Oxford Harlequins (Oxford Quins) Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Oxford, England. The men's 1st XV currently play in National League 2 East, a level 4 league, following their promotion from Regional 1 Midlands at the end of the 2023–24 season.
Quick Facts Full name, Union ...
Close
In the 2021–22 season the men's 1st XV gained promotion to a new league in the England Rugby Club Championship, Regional 1 South Central, a new nomenclature for National 3 / level five of the English rugby union system. At the end of the 2023-4 season Oxford Quins gained promotion to the National Leagues during a successful campaign in Regional 1 Midlands which resulted in Quins winning the league in only their second season at Level 5. Oxford Quins are the first Oxford club to be promoted to the National Leagues.
As of Sept 2024, the women's 1st XV compete in National Challenge 1 Midlands, level 4 of the England Rugby Women's Club Championship.[1] The men's 2nd XV compete in Counties 1 Tribute Berks/Bucks & Oxon North,[2] level 7 of the RFU rugby pyramid. The men's 3rd XV compete in Counties 3 Tribute Berks Bucks & Oxon North, level 9 of the RFU Rugby pyramid.[3] The women's 2nd XV compete in National Challenge 2, level 5 of the England Rugby women's club championship.[4]
Stu Wells was appointed Director of Rugby in July 2019.[5]
Pete Davies was appointed as Men's Head Coach in August 2019.[6] Davies began his career at Henley Hawks RFC fresh out of university after moving to England from his native nation of Wales. Combined with a brief stint with Newbury in the Championship, Davies spent a total of 10 years playing for the Hawks, making an immediate transition from player to attack/assistant coach in 2010. Having spent four years as Head Coach at Henley (winning 2 promotions to National League 1 in 8 years), Davies played a significant hand in the evolution of a number of international stars and a myriad of Premiership regulars including Piers O'Conor (Bristol Bears), Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs), Will Rowlands (Wasps RFC & Dragons RFC), Theo Brophy-Clews (London Irish), Jack Willis (rugby union) (Wasps RFC & England national rugby union team) and Jonah Holmes (London Welsh RFC, Wasps RFC & Wales national rugby union team) .[7]
The Women's Head Coach for the 2022–23 season is Pat Metcalfe-Jones (more info on Metcalfe-Jones below).[8] At the start of the 2023-24 season Metcalfe-Jones left to work at Ealing Trailfinders and Fin Kelly was appointed Head Coach of the Brookes Quins Partnership Women's section covering Oxford Quins and Oxford Brookes rugby.
Following the appointment of Stu Wells and Pete Davies in 2019 the men's 1st XV achieved its highest league finish since the 2015–16 season before the season was curtailed by the national lockdowns of March 2020.[9][10]
The 2020–21 season was cancelled due to the Covid Pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.[11]
The 2021–22 season was a record-breaking season for Oxford Quins men's 1st XV, in which the team, under co-captains Allan Purchase & Nick Marshall, won 25 out of 26 league matches, scored 1046 points, amassed 20 try bonus points, and despite starting their campaign with a -5 points deduction, still managed to win the league and, as league champions, were awarded promotion to tier 5 of the England Rugby Club Championship.[12]
Oxford Quins Men's 1st XV spent one season (2022-2023) in Regional 1 London & South East and achieved a top 4 finish. [13] before being league transferred to Regional 1 Midlands for the 2023-24 season.
The 2023-24 league campaign quickly became a two-horse race between Oxford Quins and Stourbridge as both clubs opened a gap between themselves and the rest of the league, by Christmas Quins had beaten Stourbridge away and only dropped one match opening up a 5-point lead. On 6th January 2024 Quins beat Stourbridge at home 18-13 and remained 10 points clear until Saturday 16h March 2024 where a 7-54 away win at Banbury resulted in Oxford Quins effectively winning the league with 2 rounds to go [14] The result meant that Oxford Quins won promotion to the National Leagues for the 2024-5 season, the first Oxford club to do so.
