Gloucester-Hartpury Women

Gloucester-Hartpury Women's Rugby Football Club are an English women's rugby union club based in Hartpury, Gloucestershire. They are the unified women's team of Gloucester Rugby and Hartpury University R.F.C. They were founded in 2014 and since 2017 they have played in Premiership Women's Rugby.

History

2014–2017: Formation & Early Years

In 2014, Gloucester Rugby and Hartpury College came together to found a women's team to be run under the jurisdiction of Gloucester Rugby to capitalise upon the popularity of women's rugby in the area. Hartpury College already had a women's team competing in the BUCS rugby union leagues.

In their first year, Gloucester-Hartpury only played friendly matches, some of which were at Gloucester Rugby's home ground Kingsholm Stadium, whilst the Rugby Football Union decided which league to place them in. The team started with numbers as low as 4 and grew into a much bigger squad. The first captain was Stacy Payne (Hardie) and the vice-captain was Jessica Morgan. The team won the Junior Cup in their first season.

In 2015, the RFU placed them in National 2 South West. In their first season they finished second in the league. The following season, they were unbeaten.

2017–2023: Premier 15's

In 2017, to take advantage of an increase in women's rugby participation following England's victory in the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup, it was announced that Gloucester-Hartpury Women were awarded a franchise in the new women's top flight, the Premier 15s, as part of a reorganisation of women's rugby in England, despite never competing in the Women's Premiership or Women's Championship and moving up two leagues as a result. This was controversial as, despite the franchises being awarded by an independent body, Gloucester-Hartpury Women were awarded the position in top flight at the expense of Lichfield Ladies who had been competing in the top flight of English women's rugby for 15 years. There was speculation that this was due to geographical considerations.

2022–2023: Increased funding & Premier 15's success

Ahead of the 2022-23 Premier 15s season, Gloucester Rugby announced a significant increase in funding to Gloucester-Hartpury by almost 500%, matching an enhanced contribution from Hartpury University. It was also announced that both the men's and the women's team would wear the same design kit. Former Gloucester player and Gloucester-Hartpury coach James Forrester was appointed CEO of the team in 2023.

In 2023, the team won the Premier 15s by beating Exeter Chiefs Women. By doing so, Gloucester-Hartpury became the first team based outside of London to win. The final was held at Kingsholm Stadium, renamed 'Queensholm' for the occasion. The final drew a crowd of over 9,600 spectators, setting a new record and tripling the finals attendance of the previous season.

2023–Present: Premiership Women's Rugby

Premier 15s rebranded as Premiership Women's Rugby for the 2023–24 season onwards. Gloucester-Hartpury improved their form from the previous season winning 15 out of the 16 regualar season games. Gloucester-Hartpury went on to win the final against Bristol Bears 36–24 becoming the second team after Saracens to win two titles in a row.

Club honours

• Premiership Women's Rugby
  • Champions: (2) 2022–23, 2023–24
• Women's Championship Midlands 2
  • Champions: (1) 2016–17
  • Runners-up: (1) 2015–16

Current squad

The Gloucester-Hartpury squad for the 2023–24 season is:

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

List of head coaches

As of 22 June 2024

Notes

Season records & summaries

Gold background denotes champions
Silver background denotes runners-up

Results per opposition

The following table details the past performance of Gloucester-Hartpury against different opponents in Premiership Women's Rugby, between the start of the 2017-18 season and the end of the 2022–23 season.

• Data includes all regular season and play-off matches (semi-finals and finals).
• The 2019–20 season is excluded due to it being abandoned because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• All fixtures added from 2017–18 to 2022–23.
• Excludes Allianz Cup results.

Notable players

Below is a non-exhaustive list of former players for the club who have been particularly notable during their time at the club.

Rugby World Cup

The following are players who have represented their countries at the Rugby World Cup whilst playing for Gloucester-Hartpury:

References