Talking English Uni Rugby: with Jamie Benson (Harlequins) Austin Emens (Bath) and Zac Ward (Ulster)
The vast majority of people will agree: stats are boring. That’s not to say they can’t be useful, for example, seven of England's touring party to Argentina have experience with BUCS rugby. However, actually talking to people who have played English uni rugby and are now playing in the Gallagher English Premiership/ United Rugby Championship (URC) creates a much more interesting picture.
Ulster’s Zac Ward, who studied Sport and Exercise Science at Hartpury College, highlights how playing university rugby allowed him to grow as a player.
“It helped me develop as a player as it gave me the opportunity to learn from players all across the UK and overseas. Hartpury was a place where a lot of players from across the world came to play and compete at a high level. It’s a unique place where you get the opportunity to play both BUCS university rugby and Championship rugby. I had to learn to compete with the best players, and it helped me massively learn my craft as a rugby player.”
Bath’s Austin Emens, who studied Business at Bath University, reflects on how university rugby facilitated bonding with other students and the benefits of university rugby programmes.
“playing on a Wednesday night in front of fellow students and then loved going out with the lads after games. Truly some great times and great memories made. From more of a professional aspect, the university setups are as close to a professional environment as you can get without actually being one and there are plenty of pathways into the pro game”
Harlequin’s Jamie Benson who studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, noted that being a student and playing rugby worked, as rugby provides a necessary stress outlet and his studies benefited from this.
“My studies helped my rugby and my rugby helped my studies. Although tough, studying at university has helped me to be more relaxed on the pitch, taking pressure off my career, as I know I have a fall back option if things don’t go well. This allows me to play with more freedom, and enjoy what I do.”
When speaking with these players the overriding theme was how beneficial the social aspect of their University Rugby experience was. Universities in the United Kingdom are consistently producing professional rugby players. It would be disingenuous to suggest that this is solely down to the high-tech gyms, analysis suites and recovery rooms.
Could coupling high-performance environments with team experiences close to what boys experience in secondary school be an essential part of a country’s rugby pathway?
Sorry to leave you with a statistic, notably only two out of thirty (i.e. 6.667%) of the Men’s Under 20 Irish squad play for a university team in Dublin. None of the 2025/2026 season's 1st-year academy players in Leinster or Munster will be playing for a university team.