BUCS Super Rugby

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

BUCS Super Rugby

Sport	Rugby union
First season	Men's - 2016-17 Women's - 2024-25
Administrator	British Universities and Colleges Sport
No. of teams	Men's - 10 Women's - 7
Country	Great Britain
Most titles	Men's Hartpury Hartpury (4) Women's Cardiff Met Cardiff Met (1)
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Men's North A or South A
Official website	www.bucs.org.uk/premier-sports/super-rugby.html

History

Background

Further information: List of British and Irish varsity matches

The Scottish Varsity match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh is the oldest varsity match in the world in a code of football, having been first played under rugby union rules in the 1860s.^[2][a] The first Varsity Match in rugby union between the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge was contested in 1872.^[4]

Unusually for British university sporting events, the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Match was broadcast on television, along with The Boat Race.^[5][6] The Independent proposed in 2008 that Bath v Loughborough was "the real varsity match" on the basis that these were the top two rugby union teams (at that time) in British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) competitions.^[7] In 2015, British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS), the successor to BUSA, organised fixtures between Loughborough and Durham (two of the top universities since 2011-12) to occur on the same day, which was referred to as the "BUCS Varsity".^[8][9]

Men's

Men's 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.

Women's

Women's BUCS Super Rugby was launched ahead of the 2024–25 season.^[10]

The seven-team competition is a positive evolution of the Women's National League (WNL) and joins the top level of Men's rugby union as BUCS’ second ‘Super’ level of competition. Women's BUCS Super Rugby will provide an enhanced platform to aid female players at institutions in England, Wales, and Scotland in developing their game while pursuing higher education.^[10]

On 12 February 2025 Brunel University's Women secured their place in Women's BUCS Super Rugby (WBSR), for the first time in their history, defeating Newcastle 64–8 in the BSR North vs South Prem Playoff.^[11]

Men's BUCS Super Rugby

University Debut No. of seasons* Bath Bath 2016–17 7 Cardiff Cardiff 2018–19 5 Cardiff Met Cardiff Met 2016–17 7 Durham Durham 2016–17 7 Exeter Exeter 2016–17 7 Hartpury Hartpury† 2016–17 7 Leeds BeckettLeeds Beckett 2016–17 7 Loughborough Loughborough 2016–17 7 Nottingham Nottingham 2022–23 2 Swansea Swansea 2019–20 4 * Excluding the 2020–21 season, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. † Not to be confused with Hartpury University R.F.C., who play in the RFU Championship.

Bath Bath Durham Durham Exeter Exeter Hartpury Hartpury Leeds BeckettLeeds Beckett Loughborough Loughborough Nottingham Nottingham Swansea Swansea Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff Met Cardiff Met Locations of BUCS Super Rugby teams Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff Met Cardiff Met 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.

Men's BUCS Super Rugby Milk Championships

Quarter Finals:

• 1st v 8th
• 2nd v 7th
• 4th v 5th
• 3rd v 6th

Semi Finals:

• 1st or 8th v 4th or 5th
• 2nd or 7th v 3rd or 6th

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
	1
	8
	4
	5
	2
	7
	3
	6

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.^[12]

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. The home team in each game is decided by coin toss.

	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

Playoff results

Season	Game	Winner	Score!	Runner-up	Venue	Promoted	Attendance	Ref	Highlights
Men's BUCS Super Rugby
2016-17	Game 1 - 05/04/2017	Nottingham Trent University	57-0	Bristol University		Nottingham Trent University
	Game 2 - 12/04/2017	Nottingham Trent University	65-12	Bristol University
2017-18	Game 1 - 07/03/2018	Cardiff University	59-17	Newcastle University		Cardiff University
	Game 2 - 14/03/2018	Cardiff University	28-17	Newcastle University
2018-19	Prem Semi-Final - 03/04/2019	Swansea University	27-18	Newcastle University
	BSR Playoff - 10/04/2019	Swansea University	32-28	Nottingham Trent University		Swansea University
2019-20	Prem Semi-Final - 01/04/2020	Nottingham Trent University	N/A	Bristol University	Season interrupted by COVID-19
	BSR Playoff - 08/04/2020	Semi-Final Winner	N/A	Northumbria University
2020-21	Season interrupted by COVID-19
2021-22	No Semi-Final
	BSR Playoff - 13/04/2022	Nottingham University	22-28	Northumbria University		'Nottingham University
2022-23	Prem Semi-Final - 29/03/2023	Brunel University	26-18	Newcastle University
	BSR Playoff - 12/04/2023	Leeds Beckett University	23-17	Brunel University		Leeds Beckett University
2023-24	Prem Semi-Final - 27/03/2024	Newcastle University	39-24	Brunel University
	BSR Playoff - 10/04/2024	Swansea University	40-17	Newcastle University		Swansea University
2024-25	Prem Semi-Final - 26/03/2025	Brunel University	30-29	Newcastle University
	BSR Playoff - 09/04/2025	Swansea University	19-15	Brunel University		Swansea University

Gold background University that has been promoted to Men's BUCS Super Rugby.

