A NEW rugby club has been formed in Yate – and it has already attracted the attention of a lot of people including a former Bristol and Bath international.

Yate RFC was founded seven weeks ago with only a handful of players turning up to their first training session.

Now, though, as they prepare for their very first match on Saturday when they play North Bristol thirds at the Yate Outdoor Sports Complex, the numbers have quadrupled and fixtures are coming in thick and fast.

The idea to form a club in the town came during the summer when some friends met and decided to go for it.

Stewart Stacey, one of the founders who works as a prison PE instructor, stressed that Yate RFC were not formed to compete with existing, more established clubs in the area like Chipping Sodbury RFC, who play in the Gloucester Premier League, or Thornbury RFC, who are in the Tribute South West One West division.

Yate RFC, said Stacey, was more designed to give people who had not played for a while the chance to have a run out on Saturday afternoons – although they are not going to be a pure social team in the future.

The club are looking to be affiliated to the Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union soon and eventually start playing league games.

But, to begin with, they are playing friendlies this season – and are already booked up with games until late November.

Stacey and his friends Neil Olive and David Burgess decided to have a bash at the start of August. Stacey said: “We had six training seven weeks ago and now we have 25.

“We are made up of people who have not played for years or not played before. We are not impacting on the established rugby clubs like Chipping Sodbury. We are giving people the opportunity to participate in rugby in Yate.”

The founders approached YOSC who, said Stacey, were ‘very welcoming’. He added: “We have gone on from there.”

The fledgling outfit have already been backed by sponsorship, kit, balls and training gear and have found a keen supporter already from the international stage.

Stacey said: “Dave Hilton (former Scotland prop) came down to a session and said ‘you would never have thought you have been going for six weeks.

“Naturally, it (Yate) is a football town. I think we have found a little jewel in the crown because Yate is getting bigger and bigger.

“We are playing friendlies this year because I want to see if the rugby club is sustainable. And because we are not attached to a league, our fixtures are going crazy. We have them all the way up to the end of November.

“We are looking to join the bottom league for next year. We are not going to set the world alight but we are doing alright as we have a good bunch of lads.”

And should things go well for the club, Stacey believes their rugby club can thrive in a football town.