Chinnor R.F.C.

England Chinnor
Full nameChinnor Rugby Football Club
UnionRFU
NicknameThe Villagers
Founded1962 (1962)
RegionOxfordshire Rugby Football Union
Ground(s)Kingsey Road, Thame (Capacity: 3,000 (560 seats))
ChairmanNick Stainton
PresidentSimon Vickers
Director of RugbyNick Easter
Coach(es)Craig Hampson, Tom Cruse
CaptainWillie Ryan
LeagueChamp Rugby
2024–2510th
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
chinnor-rfc.com

Chinnor Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club based in Thame, Oxfordshire. They currently play in the second tier of the English league system, Champ Rugby, following their promotion from National League 1 having won promotion in the 2023–24 season. The club regularly runs five senior teams as well as a full youth setup from age 5 upwards. Chinnor's youth setup is widely thought of as one of the best in the country having produced top Premiership players such as Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Dave Seymour (Saracens), Paul Volley (Wasps), and Sam Jones (Wasps). Chinnor became the first club in Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire to establish an under-19 academy.

History

Chinnor RFC was formed in 1962, by Frank Angel, Cyril Perry and Marcus Cann at the Bird in Hand pub in Chinnor, playing its first game the following year.[1] Norman Baldwin (the sponge) was one of the first to play for Chinnor and wrote the club's first “song book”. The 1970s saw the club expand to include junior and youth teams and in 1976 the club won the Oxfordshire Cup. When the English league system started the club was placed in Bucks and Oxon Division 1 and progressed through the Southern Counties section to gain promotion to the National Leagues in 2006; the youngest club to do so.[2] The club gained a further promotion from National League 3 South West in 2012.

During the 2016–17 National League 2 South season, the club achieved a (then) record attendance at Kingsey Road of 1,580 during a top of the table clash against Bishop's Stortford, a game Chinnor won 27–25.[3]

On 13 April 2024, Chinnor beat Birmingham Moseley to take the National League 1 title with a game to go.[4] During this season, the club also smashed the previous Kingsey Road attendance with 2,270 spectators attending the top of the league clash with rivals Rams on 15 December 2023, which would also be the best attended game in National League 1 that season.[5]

Ground

Chinnor originally played at the Towersey Playing Fields in the village of Towersey being granted a 25 year lease in 1971 and building a club house in 1972, before moving to their current ground, Kingsey Road, 1.5 miles away in Thame in 1986.[6]

Kingsey Road is situated on the eastern outskirts of Thame. The ground has been upgraded throughout its history with a 350 seated temporary stand added ahead of the 2024–25 season, later upgraded to a permanent 560 seater stand ahead of the 2025–26 season.[7][8] Capacity is currently around 3,000, which includes 560 seated in the covered grandstand.[9]

A record crowd of 3,000 was achieved on 14 March 2026 when Kingsey Road hosted England U18 against France U18.[9]

Honours

1st team:

2nd team:

  • Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier A champions: 2005–06
  • Oxfordshire RFU County Cup winners (2): 2012, 2013

3rd team:

  • Berks/Bucks & Oxon 1 champions (2): 2005–06, 2016–17

Current standings

2025–26 Champ Rugby table
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts Qualification
1 Ealing Trailfinders 24 24 0 0 1039 395 +644 21 0 117 Play-off
semi-finals
2 Bedford Blues 24 17 1 6 758 563 +195 19 3 92
3 Coventry 24 15 0 9 965 666 +299 21 6 87 Play-off
quarter-finals
4 Worcester Warriors 24 15 0 9 843 554 +289 19 5 84
5 Chinnor 24 15 0 9 640 591 +49 10 5 75
6 Hartpury 24 13 2 9 672 597 +75 12 3 71
7 Cornish Pirates 24 12 1 11 720 617 +103 15 3 68
8 Nottingham 24 11 1 12 567 569 −2 12 8 66
9 Ampthill 24 11 0 13 729 830 −101 16 4 64
10 Doncaster Knights 24 10 3 11 638 593 +45 13 4 63
11 Caldy 24 9 0 15 543 758 −215 11 4 51
12 Richmond 24 6 1 17 487 777 −290 6 4 36 Relegation play-off
13 London Scottish 24 5 0 19 439 885 −446 8 2 30
14 Cambridge (R) 24 0 1 23 400 1045 −645 6 4 12 Relegated
Updated to match(es) played on 17 April 2026. Source: England Rugby
Rules for classification: If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Number of matches drawn
  3. Difference between points for and against
  4. Total number of points for
  5. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  6. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Current squad

The Chinnor squad for the 2025–26 season is:[13][14]

Chinnor 2025–26 Champ Rugby squad

Props

  • South Africa Kabous Bezuidenut
  • England Rob Hardwick
  • England Kai Owen
  • Ireland Lawson Porter
  • Ireland Alex Pybus
  • Georgia (country) Ramaz Rukhadze

Hookers

  • England Will Cave
  • England Chris Moore
  • Ireland Luke Thompson
  • Scotland Alun Walker

Locks

  • South Africa Conor-Terrah Brockschmidt
  • Scotland Jamie Campbell
  • Zimbabwe Dan Cooke
  • England Isaac Ridge

Back row

  • New Zealand Jamie Carr
  • England Harry Dugmore
  • England Scott Hall
  • England Joe Harman
  • England Geordie Irvine
  • Scotland Karl Main
  • England Cameron Rafferty
  • England George Stokes
  • South Africa Izzy Wharton

Scrum-halves

  • England Luke Carter
  • England Harry Charman
  • England Charles James-Carter
  • England Callum Pascoe

Fly-halves

  • Scotland Nathan Chamberlain
  • New Zealand Nick Smith
  • England George Worboys

Centres

  • England James Bourton
  • England Sam Hanks
  • England Morgan Passman
  • England Tom Watson

Wings

  • England Toby Cousins
  • England Kieran Goss
  • Scotland Grant Hughes
  • Scotland Freddie Owsley

Fullbacks

  • England Joe Brock
(c) denotes the team captain.
(vc) denotes vice-captain.
Bold denotes internationally capped players.
ST denotes a short-term signing.
Source: [13]

References

  1. ^ "Welcome To The Bird In Hand". chinnor-rfc.com. 30 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Club History" by former player John Gardner, at official website
  3. ^ "Bittersweet victory for Chinnor in pulsating match". Chinnor RFC (Pitchero). 1 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Champions! Chinnor celebrate in fine style". The RugbyPaper. No. 813. 14 April 2024. pp. 28–29.
  5. ^ "Results". The RugbyPaper. No. 796. 17 December 2023. pp. 30–31, 41.
  6. ^ "Building On Strong Foundations". Towersey Community Fields. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  7. ^ "Chairman's BIG August Update". Chinnor Rugby. 2 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Minor/Major improvement works version 2". National League Rugby. 24 September 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Heartbreak for most of Bath stars involved in Six Nations finale". Bath Echo. 17 March 2026.
  10. ^ "South West 1". Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  11. ^ "Trelawny's Army Final League Tables 2007-2008".
  12. ^ "Champions! Chinnor celebrate in fine style". The RugbyPaper. No. 813. 14 April 2024. pp. 28–29.
  13. ^ a b "First XV squad". www.chinnor-rfc.com. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
  14. ^ "Chinnor squad for season 2025/2026". all.rugby. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
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