Club de Rugby Santander

Club de Rugby Santander, known for sponsorship reasons as Bathco Rugby Club or simply as Bathco, is a Spanish rugby team from the city of Santander, founded in 2007. The senior men's first team competes in the top tier of Spanish rugby, the División de Honor de Rugby, and plays their matches at the Ruth Beitia Municipal Sports Complex.

Bathco Rugby Club
Full nameClub de Rugby Santander
Founded2007
LocationSantander, Spain
Ground(s)Complejo Municipal Deportivo Ruth Beitia (Capacity: 800)
League(s)División de Honor
2018–192nd (In División de Honor B)
Team kit
Official website
www.bathcorugbyclub.com

History

Since its formation, the club has focused its efforts on the promotion of sport and rugby in particular among the youngest members of society.[1] It currently has more than 180 players, 17 coaches and plays in a total of 9 categories.

The club signed a sponsorship agreement with bathroom supplier Bathco for the 2016–17 season, the year in which the senior team achieved promotion to Division of Honor B from the AON Norte league.[2] For the 2017/2018 season, the agreement was extended and the club was renamed Bathco Rugby Club.[3]

The club has always maintained a great rivalry with the most successful club in the city of Santander, Independiente RC, a team formerly sponsored by Bathco and one with which they currently share a ground.[4]

On 2 June 2019, the club gained promotion to the División de Honor, Spanish rugby's top tier, after defeating CR La Vila in the promotion playoffs.[5][6][7]

Their first season in the top tier has proved to be a stern test, and as of 29 February 2020, they lie 11th in the table. The club's current predicament has been hampered by its away form: they are yet to win a single game outside of Cantabria. Their home form has seen some bright spots, with handsome wins against CR Cisneros,[8] Hernani CRE,[9] a close victory over Ciencias Sevilla CR[10] and a draw with UBU Colina Clinic[11] from eight games.

Club colours

The club's home kit is primarily black, with green accents. The away kit is varying shades of green with black and green socks.

The club's crest depicts a blue outline seal balancing a rugby ball on its nose. The seal is surrounded by a blue circle, which is itself surrounded by a green ring bearing the club's name. The animal gives the club its nickname, "las focas", with foca being the Spanish word for seal.

Stadium

Santander shares the Complejo Municipal Ruth Beitia with its city rivals Independiente. The site, run by the Santander city council, is a collection of 35 different facilities for various sports.[12] Due to increased local interest, the derby match between Independiente and Batcho on 29 February was played at the El Malecón stadium in nearby Torrelavega.[13] A narrow 27–21 victory for Independiente[14] meant that the side completed a double over Bathco, having defeated them 30–20 in October 2019.[15]

Season-by-season record
Season Tier Division Pos. Notes
2016–17 3 AON Norte 1st ↑
2017–18 2 División de Honor B Group A 2nd
2018–19 2 División de Honor B Group A 1st ↑
2019–20 1 División de Honor de Rugby

2018–19 Standings

The 2018–19 season saw Bathco win Group A of the second-tier División de Honor B, winning 20 of their 22 games and scoring an average of over 40 points a game. The club qualified for the promotion playoffs.

Team P W D L F A +/- Tries

for

 Tries

against

 Try

Bonus

 Losing

Bonus

 Points
1 Bathco Rugby Club 22 20 0 2 937 274 663 139 33 18 1 99
2 Getxo R.T. 22 20 0 2 912 255 657 135 31 16 0 96
3 Campus Universitario Ourense RC 22 15 0 7 723 373 350 110 49 15 4 79
4 AVK Bera Bera R.T. 22 16 0 6 667 455 212 96 63 13 1 78
5 CRAT Residencia RIALTA 22 15 0 7 713 493 220 104 66 14 3 77
6 Babyauto Zarautz RT 22 9 1 12 565 668 −103 75 92 8 2 48
7 Uribealdea RKE 22 8 0 14 406 675 −269 53 101 6 2 40
8 VRAC Quesos Entrepinares S23 22 6 2 14 442 598 −156 62 86 5 6 39
9 AVIA Eibar Rugby 22 6 1 15 504 802 −298 70 118 9 4 39
10 SilverStorm El Salvador Emerging S23 22 7 1 14 418 574 −156 57 88 4 3 37
11 Kaleido Universidade de Vigo R.C. 22 6 1 15 413 692 −279 59 102 5 3 34
12 Durango Nissan-Gaursa R.T. 22 1 0 21 251 1092 −841 38 169 2 2 8

Source: http://ferugby.es/clasificacion-division-honor-b-grupo-a

Playoffs

The club progressed to the promotion playoffs, playing two-legged games against the best-placed finishing teams from other regions. They won five of the six games, losing the final to Ciencias Sevilla CR despite winning the second leg away from home. This victory earned Ciencias automatic promotion, and meant Bathco had to play the promotion/relegation playoff with the side finishing second-from-bottom in the top tier.

