Lancashire Rugby

Lancashire Clubs with Colts Rugby 

• A club's abilty to field a Junior or Senior colts team changes each season. This list represents the 2025/26 season.
• Clubs can be contacted through the 'CLUBS' tab or this link https://www.lancashirerfu.com/club
• Colts Team Managers can be contacted directly via this link https://www.colts-rugby.org.uk/

PRINCIPLES

• Colts Rugby is the transitional bridge between Junior Age Grade Rugby and Senior Adult Rugby.  
• The aim of Colts Rugby is to develop skills in male players aged 16 to 18, in a competitive and supportive environment, encouraging them to take responsiblity, on and off the pitch, and prepare them physically and mentally for an enjoyable experience in the Mens game at a Club or University. 
• To tackle the sigificant drop out in participation between 16 and 24 the RFU have produced an Age Grade to Adult Transition Guide aimed at helping clubs to create a supportive, aspirational, postive environment. 

PLAYER REGISTRATION

All players in England, Male and Female, Age Grade and Adult, are required to register annually on RFU GMS

REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY

Lancashire RFU select U17 and U18 squads to represent the county. More information on player nomination, eligibity, selection and county fixtures can be found on the TEAMS tab.https://www.lancashirerfu.com/teams

THE NORTH WEST COLTS LEAGUE 

The North West Colts League exists to serve Club based Colts Players at the U18 and U17 age-grades. Established in 1999 through a partnership between the Lancashire RFU Colts Committee and the Cheshire RFU Youth Committee, the aim of the Colts League was to address concerns over the numbers of youths hemorrhaging the game, by introducing regular competitive fixtures to help retain, recruit and develop youth players and thereby providing a conduit from Junior Rugby to the Senior game. The inaugural 1999/2000 Colts League season saw 25 entries at Senior (U19's) Colts, and 25 at Junior (U17's) Colts, and thereafter the number of Teams grew steadily each season. With many U19 players being away at University a decision was made in 2014 to adopt U18 leagues. 

Now in its 26th year, the North West Colts League has grown beyond its Lancashire and Cheshire origins to include teams from Cumbria, Staffordshire and Shropshire but its ethos remains unchanged. Player inclusion and development is maintained above League placing or the winning of trophies. Leagues are seeded to ensure competitive rugby between closely matched teams and fixtures for Junior U17 and Senior U18 colts are organised within the Colts Structured Season. You can find more information here https://www.colts-rugby.org.uk/

Colts League Fixtures and Results

The Lancashire RFU website is powered by GMS (Game Management System) and as such, with the support of team managers submitting EMCs (Electronic Match Cards), a comprehensive live listing of all Junior Colts and Senior Colts Fixtures, Results and League standings plus access to the GMS archive of Colts League records can be found here, on this single link

https://www.lancashirerfu.com/competitions/north-west-colts-league/541/league-table

COLTS COUNTY CUP

The Lancashire Senior Colts and Junior Colts Cup and Trophy knock out competitons are scheduled within the Colts Structured Season and administered by the Lancashire RFU Colts Committe.

• Frank Morgan U18 Cup
• Joe McDonough U18 Trophy 
• Rob Briers U17 Cup 
• Alan James U17 Trophy

The Colts Cup Regulations can be found under the GOVERNANCE tab or on this link https://www.lancashirerfu.com/colts-latest-competition

The Lancashire RFU website is powered by GMS (Game Management System) and as such, a comprehensive live listing of all Junior Colts and Senior Colts Cup ties and results can be found on this link https://www.lancashirerfu.com/competitions/lancashire-colts-cup/603/results

RFU BOYS PDG PATHWAY

The boys' pathway is governed by the Professional Game Partnership and involves the RFU and Premiership Rugby working together. The responsibility for player development rests with the Premiership academy system. The purpose of each academy is to produce players for the Premiership and England.  Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire are affiliated with the Sale Sharks Academy and more information on the Sharks development programme and the player attributes they value can be found on the link.  

Boys PDG Development (U17 and U18)

• The Boys' PDG development phase follows on from the foundation (U15-U16) phase.
• Selection usually comes from participation in the foundation phase but there are still opportunities for players to be nominated and join at a variety of stages.
• Sessions are driven by a national curriculum and are delivered by full-time and sessional academy coaching staff.
• The playing opportunities for this phase fall into two periods of the year - pre-season and post-Christmas.
• There is an academy league for the U18 age group.