University Rugby Update: January 2026
- England Rugby Universities
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Welcome to your latest University Rugby Update!
Whether you're leading a student club, supporting players behind the scenes, or helping shape the future of university rugby, this is your space. Together, the RFU and SRFU are here to keep you in the loop with the latest tools, insights, opportunities, and offers designed to support everyone involved in the university rugby community. Let’s continue to grow the game, celebrate successes, and make rugby even more impactful across campuses.
Save the dates!
University Rugby Summit with England Rugby Executive
WHEN – 17th March 2026
WHERE – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
WHO – Directors or Heads of Sport / Senior University Leaders
University Rugby Development Day & Awards
WHEN – Tuesday 5th May 2026
WHERE – Sixways Stadium, Worcester
WHO – Club Leaders; Student Workforce, Development Staff & Coaches
Sign-up & free ticket information coming next month.
SPOTLIGHT
For this month’s spotlight, we speak with King’s College London medical student Sanaa Sarfraz, a member of the Guy’s, King’s & St Thomas’ Women’s Rugby Football Club, who has been honoured by the RFU President with the ‘Value the Volunteer’ award. This recognition follows her earlier achievement as the Students’ RFU Volunteer of the Year, which highlighted her exceptional contributions to university rugby and led to her nomination for the national award.
University Rugby Awards 2026
Celebrate University Rugby Contributors – University rugby thrives because of the incredible students, staff, and volunteers who make it happen every single day. Now it’s time to recognise those who make a remarkable impact, go the extra mile, and truly embody the values of the game.
Nominations are officially open!
Deadline: Sunday, 22 March 2026
Winners will be celebrated at the University Rugby Development Day at Sixways Stadium, Worcester, on Tuesday, 5 May 2026.
Sign-up & free ticket information coming next month.
Volunteer Opportunity: Make Rugby Welcoming for All
Help us make university rugby more inclusive!
The Students' RFU are looking for a volunteer Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Officer to lead projects, coordinate our Advisory Group, and turn ideas into action.
England Students Men’s Rugby – Nominations Open!
England Students will host France Universities first May Bank Holiday weekend in an exciting home fixture.
Player nominations are now open for coaches – deadline 20th February 2026.
Ticketing Allocations Information
In order to purchase tickets from your club allocation you must:
• Ensure that your International Ticket Contact (ITC) is up to date on GMS
o How to assign & remove roles - LINK
• If you have updated GMS then you must ALSO inform the ticketing team
o Contact via Ticketing Customer Service
• If you need to view your allocation, please contact Ticketing Customer Service
Clubs must be a voting member of the RFU to receive a ticket allocation (either via the SRFU or a geographical CB). Your voting status can be viewed in GMS –
• In your club account, go to ‘Organisational Profile’
• Click on ‘organisation information’
Please note you can only be a voting member of one Constituent Body at a time, but you may hold non-voting status in multiple.
Rugby Taster Days & Recruitment
We are pleased to see so many universities proactively supporting and encouraging players to transition from Age Grade to Adult Rugby with open days, taster sessions and other recruitment initiatives.
You may be interested in our newly refreshed Player Pathway webpage. The landing page is aligned across both the men’s and women’s pathway and the women’s area is renewed to the programmes we have in place, the curriculum and the key priorities.
We would like to remind all universities of Regulation 15 for your planning and the requirements for when age grade players and adult players play or train together.
Specifically the below:
15.6.2 Players of all ages and both sexes may train and play together in non- competitive, non-
contact rugby provided the following conditions are met:
(a) Regulation 15.8 is applied;
(b) the organiser and/or coach has assessed the session and/or match to be safe for all players; and
(c) under no circumstances is any element of contact rugby permitted and the training session and/or match should be conducted in accordance with specific best practice principles set out in the Age Grade Codes of Practice.
Comments