By Sept 2022 Oxford Quins men's section had sufficient playing numbers to relaunch a Men's 3rd XV in Berkshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire (BBO) 3 North, tier 10 of the RFU Club Championship. Led by their Captain, Henry Folds, and former Oxford Quins Director of Rugby Alan Hancock, the Oxford Quins 3s finished their first season in 6 years as League Champions and won promotion to the new Counties 3 Tribute BBO North, tier 9 of the RFU Club Championship.[15][16][17]
In the 2022-23 season the 3rd XV achieved a second successive league win and were promoted to Level 8 of the RFU Rugby Pyramid, Counties 1.[18]
Ahead of the 2019–20 season Oxford Brookes RFC moved operations from Marston Ferry Road to Horspath Sports Ground.[19]
In July 2020 the Directors of Rugby at Oxford Quins and Oxford Brookes, Stu Wells and Joe Winpenny, collaborated to create a partnership between the two institutions, subsequently, Oxford Quins and Oxford Brookes University formed the Brookes Quins Partnership. The partnership provides an elite performance pathway for talented Oxford Brookes players whilst creating a sustainable talent pool of players excited by the opportunity to play for Oxford Quins.
At the same time, it facilitates workforce opportunities for students - providing them with experience relevant to their academic work and future career aspirations. In addition, players and coaches look to embrace social and civic duties in improving physical and mental wellness among members of the local community. Ther Brookes Quins Physiotherapy Development Program was formed ahead of the 2021-22 season and provides the opportunity for 10 final year BSc or MSc Physiotherapty students to gain the RFU's PHICIS pitchside qualification and to gain sports medicine and MSK experience in Oxford Quins bi-weekly physio clinics, working under the supervision of the Oxford Quins Head of Medical (currently Ella Sissons) and her team of qualified physiotherapists. Brookes are keen to develop and make better use of the site that Oxford Quins currently play at and to build closer connections between the two organisations. [20]
In August 2022 former Premiership player, Tom Varndell, was appointed as Head of Community at Oxford Quins and Head of Men's Rugby at Oxford Brookes University in a new combined role under the Brookes Quins Partnership umbrella. Varndell made 180 appearances in the Premiership including 82 for Leicester Tigers, 88 for Wasps and most recently 10 appearances for Bristol Bears. He held the record for Premiership tries scored, 92 tries until May 2022. Tom also has 4 England caps, represented England 7s, and won a Commonwealth 7s Gold medal. At 6 foot 4” and weighing over 200lbs Tom was one of the most prolific try scorers the Premiership has ever seen.[21] Varndell also registered with Oxford Quins men's 1st XV as an amateur player.[22]
In September 2020, Oxford Quins launched a Women's Section with the appointment of Pat Metcalfe-Jones as Women's Head Coach.[23] At the time of her appointment, Metcalfe-Jones was the head coach & a player at Oxford University Women's RFC having previously been the Head Coach at Oxford Brookes University. She had combined her role as player/coach at Oxford University with playing Premiership Rugby for Richmond in the RFU Tyrell's Premier 15s (as of 2022 known as the Allianz Premier 15s).[24] Upon her appointment to the Brookes Quins Partnership Metcalfe-Jones took on a newly created dual role as Head of Women's Rugby at both Oxford Quins and Oxford Brookes, the former Harlequins & Richmond Premiership player leading the new combined women's program under the Brookes Quins umbrella.[25]
The newly formed Women's 1st XV at Oxford Quins was entered into Level 4 of the RFU Women's Championship, National Challenge 1, for the 2021–22 season.[26] In September 2021 former England International Charlotte "Beanie" Barras was appointed as Women's Assistant Coach at Oxford Quins, working under Metcalfe-Jones.[27] Barras scored the only try for England in the 2010 Rugby World Cup Final against New Zealand.[28] In their first season, Oxford Quins Women's 1st XV finished 5th in NC1 South East [29] finishing the season with a 51–37 win over Drybrook, a team that they had lost to 39–0 in their first league match of the season ([30]) and squad numbers had grown sufficiently to enable the creation of a Women's 2nd XV for the 2022–23 season: the new 2nd XV were entered into tier 5 of the RFU Women's Championship, National Challenge 2.[31]
