Ampthill aiming to be the best part-timers in Champ Rugby

By Alex Reed, Sportsbeat

Ampthill enter the new Champ Rugby season looking to be the best of the part-timers after showing what they can do sporadically since promotion.

The Bedfordshire side are semi-professional, yet they have beaten some of Champ Rugby’s more well-resourced clubs, humbling Ealing Trailfinders, Doncaster Knights and Coventry over the last two campaigns.

Against the backdrop of the new play-off format introduced to Champ Rugby this year, where six teams will fight out for the title after the end of the season, The Mob are now wondering how much they can achieve in the revitalised format.

Ampthill back row Charles Rylands said: “I’d always like to say [success is] finishing higher than where we did last season [eighth], but for us the goal has got to be trying to become the best semi-professional side in the league.

“We saw what the other semi-professional teams did in the league last year, with Bedford finishing second. If we can try and emulate that and be the best semi-pro side in the league then we’ll find ourselves in a good position at the end of the season.”

Although Ampthill have had some impressive results in recent times, they would have missed out on the play-offs, had they been in place, in each of the last three seasons.

Given the introduction of both automatic relegation for the bottom team and a relegation play-off involving the 12th and 13th placed teams, Ampthill will also be keen to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle.

That anxiety will not be helped by the challenges that come with juggling rugby and a career, something Mob captain Fraser Strachan is acutely aware of.

“[The main issue with being semi-professional] is probably detail,” Strachan said. “We don’t spend as much time together as pro sides do, so it’s that detail on matchday in scrum, lineout and other things.

“You only get a few shots at it in the game, so you’ve got to be the best at it and obviously that’s the bread and butter for the pro teams.”

The Mob are aided, however, by an ongoing link with Saracens, who send some of their best young talent down to Dillingham Park for more game time against fully grown adults.

For example, in Ampthill’s shock win over back-to-back champions Ealing Trailfinders in 2024, Tobias Elliott, Nathan Michelow, Brandon Jackson and Toby Knight all started, with Elliott scoring a brace.

All those players are now regular first-team Saracens, and Elliott is on the fringes of the England squad, having earned a training call-up before this summer’s tour to Argentina.

That relationship has clearly borne fruit, and with a new broadcast deal that will see every game of Champ Rugby streamed live on subscription service Clubber TV, the best and brightest young talents will get an even bigger platform on which to shine.

Rylands said: “They add a bit of energy to the group. They’re clearly talented players, which is why they are at Saracens, so it gives them the chance to showcase themselves.

“That’s obviously a massive benefit to us when we have them, because they’re looking to impress Sarries and also do well for the team.”

Although Champ Rugby limited the maximum number of dual-registered players to six in any matchday squad last season, there will still be an inevitable influx of young talent throughout the season.

As such, ambitions are high, and Strachan is adamant that Ampthill should be looking up, not down, this season, despite the introduction of relegation.

“We want to finish as high as we can. The ultimate goal is always to win the league,” Strachan said. “No one plays in Champ Rugby to lose. We all play to win games.

“This year we’re targeting top six to get into those play-offs, and then in the future push on into the top four and whatever the Champ may bring.”

The Champ Rugby 25-26 season starts on October 3. For more information, visit www.champrugby.com