Preparations for the new season are fully underway for Sandbach Rugby Club’s senior teams. Pre-season training began at the start of July for the men’s teams with over thirty players running the grueling killer mile up to the top of the iconic Mow Cop Castle. Training then returned to Bradwall Road, the home of Sandbach RUFC, later that week and continues to take place twice weekly.

Details for Sandbach’s pre-season programme have been finalised and it started with a joint live training session with Stoke RUFC last Thursday. This session included small sided games with a backs and forwards split, as well as real match scenarios.

The teams were joined by match officials Nathan Power and Jonny Cartwright, who can be found on Instagram as @the_bald_ref, from MADREFS, the Manchester & District Rugby Union Referees’ Society. Both are aspirational and enthusiastic referees, and they provided a positive experience for all the players, which contributes to a greater understanding of the game.

This Saturday a rugby festival at Bradwall Road will take place from 1.00pm onwards. This will be a first opportunity for the players to put into practice all the challenging work done during the pre-season training sessions. The invited teams include Bowdon RUFC, Cleckheaton RUFC, Nant Conwy RFC, Ruthin RFC and Sandal RUFC.

Following the festival, Sandbach are delighted to welcome back LooseHeadz, the rugby mental health charity, on 23rd August for a thrilling double header. LooseHeadz aim to place a mental health lead in every rugby club around the world and help to tackle the stigma of mental health.

Last year’s fixture was organised by Mike Grapes, a Sandbach player and a coach for the Under 11s team. Last year Mike said that he planned to “build on the momentum” of the fixture and he has done that by planning a special family friendly day. It will include rugby, bouncy castles, music and food, with a focus on the amazing work that LooseHeadz do to tackle mental health in rugby.

A Sandbach Social XV will face LooseHeadz XV in the ‘Bradley Peace Memorial Cup’. The cup is named in memory of Mike’s brother Bradley, who tragically took his own life two years ago. Last season’s match was one of the highlights of the summer, not just the action on the pitch, but through the camaraderie of the players and both teams will be hoping for the same again this year.

Sandbach Women XV will start the day at 1.30pm with their fixture against LooseHeadz Women XV. This match will be the first game for a Sandbach women’s team in over two decades, which will further add to the occasion.

The Sandbach women’s team has been steadily growing after they launched a new initiative in January called ‘New Year, New Me, New Sport’, which aimed to attract more players to the sport. The team, led by Head of Women & Girls Rugby Ros Wiggins, resumed training last week and are eager to get their season underway. Hannah Chilvers and Emma Gardner, who are assistant coaches for the girls team, will form part of the Sandbach team, alongside Ros, and all are hugely excited about the fixture against LooseHeadz.

New players interested in joining the women’s team will be extremely welcome every Wednesday night, with the under 18s training at 6pm and the over 18s at 7pm. Contact sandbachwomensrugby@gmail.com for more information.

The final pre-season fixture will feature a Sandbach side against Bridgnorth on 30th August. Sandbach Development XV will face Stafford at the same time with both games kicking off at 2pm. This will be the final opportunity for the players to stake their claim for selection in the league opener against Burnage.

Sandbach’s director of rugby, Andrew Bird, commented on the club’s pre-season preparations: “We have been delighted with the commitment and enthusiasm from the players towards the pre-season programme. Block one finished at the end of July with four challenging weeks underpinned with rugby but theming each week with a key athletic fundamental. This gave us a real focus and kept things fresh. We are looking forward to dialling into the rugby detail ahead of the festival, then onto Bridgnorth at the end of the month before aiming to get the league off to a flyer at Burnage in early September.”

Sandbach, who finished third last season in the Northern Division – Regional 2 North West and reached the quarter-final of the Papa John’s Men’s Community Cup - Regional 2 North Plate, will start their season away to Burnage on 6th September. Burnage, who finished 4th last campaign, were the Bach’s opening and closing league opponents last season and were the only team in the league who managed to do the double over them. Sandbach will be looking to change that statistic and open the league campaign with a big win. These away fixtures could prove to be pivotal if the Bach are to top last season and secure promotion.

A week later at Bradwall Road, Douglas will travel from the Isle of Man for Sandbach’s first home league game of the season.

The teams for the 2025/26 season in the Northern Division – Regional 2 North West will include newly promoted West Park St Helens and North Ribblesdale as well as Birkenhead Park, who dropped down a division after a brief spell at Level 5.

Sandbach’s first local derby will be away to Northwich on Saturday 20th September. They will head back to Northwich on Saturday 29th November to play local rivals Winnington Park.

As the new season of rugby approaches, Sandbach RUFC is raring to go, ready to make this season one to remember.

For more information on LooseHeadz, visit https://looseheadz.co.uk/ and follow #TackleTheStigma.

Sandbach’s Pre-Season Fixtures
Saturday 16th August
Festival @ Sandbach Rugby Club from 1pm
Teams include Bowdon RUFC, Cleckheaton RUFC, Nant Conwy RFC, Ruthin RFC, Sandal RUFC and Sandbach RUFC

Saturday 23rd August
Sandbach Social XV vs LooseHeadz XV – Kick-off 1.30pm
Sandbach Women XV vs LooseHeadz Women XV – Kick-off 3pm

Saturday 30th August
Sandbach XV vs Bridgnorth XV – Kick-off 2pm
Sandbach Development XV vs Stafford XV – Kick-off 2pm

Sandbach 1st XV’s Northern Division – Regional 2 North West Fixtures
Saturday 6th September 2025
Burnage vs Sandbach
Saturday 13th September 2025
Sandbach vs Douglas (I.O.M.)
Saturday 20th September 2025
Northwich vs Sandbach
Saturday 4th October 2025
Sandbach vs Birkenhead Park
Saturday 11th October 2025
Vale of Lune vs Sandbach
Saturday 18th October 2025
Sandbach vs Firwood Waterloo
Saturday 25th October 2025
Widnes vs Sandbach
Saturday 8th November 2025
Sandbach vs West Park (St Helens)
Saturday 22nd November 2025
North Ribblesdale vs Sandbach
Saturday 29th November 2025
Winnington Park vs Sandbach
Saturday 6th December 2025
Sandbach vs Altrincham Kersal
Saturday 13th December 2025
Douglas (I.O.M.) vs Sandbach
Saturday 20th December 2025
Sandbach vs Northwich
Saturday 10th January 2026
Birkenhead Park vs Sandbach
Saturday 17th January 2026
Sandbach vs Vale of Lune
Saturday 31st January 2026
Firwood Waterloo vs Sandbach
Saturday 14th February 2026
Sandbach vs Widnes
Saturday 28th February 2026
West Park (St Helens) vs Sandbach
Saturday 7th March 2026
Sandbach vs North Ribblesdale
Saturday 21st March 2026
Sandbach vs Winnington Park