Team History

Student Leslie Potts founded the Stanford Women’s Rugby team in 1976. Among its members that first season was student Sally Ride, who was to become in later years the first U.S. woman astronaut.

 

In 1994, Franck Boivert, the head coach of the USA Women’s National Team took charge of the Stanford Women’s and Men’s Rugby Programs. In his tenure at Stanford Franck headed the program as well as coached the University of South Pacific teams during the American collegiate off-season. He left Stanford in 2003 to work full time as the national director of Rugby in Fiji.The chief coach for the Stanford Women’s team from 1995 to 2002 was Emile Bruneau, one of the star players of the #2 ranked Stanford men’s team. Philippe Farner joined the program in 2002 as the women’s coach. Philippe, who has competed internationally for many years, most recently played Lock for the USA National Team. In 2003 Stanford Rugby welcomed former Air Force coach Rob Holder as the new director of Stanford Rugby.

 

 

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In 2005, Jonathan Griffin joined the Stanford rugby program as the new head coach of the women’s team. The Irish coach had previously lived in the UK where he coached a successful program at Loughborough University. Griff arrived at Stanford in late January of 2005 and, within a few months, was able to help the women’s team achieve a second National Collegiate Championship win.The most recent National Championship title was won in 2008 but the team made it to the National Championship Final five out of the six years Griff served as head coach.

 

In 2011, Matt Sherman joined the women’s rugby program as the new head coach. The previous year he served as the men’s head coach and is currently the head coach for both teams and the director of Stanford Rugby. Matt is originally from the Bay Area and picked up rugby as a young teenager in Piedmont, California.

 

The Stanford Women’s Rugby Team is consistently one of the top Women’s Collegiate Rugby Programs in the country, including five National Championships.

 

      • 1992: Competed in Final Four
      • 1993: Competed in Final Four
      • 1995: Competed in Final Four
      • 1998: Competed in Final Four
      • 1999: National Champions
      • 2000: Competed in Final Four
      • 2005: National Champions
      • 2006: National Champions
      • 2007: 2nd in Nation
      • 2008: National Champions
      • 2009: 2nd in Nation
      • 2010: 2nd in Nation
      • 2012: 2nd in Nation
      • 2013: 3rd in Nation
      • 2014: 2nd in Nation