Rugby

Rugby has a heritage at Marlborough College that stretches back for over 150 years. It provides a challenging and inclusive environment, which aims to develop the character and skillset of every player. Marlborough played its first ever inter-schools rugby match against Clifton in 1864, and since then we have produced 38 full international players and four England captains.

Rugby is a vehicle for developing a strong collegiate environment, where being part of a team is valued as highly as elite performance. We regularly field 19 squads on matchday, involving over 320 pupils each week which gives every boy the opportunity to represent the College. All our players are guided by talented coaching staff with a vast amount of experience spanning from development to international level. We coach, train and play, guided by the values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and self-organising (TREDS).

Terry Gilmour

Head of Rugby

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Players benefit from our range of top facilities, including the Premiership-standard Hamersley pitch which is one of the finest schoolboy rugby venues in the country. The pitch is named in honour of Alfred St George Hamersley (C3 1862–66), a former Marlborough College pupil and England international of the 1870s who was a pioneer of rugby in New Zealand. There are a further ten pitches along with state-of-the-art gym facilities for strength and conditioning training.

The College has a competitive and prestigious fixture list including some of the oldest schoolboy fixtures in the country. We reached the final stages of the National Schools Cup in 2019 (U18) and 2020 (U15) and are active participants in the England Rugby Football Schools Union (ERFSU) county and national competitions. In the Lent Term we run a Rugby Sevens programme at U14, U16 and U18 level with each team playing up to four tournaments including the prestigious Rosslyn Park 7s.

The XV undertake a major overseas tour every two years; recent trips have been to Singapore and New Zealand in the summer of 2007, and South Africa and Swaziland in 2010, Australia in 2013 and Japan in 2016.

Marlborough College has an excellent partnership with Bath Rugby across the age ranges, which sees talented players enter the Development Player Pathway providing the chance for those with greatest potential to be selected to join the Bath Academy Development Player Group. Twenty players are currently with Premiership Player Development Centres.