2025–26 Champ Rugby squad
Props England national rugby union team Archie van der Flier Sweden national rugby union team Ale Loman England national rugby union team Dan Richardson Netherlands national rugby union team Mink Scharink Samoa national rugby union team Aniseko Sio England national rugby union team Oscar Stott Hookers New Zealand national rugby union team Arthur Allen England national rugby union team Ben Brownlie England national rugby union team Jack Dickinson England national rugby union team Finn Theobald-Thomas Locks England national rugby union team Jay Ecclesfield England national rugby union team Michael Etete England national rugby union team Tom Manz Wales national rugby union team Osian ThomasBack row England national rugby union team James Cherry England national rugby union team Sam Green Wales national rugby union team Iestyn Rees England national rugby union team Kody Vereti England national rugby union team Sam Williams England national rugby union team Jacob Wright Scrum-halves England national rugby union team Josh Goodwin England national rugby union team Will Yarnell Fly-halves England national rugby union team Evan Mitchell Wales national rugby union team Gwyn Parks England national rugby union team Charlie WestCentres New Zealand national rugby union team Kegan Christian-Goss England national rugby union team Charlie Davies England national rugby union team Michael Green England national rugby union team Wilf McCarthy England national rugby union team Levi Roper Wings England national rugby union team Harry Graham England national rugby union team Sam Mercer England national rugby union team Luke Rokomoce England national rugby union team David Williams Fullbacks United Arab Emirates national rugby union team Jack Stapley
(c) denotes the team captain. (vc) denotes vice-captain. Bold denotes internationally capped players. ST denotes a short-term signing.Source:

Notable former players

British & Irish Lions

The following Nottingham players have been selected for the Lions tours while at the club:

Rugby World Cup

The following are players which have represented their countries at the Rugby World Cup while playing for Nottingham:

TournamentPlayers selectedEngland playersOther national team players
19872Brian Moore, Gary Rees
19913Gary Rees, Simon HodgkinsonChris Gray Scotland
20114James Arlidge Japan, Sione Kalamafoni Tonga, Tim Usasz United States, Filipo Levi Samoa
20191Shane O'Leary Canada

Other notable former players

The following players have played for Nottingham and have been capped by their national side.

Notes

External links