The Rugby Academy

SGS Male Rugby Academy is now recruiting student-athletes for the 2022 academic year. Apply online here.

All candidates for the Rugby Academy must be on a full-time course at SGS College. We offer a range of educational and vocational opportunities such as A-Levels, BTEC Qualifications and apprenticeships. We also offer a unique College Level to University pathway with a range of specialist degree qualifications at our University Centre WISE.

Candidates must also be over 16 from the start date of their chosen course. For more information, please contact our Director of Rugby at dan.cox@sgscol.ac.uk

Proven Track Record of Development

The SGS Rugby Academy has a longstanding reputation of developing aspiring rugby players since its conception as one of the original academies at the college. As an academy we are committed to supporting each student-athlete to achieve their personal best on and off-field. There is a consistent drive to not only achieve high performance on the pitch but to being recognised nationally for our approach to talent development.

The SGS Rugby programme takes a holistic approach to talent development, focusing on not just the technical and tactical but the social, psychological and physical elements of development. Athletes will have access to a multi-disciplinary team of strength and conditioning coaches, medical staff, performance analysis and sports psychology.

The ACE Group will focus on the renowned RFU ACE League, 2nd XV fixtures against other ACE Schools and the RFU Academy League through our alignment with Bristol Bears. Our AOC Group represents SGS College in the AOC Cups and local 7s competitions.

As an academy we also strive to broaden our athletes experiences through an international tours. Previous tours have included South Africa, Canada, Japan, Italy and Spain.

Notable Successes

The SGS Rugby Academy is a proven pathway into professional rugby, through our partnership with Bristol Bears. It is the aspiration of many of our student-athletes to play professional rugby and it is the goal of the academy to support all in their aspriational targets, currently there are 16 former SGS Academy players in the first team or academy squad at Bristol Bears.

Our highly qualified coaches have a range of experience in the talent development realm, significantly in the Academy Pathway at Bristol Bears.

Our notable past students include Wales and British Lions international Taulupe Faletau, Italy International Jake Polledri, GB Sevens International Alex Davies and Bristol Bears regulars Joe Joyce, Andy Uren and Mitch Eadie.

We also consistently have athletes that represent National Age Grade sides for England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales on both the 15s and 7's circuit.