Cyan background Men's BUCS Super Rugby University that has successfully defended their place in the league after the Playoffs.

Red background Playoff campaign was not completed due to suspension of competition due to Covid-19 Pandemic.

Results

League and championship

Final position	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season	Season
	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20*	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26	2026-27	2027-28
1	Hartpury (CH)	Exeter	Exeter (SF)	Durham	Durham (RU)	Loughborough (RU)	Exeter (RU)	Loughborough (RU)	Bath
2	Exeter (RU)	Northumbria	Hartpury (CH)	Exeter	Exeter (CH)	Exeter (CH)	Loughborough (CH)	Hartpury (CH)	Cardiff
3	Loughborough (SF)	Cardiff Met (RU)	Bath (SF)	Leeds Beckett	Cardiff Met (SF)	Durham	Hartpury (SF)	Bath	Cardiff Met
4	Durham	Leeds Beckett (SF)	Cardiff Met	Cardiff Met	Loughborough (SF)	Bath (SF)	Durham	Durham	Durham
5	Bath (SF)	Hartpury (CH)	Leeds Beckett (RU)	Hartpury	Swansea	Hartpury	Bath (SF)	Exeter (SF)	Exeter
6	Northumbria	Loughborough	Northumbria	Loughborough	Cardiff	Cardiff (SF)	Cardiff Met	Cardiff Met (SF)	Hartpury
7	Cardiff Met	Bath (SF)	Durham	Swansea	Hartpury	Cardiff Met	Leeds Beckett	Nottingham	Leeds Beckett
8	Leeds Beckett	Durham	Cardiff	Bath	Leeds Beckett	Nottingham	Nottingham	Leeds Backett	Loughborough
9	-	Nottingham Trent	Loughborough	Cardiff	Bath	Swansea	Cardiff	Cardiff	Nottingham
10	-	-	Nottingham Trent (R)	Northumbria	Northumbria (R)	Leeds Beckett	Swansea	Swansea	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.

Championship finals

Season	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance	Ref	Highlights	Title
Pre-Men's BUCS Super Rugby
2013-14	Hartpury University	28-24	Leeds Met	Twickenham			[13]
2014-15	Leeds Beckett	31-23	Loughborough	Twickenham			[14]
2015-16	Exeter University	21-19	Loughborough	Twickenham			[15]
Men's BUCS Super Rugby
2016-17	Hartpury University	27-24	Exeter University	Twickenham			[16]
2017-18	Hartpury University	27-24	Cardiff Met	Twickenham			[17]
2018-19	Hartpury University	45-27	Leeds Beckett	Twickenham			[18]
2019-20	Season interrupted by COVID-19
2020-21	Season interrupted by COVID-19
2021-22	Exeter University	14-13	Durham University	Sixways Stadium			[19]
2022-23	Exeter University	48-44	Loughborough	StoneX Stadium			[20]
2023-24	Loughborough	35-31	Exeter University	StoneX Stadium			[21]
2024-25	Hartpury University	35-31	Loughborough	Rodney Parade			[22]

Promotion and relegation

Season Club promoted at start of season Promoted from Club relegated at end of season Relegated to 2024-25 None N/A None N/A 2023-24 None N/A None N/A 2022-23 Nottingham BUCS North A None N/A 2021-22 None N/A Northumbria BUCS North A 2020-21 Season cancelled[23] 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

The inclusion criteria are that the player 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[24] Cardiff Metropolitan University 2018 Thibaud Flament 2021[25] Loughborough University 2019 Freddie Steward 2021[26] Loughborough University 2019[27] 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 [28] University of Exeter 2021 [29] Stephen Varney 2020 Hartpury College 2019 Ross Vintcent 2024 [30] University of Exeter 2023 [31] Dafydd Jenkins 2022 [32] University of Exeter 2022 [33]

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

Women's BUCS Super Rugby

Club University First season in league Last season in league Total number of seasons in league* Brunel Brunel University 2025-26 - Cardiff Cardiff University 2024-25 1 Cardiff Met Cardiff Metropolitan University 2024-25 1 Durham Durham University 2024-25 2024-25 1 Edinburgh Edinburgh University 2024-25 1 Exeter University of Exeter 2024-25 1 Hartpury Hartpury University 2024-25 1 Loughborough Loughborough University 2024-25 1 * Excludes the 2020–21 season, which was cancelled due to Covid-19.

