SANDBACH RUGBY CLUB GEAR UP FOR AN EXCITING NEW SEASON OF RUGBY

The full pre-season programme features a rugby festival and the return of rugby mental health charity LooseHeadz for an exciting double header

Preparations for the new season are fully underway for Sandbach Rugby Club’s senior teams. Pre-season training began at the start of July for the men’s teams with over thirty players running the gruelling killer mile up to the top of the iconic Mow Cop Castle. Training then returned to Bradwall Road, the home of Sandbach RUFC, later that week and continues to take place twice weekly.

Details for Sandbach’s pre-season programme have been finalised and it started with a joint live training session with Stoke RUFC last Thursday. This session included small sided games with a backs and forwards split, as well as real match scenarios.

The teams were joined by match officials Nathan Power and Jonny Cartwright, who can be found on Instagram as @the_bald_ref, from MADREFS, the Manchester & District Rugby Union Referees’ Society. Both are aspirational and enthusiastic referees, and they provided a positive experience for all the players, which contributes to a greater understanding of the game.

This Saturday a rugby festival at Bradwall Road will take place from 1.00pm onwards. This will be a first opportunity for the players to put into practice all the challenging work done during the pre-season training sessions. The invited teams include Bowdon RUFC, Cleckheaton RUFC, Nant Conwy RFC, Ruthin RFC and Sandal RUFC.

Following the festival, Sandbach are delighted to welcome back LooseHeadz, the rugby mental health charity, on 23rd August for a thrilling double header. LooseHeadz aim to place a mental health lead in every rugby club around the world and help to tackle the stigma of mental health.

Last year’s fixture was organised by Mike Grapes, a Sandbach player and a coach for the Under 11s team. Last year Mike said that he planned to “build on the momentum” of the fixture and he has done that by planning a special family friendly day. It will include rugby, bouncy castles, music and food, with a focus on the amazing work that LooseHeadz do to tackle mental health in rugby.

A Sandbach Social XV will face LooseHeadz XV in the ‘Bradley Peace Memorial Cup’. The cup is named in memory of Mike’s brother Bradley, who tragically took his own life two years ago. Last season’s match was one of the highlights of the summer, not just the action on the pitch, but through the camaraderie of the players and both teams will be hoping for the same again this year.

Sandbach Women XV will start the day at 1.30pm with their fixture against LooseHeadz Women XV. This match will be the first game for a Sandbach women’s team in over two decades, which will further add to the occasion.

The Sandbach women’s team has been steadily growing after they launched a new initiative in January called ‘New Year, New Me, New Sport’, which aimed to attract more players to the sport. The team, led by Head of Women & Girls Rugby Ros Wiggins, resumed training last week and are eager to get their season underway. Hannah Chilvers and Emma Gardner, who are assistant coaches for the girls team, will form part of the Sandbach team, alongside Ros, and all are hugely excited about the fixture against LooseHeadz.

New players interested in joining the women’s team will be extremely welcome every Wednesday night, with the under 18s training at 6pm and the over 18s at 7pm.

For more information, contact:

sandbachwomensrugby@gmail.com

The final pre-season fixture will feature a Sandbach side against Bridgnorth on 30th August. Sandbach Development XV will face Stafford at the same time with both games kicking off at 2pm. This will be the final opportunity for the players to stake their claim for selection in the league opener against Burnage.

Sandbach’s director of rugby, Andrew Bird, commented on the club’s pre-season preparations:

“We have been delighted with the commitment and enthusiasm from the players towards the pre-season programme. Block one finished at the end of July with four challenging weeks underpinned with rugby but theming each week with a key athletic fundamental. This gave us a real focus and kept things fresh. We are looking forward to dialling into the rugby detail ahead of the festival, then onto Bridgnorth at the end of the month before aiming to get the league off to a flyer at Burnage in early September.”

Sandbach, who finished third last season in the Northern Division – Regional 2 North West and reached the quarter-final of the Papa John’s Men’s Community Cup - Regional 2 North Plate, will start their season away to Burnage on 6th September. Burnage, who finished 4th last campaign, were the Bach’s opening and closing league opponents last season and were the only team in the league who managed to do the double over them. Sandbach will be looking to change that statistic and open the league campaign with a big win. These away fixtures could prove to be pivotal if the Bach are to top last season and secure promotion.

A week later at Bradwall Road, Douglas will travel from the Isle of Man for Sandbach’s first home league game of the season.

The teams for the 2025/26 season in the Northern Division – Regional 2 North West will include newly promoted West Park St Helens and North Ribblesdale as well as Birkenhead Park, who dropped down a division after a brief spell at Level 5.

Sandbach’s first local derby will be away to Northwich on Saturday 20th September. They will head back to Northwich on Saturday 29th November to play local rivals Winnington Park.

As the new season of rugby approaches, Sandbach RUFC is raring to go, ready to make this season one to remember.

For more information on LooseHeadz, visit: 

https://looseheadz.co.uk/ 

and follow:

#TackleTheStigma

Pictured - Sandbach's Senior Men's Squad