Harlequins Rugby Club is one of the oldest and most historic in the English game. The club was founded way back in 1886 as The Hampstead Football Club and was even a founding member of the Rugby Football Union.
The club was only known as The Hampstead Football Club for four years. This is because, in 1867, a disagreement caused half of the club’s membership to leave and form Wasps Rugby Club. As the membership was no longer purely local, the team decided to change their name but keep the monogram HFC. Harlequins Rugby Club was then formed and the team has been known by this name ever since.
Read on to discover even more about the Harlequins Rugby team. On this page, you can read all the latest news about the team and see the upcoming Harlequins Rugby fixtures.
It's now twelve months since Harlequins bombed in Europe, a memory that new boss Tabai Matson has revealed was mentioned during pre-season.
Harlequins head coach Tabai Matson rued his side’s wasted opportunities as they missed the chance to inflict a first defeat of the season on league leaders Leicester.
Harlequins Rugby Club is one of the oldest and most historic in the English game. The club was founded way back in 1886 as The Hampstead Football Club and was even a founding member of the Rugby Football Union.
The club was only known as The Hampstead Football Club for four years. This is because, in 1867, a disagreement caused half of the club’s membership to leave and form Wasps Rugby Club. As the membership was no longer purely local, the team decided to change their name but keep the monogram HFC. Harlequins Rugby Club was then formed and the team has been known by this name ever since.
Read on to discover even more about the Harlequins Rugby team. On this page, you can read all the latest news about the team and see the upcoming Harlequins Rugby fixtures.
Heineken Cup 
Gallagher Premiership 
Premiership Cup Heineken Cup 
Heineken Cup Gallagher Premiership Premiership Cup | Round 0 | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | PD | BP T | BP -7 | BP | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-  La Rochelle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Bordeaux | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Bristol | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Leicester Tigers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Scarlets | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Munster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Cardiff Blues | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Connacht | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Wasps | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Stade Francais | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Castres | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Toulouse | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Sale Sharks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Clermont | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Exeter Chiefs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Bath | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Ospreys | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Northampton Saints | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Glasgow Warriors | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Leinster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Ulster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Racing 92 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Montpellier | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-  Harlequins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Round 0 |
|---|
| - La Rochelle |
| - Bordeaux |
| - Bristol |
| - Leicester Tigers |
| - Scarlets |
| - Munster |
| - Cardiff Blues |
| - Connacht |
| - Wasps |
| - Stade Francais |
| - Castres |
| - Toulouse |
| - Sale Sharks |
| - Clermont |
| - Exeter Chiefs |
| - Bath |
| - Ospreys |
| - Northampton Saints |
| - Glasgow Warriors |
| - Leinster |
| - Ulster |
| - Racing 92 |
| - Montpellier |
| - Harlequins |
Fast-forward to the creation of the league system in 1987 and Harlequins Rugby Club thrived in the more competitive environment. They won the John Player Cup in 1988 and the side also went on to win the Pilkington Cup in 1991. This was a golden period for the Harlequins Rugby team, who also appeared in the 1992 and 1993 finals of the competition. In fact, the Harlequins Rugby team was so competitive during this period that eight Harlequins Rugby players featured in the 1991 Rugby World Cup final.
In the professional era of rugby union, Harlequins have only ever been relegated from the Premiership on one occasion. Plus, even when the side was relegated in the 2004-05 season, they bounced back at the first attempt. They dominated National Division 1 (now the RFU Championship), claiming 121 points in the process. Since, the team has won the Premiership once in 2011-12 and reached the semi-finals on another three occasions.
Alex Dombrandt Flanker 6 
Archie White Flanker 7 
Dino Lamb Flanker 6 
Jack Kenningham Openside flanker 
Jack Walker Hooker 
James Chisholm Number 8 
Joe Marler Prop 
Luke Wallace Flanker 7 
Matt Symons Lock 
Santiago Garcia Botta Prop 
Scott Baldwin Hooker 
Simon Kerrod Prop 
Stephan Lewies Lock 
Tom Lawday Number 8 
Wilco Louw Prop 
Will Collier Prop 
Andre Esterhuizen Centre 
Ben Tapuai Centre 
Cadan Murley Wing 
Craig Trenier Fullback 
Danny Care Scrum half 
Fin Baxter Fullback 
Finn Baxter Fullback 
Hugh Tizard 
Huw Jones Centre 
Joe Marchant Centre 
Lennox Anyanwu Fullback 
Lewis Gjaltema Scrum half 
Luke Northmore 
Marcus Smith Fly half 
Matt Protheroe Fullback 
Nick David Fullback 
Nikola Matawalu Wing 
Oscar Beard Left wing 
Sam Riley 
Scott Steele Scrum half 
Tommaso Allan Fly half 
Tyrone Green Fullback 
Viliami Taulani Fly Half 
Will Edwards Fullback Harlequins rugby has also been highly successful while representing England on the European stage. Since 2000, they’ve won the European Rugby Challenge Cup on three occasions and they have finished in the runners-up spot once.
However, it’s important to say that Harlequins have also been wrapped-up in controversy over the years. In 2009, the Harlequins Rugby team was embroiled in the ‘bloodgate scandal’ when the side faked a blood injury in the Heineken Cup (European Rugby Champions Cup) so they could use an additional tactical substitution. Upon investigation, it was found that Harlequins Rugby Club had used this tactic on four previous occasions. Although the team narrowly avoided being thrown out of the Heineken Cup, they were fined and several of those involved were suspended.