Quarterfinals
CAU Valencia 20–30 Bathco Rugby Club
Bathco Rugby Club 20–6 CAU Valencia
Semi-finals
C.R. Liceo Francés 34–47 Bathco Rugby Club
Bathco Rugby Club 21–12 C.R. Liceo Francés
Final
Bathco Rugby Club 15–22 Ciencias Cajasol Olavide
Ciencias Cajasol Olavide 18–23 Bathco Rugby Club

Source: http://ferugby.es/calendario-promocion-division-de-honor

Promotion/relegation playoff

Promotion was sealed when Bathco won their two-legged tie against La Vila, the team that had finished 11th in the División de Honor.

Relegation/promotion playoff
11th La Vila 14 39 53
DHB Santander 30 27 57

Current Squad 2019–2020

The club has a large foreign contingent, with many players notably coming from the Argentinian union. Lock Juan Cruz Guillemaín has even represented Argentina at international level. Zimbabwean Niels Van de Ven, formerly of Dutch club Castricumse RC, is the club captain.

The club's coach and assistant coach, Agustín Rodríguez and Luciano Marco, are both Argentinian.

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Martín Tobal Hooker Argentina
Gastón Vía Hooker Argentina
Daniel Bellelli Prop Argentina
Francisco García Prop Spain
Carlos Santiago Percello Prop Argentina
Juan Ignacio Pérez Prop Argentina
Edgar Fagan Tyran Prop Zimbabwe
Juan Cruz Guillemaín Lock Argentina
Romain Mercadal Lock France
Rex Pollock Lock New Zealand
Antonio Bajón Flanker Spain
Franco López Flanker Argentina
Ramiro López Flanker Argentina
Pablo Sánchez Flanker Spain
Niels Van de Ven Flanker South Africa
Matías Lamboglia Scrum-half Argentina
Juan Ignacio Fuentes Scrum-half Argentina
Matías Frutos Fly-half Argentina
Juan Diego Zabalegui Fly-half Argentina
Francisco Ortiz Centre Spain
Hipólito Pérez Centre Argentina
Mauro Luciano Perotti Centre Argentina
Andrei Marius Serb Centre Romania
Harry Lafituanai Wing New Zealand
Luciano Martínez Wing Argentina
Ivan Peña Wing Spain
Ignacio Poet Fullback Argentina
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References
  1. "COMMENTS BATHCO RUGBY CLUB SANTANDER". Magazine RugbySpain (in Spanish).
  2. "El CRS gana la Liga Norte y se prepara para buscar el ascenso a División de Honor B". El Faradio | Periodismo que cuenta (in Spanish). 6 May 2017.
  3. "Bathco se convierte en el patrocinador principal del Club de Rugby Santander". El Faradio (in Spanish). 11 July 2017.
  4. Noticias 24h, Ifomo. "Acuerdo con los clubes y la Federación para que El Independiente y Bathco hagan uso del campo de San Román". Ifomo Noticias 24h (in Spanish).
  5. "Igual felicita al Bathco Rugby Santander tras el ascenso a División de Honor". 20minutos.es – Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). 3 June 2019.
  6. "Rugby, a sport with values – Trend & Bath". thebathcollection.
  7. "La Vila Rugby played at Santanders". Costa Blanca News South Edition.
  8. @noefp8 (6 October 2019). "| DH | J4 | Bathco 33–0 Cisneros | Contundente y trabajada victoria para Las focas". Magazine RugbySpain (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  9. "El Bathco suma una victoria crucial". El Diario Montañes (in Spanish). 8 December 2019. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  10. "Bathco RC 19–10 Ciencias Cajasol: Difícil derrota en Santander". columnacero.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  11. "Al UBU Colina Clinic se le escapa la victoria entre los dedos". BURGOSconecta (in Spanish). 10 November 2019. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  12. "Web de Deportes". santanderdeportes.com. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  13. eldiariocantabria.es. "El Malecón acoge este sábado el partido de rugby entre Aldro y Bathco". eldiariocantabria.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  14. "El Aldro Independiente se lleva la victoria y se convierte en el señor de los derbis". El Diario Montañes (in Spanish). 29 February 2020.
  15. "El Aldro Independiente se lleva el derbi". El Diario Montañes (in Spanish). 27 October 2019.
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