BUCS Rugby Union - Halfway Review

The Christmas holidays have come for the University students up and down the UK which means the BUCS Rugby Union season takes a break until the New Year and Talking Rugby Union looks at the progress the key teams have made so far this season in their divisions. 

Premier South A

It has been an enthralling first half of the season in this league with the league leaders changing most weeks, but heading into the festive period, the University of Exeter lead the way.

Exeter are four points clear and have won eight of their nine matches this season with recent victories in Wales as they beat Swansea University and Cardiff Metropolitan. They do have four more games left of the season, but have to play third placed the University of Bath twice. The league is far from wrapped up just yet.

In between Exeter and Bath are Hartpury College who have now won their last two have they were beaten by Exeter two weeks ago. Their wins came against Bath and Cardiff University and they have won six of their nine matches this season. Hartpury do not have to play either Exeter or Bath in their remaining games of the 2014/15 season which could be a major advantage to them.

Having been on a four game winning run and at the top of the league, Bath’s form as dipped recently having picked up just one win their last three matches. Despite this, they do stay third after a crucial 5-29 win against Swansea on Wednesday. Bath’s title hopes have been dented by their recent defeats plus they lost both matches against Hartpury this season.

Premier North A

Leeds Beckett have led this league from the word go this season and headed into the Christmas break in style with their seventh win in eight matches as they beat Nottingham 51-14 nine days ago. That was their sixth straight home league win and they are two points clear of second placed Loughborough with two games in hand.

Third placed Durham are three points behind Loughborough with a game in hand and having won their last four, go into the Christmas break in high spirits. They beat local rivals Northumbria and then Nottingham on Wednesday to keep up their good run of form as they look to challenge for promotion in the New Year.

Near neighbours Newcastle ended 2014 with a 32-12 defeat to Loughborough on Wednesday and have won just once in their last four matches. They made an excellent start to the season, but now find themselves in fifth place having lost five of their nine games this season. They will want to find their early season form when they get back to action in January.

Finally, it has been a tough season for the University of Leeds so far. They travelled to Loughborough and then to Northumbria over the last two weeks and lost both games. They have not won an away fixture in 10 matches and sit bottom of Premier North A with just one win from their nine games so far.

Premier North B

Nottingham Trent’s season seems to be on a downward spiral as they started the campaign unbeaten in four matches, but since then they have won just once in their last four league games. That win came on Wednesday against Worcester after they were beaten by Birmingham. They do enter the Christmas period on the back of win and also they are in the last 16 of the cup where they will face fellow Premier North B side Manchester University in February.

Speaking of Manchester University, they pulled off an excellent win on Wednesday as they beat league leaders Durham 2nds 24-5 at the Armitage site. The week before, they saw of the challenge from the University of York and go into the New Year with just one defeat in nine matches in all competitions. Maybe they didn’t want Christmas to come just yet!

Northern 1A

The University of Liverpool enter the holidays on the back of a narrow 21-19 defeat to Lancaster University which they suffered on Wednesday. Seven days earlier they had beaten Sheffield Hallam and with five wins from eight matches so far this season, it leaves them in second place. However, they are 11 points off league leaders the University of Sheffield, but it has been a relatively satisfying season so far for Liverpool. 

Northern 2A

One of the sides which Talking Rugby Union follows is Manchester Met and I am glad we do as they have been scintillating so far this season. They top Northern 2A by four points having won all five of their league games. They beat Edge Hill 53-0 in the first week of December, but their 100 per cent record in all competitions ended when they were knocked out of the cup by Hull. Nevertheless, they have control proceedings thus far in Northern 2A.

I have mentioned a number of times that UCLAN went on a run of one win in 20 matches, but they finally came to an end on Wednesday when they beat Liverpool 2nds 12-3 at the UCLan Sports Arena. They have moved up to third in the league now, but are seven points behind second placed Keele.

And finally Edge Hill who are one place below UCLAN. They finished for Christmas last week after being thumped by Man Met and they have won just twice all season in the league. One thing they can look forward after the festive break is their Quarter-Final cup tie with Northumbria 2nds which takes place in Feburary.