In May 2021, following discussions between Oxford Quins Director of Rugby, Stu Wells, and the Lord Mayor of Oxford, Mark Lygo, the club launched the inaugural Lord Mayor's Festival of Rugby in collaboration with Oxford City Council. The festival raised money for the Lord Mayor's charities and introduced a new prestigious event to the Oxford rugby calendar that saw teams compete for the Lord Mayor's Men's Cup, Plate and Bowl, Women's Cup & Under 18 Boys' Cup. Following the success of the inaugural festival, it was agreed that Lord Mayor's Festival would become an annual event.[32][33]
In April 2022 Oxford Quins relaunched the Oxford 7s, following discussions between Oxford Quins Director of Rugby, Stu Wells, and the head of Apache 7s, Adam Hurst.[34] The Oxford 7s inaugural competition featured an elite men's competition with teams from Jamaica 7s, WildDogs 7s, Apache 7s, Oxford Quins 7s, CRX Malborough, Oxford Brookes & Oxford Barbarians and was won by CRX Malborough. An inaugural women's competition featured teams from Oxford University 7s, Oxford Quins 7s, Oxford Brookes 7s & Chinnor Kites and was won by Oxford Brookes 7s. The men's open featured teams from across the region and was won by the Stiff Richards. The Oxford 7s is played annually with Oxford Quins Community Coach & former Premiership Player, Tom Varndell, overseeing the event with DoR Stu Wells.[35][36][37]
Oxford Harlequins RFC was formed in 1996 following the merger of Oxford Marathons RFC and Oxford Old Boys RFC.[38] Oxford Quins are now the leading club in the City of Oxford taking over from Oxford R.F.C. whose 1st XV as of 2024 play in tier 8 of the RFU rugby pyramid in the Counties 2 Berks Bucks Oxon North, a league below Oxford Quins Men's 2nd XV.[39][40]
In 2015 a possible merger between Oxford RFC and Oxford Harlequins failed to materialise and Oxford Quins moved their matches to Marston Ferry Road.[41]
After several moves looking for a new home in 2018 Oxford Harlequins moved from Marston Ferry Road to Horspath Sports Ground following the grant of a 30-year lease on the ground from Oxford City Council and the decision by the RFU to invest over £750,000 to build a new floodlit artificial turf rugby pitch at the new site. [42]
In July 2021 Oxford Harlequins adopted a new brand and logo, dropping the "Harlequins" in favour of "Quins" and replacing the logo with a more modern design.[43]
The club runs an Under 16 to Under 18 Academy: In 2019-20 former Tonga International Keni Fisilau, who also amassed over 200 caps in the English Rugby Championship, was appointed as Head Coach of the Oxford Quins Academy.[44][45]
Oxford Quins runs a large Mini and Junior Youth section for boys and girls aged 5 to 18, as of 2018 the youth section was one of the largest in Oxfordshire with over 450 players.[46]
In Sept 2021, following discussions between Oxford Quins Director of Rugby Stu Wells and the Head of Rugby at St Edward's School, Oxford, Rob Cottrell, the U18 Bullingdon Cup competition was created between Oxford Quins Under 18 Boy's Academy 1st XV and St Edwards's (Teddies) 1st XV, the two teams competing annually for the Bullingdon Cup. The remnants of Bullingdon Green form part of Oxford Quins ground at Horspath Recreation ground [47][48][49] and was the site of one of the oldest rugby fixtures in Oxford, 9 years after St Edward's Oxford was founded, in which Oxford Military College played an annual fixture against St Edward's 1st XV between 1874 & 1876 on Bullingdon Green.[50]
Men's 1st team:
Men's 2nd team:
Men's 3rd team:
Men's 4th team:
Oxford Marathon
Oxford Old Boys
Oxford Quins have 10 cup wins if you count the 3 titles won by Oxford Old Boys (who merged with Oxford Marathons to form the Harlequins in 1996).