Brunel University Durham University Edinburgh University University of Exeter Hartpury University Loughborough University Cardiff Teams in Cardiff Cardiff University Cardiff Metropolitan University Locations of BUCS Super Rugby teams Cardiff University Cardiff Metropolitan University 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 14 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 that finished in the top six of the league. The top two places are awarded a bye into the semi-finals.

Women's BUCS Super Rugby Milk Championships

Quarter Finals:

• 1st - BYE
• 2nd - BYE
• 4th v 5th
• 3rd v 6th

Semi Finals:

• 1st v 4th or 5th
• 2nd v 3rd or 6th

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
	1	BYE
	4
	5
	2	BYE
	3
	6

Results

League and championship

Final position	Season	Season	Season	Season
	2024-25	2025-26	2026-27	2027-28
1	Hartpury (SF)	Brunel
2	Exeter (SF)	Cardiff
3	Loughborough (RU)	Cardiff Met
4	Edinburgh	Edinburgh
5	Cardiff Met (CH)	Exeter
6	Cardiff	Hartpury
7	Durham	Loughborough
8	-	-

Green background (rows 1 to 6) are teams that progressed to the Championship tournament.

(CH) Champions. (RU) Runners-up. (SF) Losing semi-finalists.

Championship finals

Season	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance	Ref	Highlights	Title
Pre-Women's National League
2013-14	Cardiff Met	47-0	Leeds Met	Twickenham			[34]
2014-15	Gloucestershire	28-12	Cardiff Met	Twickenham			[35]
2015-16	Cardiff Met	20-5	Northumbria	Twickenham			[36]
2016-17	Edinburgh University	48-5	Northumbria	Twickenham			[37]
2017-18	Exeter University	35-32	Hartpury University	Twickenham			[38]
2018-19	Exeter University	30-26	Durham University	Twickenham			[39]
2019-20	Season interrupted by COVID-19
2020-21	Season interrupted by COVID-19
Women's National League
2021-22	Hartpury University	36-22	Edinburgh University	Sixways Stadium			[40]
2022-23	Hartpury University	45-12	Exeter University	StoneX Stadium			[41]
2023-24	Hartpury University	34-22	Loughborough	StoneX Stadium			[42]
Women's BUCS Super Rugby
2024-25	Cardiff Met	30-29	Loughborough	Rodney Parade			[43]

Place in the BUCS Rugby Union pyramid

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

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

University Celestial 7s

The UC7s brings together the finest university rugby playing talent across the land, all vying to be crowned the uni Kings and Queens of the most heavenly form of the game, Rugby 7s.^[44]

The competition consists of more than 50 male and female university teams, including up to 1,000 players. With five active competitions on the day played across seven pitches at The Richmond Athletics Ground, the home of Richmond RFC, Universities go to battle.^[45]

The inaugural competition takes place on Friday 13 June 2025.

Competitions

Men’s and Women’s Championship

The Championships are open to Super Rugby and North/South Premier sides. ^[46]

Season	Men's Champion	Women's Champion	Venue
2025	Exeter University	Loughborough University	Richmond Athletic Ground

Men’s and Women's Trophy

The Trophy is open to all other BUCS sides competing across the leagues.

Season	Men's Champion	Women's Champion	Venue
2025	Loughborough University 2s	Exeter University	Richmond Athletic Ground

The Capital Cup

The Capital Cup is especially for the great institutions of London.

Season	Men's Champion	Venue
2025	Imperial College London	Richmond Athletic Ground

Media coverage

Some BUCS Super Rugby matches are streamed live on the Super Rugby YouTube channel. In the 2018–19 season, some men's matches were broadcast on FreeSports.

See also

• Rugby union in England
• Rugby union in Scotland
• Rugby union in Wales
• Varsity Rugby (South Africa)

Notes

1. The Oxford-Cambridge varsity matches in rugby union and association football were first held in 1872 and 1874 respectively although intercollegiate matches in association football date back earlier.^[3] The 1869 Princeton vs. Rutgers football game was the first intercollegiate football game in the United States while the first intercollegiate rugby football game in the United States took place in 1874 when Harvard University played against McGill University.