Women's rugby · 2026-27
History
A first season in BUCS Super Rugby that ended in the Championship final.
Recent record
The story so far
- 22 April 2026 Lost the Women's BUCS Super Rugby Championship Final to Loughborough, 45-5, in South Wales.
- 8 April 2026 Beat Hartpury in the semi-final to reach the Championship Final in their debut BUCS Super Rugby season.
- 2025-26 Finished fifth in the Women's BUCS Super Rugby league table.
- 28 August 2025 Sophie Molton named captain for Brunel's first BUCS Super Rugby season.
Since the early 1980s
Women at Brunel Rugby
Women's rugby at Brunel and its predecessor institutions dates back to the early 1980s. The women's and men's teams share a club identity and a history of representing the university together.
The programme has grown through successive promotions and cup wins. Promotion into BUCS Super Rugby for 2025-26 took the players to the highest level of the university game.
Through the Ealing Trailfinders partnership the women's academy offers a route towards senior performance rugby while students study for their degrees.
1798 to 1891
Borough Road beginnings
Brunel's rugby heritage reaches back to Borough Road College, one of the university's predecessor institutions. The college began in Joseph Lancaster's school, founded in Southwark in 1798, and became known for teacher education and for sport.
The move to Isleworth in 1889 marked an important stage in that development. Under Principal P A Barnett, games became a regular part of college life. Rugby was recorded in the October 1891 edition of the college newspaper, The B.'s, which reported that the association football and rugby teams had started well. The club later took the nickname “The Bees”.
1900 to 1914
An emerging rugby tradition
At the turn of the twentieth century Borough Road drew players and teachers with strong rugby backgrounds. Scotland international and former captain Allen Ramsey Smith joined the college as a tutor in 1900, bringing experience as both a player and a coach.
Rhys Gabe attended Borough Road between 1900 and 1902 and made his Wales debut against Ireland in 1901. He toured with the British Isles team in 1904, an early link between the college and international rugby.
Inter-college sport grew over the same period. Borough Road played St Mary's, St Mark's, Westminster and St John's, and honours caps recognised achievement in the college's leading teams.
1914 to 1959
War and recovery
The First World War disrupted college life and put considerable pressure on Borough Road. Rugby continued through the inter-war years, with fixtures that included matches against Saracens in the early 1920s.
After the Second World War, sport and physical education expanded under George Little and James Biddle, whose association with the college ran from student to lecturer to head of department. In 1959 Borough Road became a specialist institution for training physical education teachers.
1976 to 2004
From Borough Road to Brunel
Borough Road merged with Maria Grey College and Chiswick Polytechnic in 1976 to form the West London Institute of Higher Education. The institute became part of Brunel University in 1995, bringing its sporting traditions with it.
The men's programme had national and European success in the early 2000s, with BUSA championship titles in 2001 and 2003 and a European universities title in 2004.
2018 to now
The modern programme
The partnership with Ealing Trailfinders opened a new chapter. The men won promotion to BUCS Premier after an unbeaten league campaign in 2019-20, and both first teams now play in BUCS Super Rugby, connecting the Borough Road tradition to a modern professional pathway.
British and Irish Lions