Edinburgh

History of Edinburgh Rugby

The history of the Edinburgh rugby team can be traced all the way back to 1872, when the Edinburgh District team played in the first ever inter-district match against the Glasgow District.

Throughout the amateur era of rugby union in Scotland, the Edinburgh District side were highly competitive. On several occasions, they were even asked to play against national opposition. In fact, the team was strong enough to beat Canada in 1962, Fiji in 1982 and Japan in 1986. They also won the Scottish Inter-District Championship 18 times during the amateur era.

One year after rugby union allowed professionalism, the Edinburgh District side evolved into Edinburgh Rugby, a fully-professional side. After several turbulent years and a number of rebrands and restructures, the team joined the inaugural season of the Celtic League (now the United Rugby Championship) in 2001. 

Ever since, the team has been moderately successful and they reached the quarter-final stage of the competition in only their second appearance. However, turmoil followed and the team was briefly sold and owned privately before it returned to the Scottish Rugby Union. Shortly after, in the 2008-09 season, Edinburgh Rugby finished second in the Celtic League. To date, their best finish in the competition came in the 2019-20 season. Here they topped the league phase before falling to Ulster in the semi-finals. 

In the professional era of rugby, the Edinburgh Rugby team has also experienced several other successes. Most notably, they finished as runners-up in the EPCR Challenge Cup in 2015 and they won the Scottish Inter-District Championship/Scottish League on three occasions. Added to this, the team reached the semi-final stage of the Champions Cup in the 2011-12 season.

Although they’ve never won the United Rugby Championship, a number of well-known former players have featured in the Edinburgh Rugby squad over the years, including Greig Laidlaw and Jim Hamilton. Meanwhile, the current Edinburgh rugby squad features several current internationals, including Pierre Schoeman, Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham. 

In addition, when the side still held amateur status, they capped Royal HSFP forward James Robertson. In doing so, he became the first black person to play rugby union.

Think this is the year that the Edinburgh rugby team can finally claim glory in the United Rugby Championship? Follow the team’s progress here at RugbyPass.