Every Brunel women's rugby game will stream live on Clubber TV this season, starting with Brunel v Exeter on 14 October, under a new three-year BUCS deal.
Every match Brunel’s women’s rugby team plays in Women’s BUCS Super Rugby this season will be streamed live, under a three-year deal between British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) and the streaming service Clubber TV, announced at noon today.
The first one is close. The season starts next Wednesday, 14 October, and Brunel v Exeter is one of the four opening fixtures BUCS has listed, all of them live on Clubber TV.
It matters more to Uxbridge than to most towns. Brunel and Loughborough contested the 2026 Women’s BUCS Super Rugby final in April: BUCS published the photographs from it in an album titled “Brunel vs Loughborough | WBSR Milk Championship Final 2026”, and the pictures on this page come from it.
What the deal covers
According to BUCS and Clubber TV, the agreement gives women’s university rugby its widest coverage yet:
- every Women’s BUCS Super Rugby fixture streamed live in 2026-27, and every men’s fixture too;
- highlights from every game;
- Clubber TV’s live clipping tools for the universities taking part, so they can cut and share their own footage;
- 18 matches free to watch without a subscription, one home match from each participating team, with women’s games among them;
- a discount on Clubber TV season passes for students and supporters during the opening weeks, with the season pass also covering Clubber’s Champ Rugby coverage.
BUCS says profits from the partnership will be reinvested in university rugby. Until now, by its chief executive’s account, only around 20% of BUCS Super Rugby matches were streamed.
The opening fixtures
BUCS lists these games for Wednesday 14 October, all live on Clubber TV:
- Brunel v Exeter
- Cardiff v Surrey
- Edinburgh v Cardiff Met, the first of the free-to-air games
- Hartpury v Loughborough, which has been moved to 4 November
The announcement does not give kick-off times. The free-to-air schedule starts with the Edinburgh game; BUCS has not yet said which Brunel home match will be free to watch.
“Visibility is a huge part of growing any sport”
The deal was announced with the backing of Susie Appleby, the former England international who won 65 caps. BUCS says she helped establish the Gloucester-Hartpury women’s team, built Exeter Chiefs Women from their launch in 2019, took them to two Premiership Women’s Rugby finals and two Allianz Cup titles, and helped forge the link between Exeter Chiefs and the University of Exeter.
“This is a fantastic step forward for Women’s BUCS Super Rugby and for the players competing in it,” she said. “To have every game streamed live means these players will have a much bigger platform to showcase their talent and for more people to discover the next generation of players coming through.
“The standard of women’s university rugby is incredibly strong, and the pathway into the professional game is becoming increasingly clear. We are seeing more and more players make that transition into Premiership Women’s Rugby and go on to represent their countries.
“I saw at Exeter and Gloucester-Hartpury how important the relationship between a university and a professional club can be in creating opportunities for players. Giving talented players the chance to develop in a strong university environment while having a clear pathway into the professional game can make a huge difference.
“Visibility is a huge part of growing any sport. Giving every player and every team the opportunity to be seen, followed and supported can only be positive for the women’s game.”
From university rugby to the professional game
The figures BUCS released make the case for watching. Of the players who competed in Women’s BUCS Super Rugby last season, 49 also played in Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) or the PWR Cup, and 27 played in PWR itself. That is 15% of all the competition’s players.
Players from five of the seven BUCS Super Rugby institutions turned out for six of the nine PWR clubs. BUCS names England’s Ellie Kildunne, Zoe Aldcroft and Emma Sing, Wales’s Gwen Crabb and Lleucu George, Scotland’s Lisa Thomson and Rhona Lloyd and Ireland’s Nancy McGillivray among the internationals the university system has helped develop.
Will Roberts, the chief executive of BUCS, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Clubber TV for the next three years. Moving from around 20% of BUCS Super Rugby matches being streamed to every men’s and women’s fixture being available live is a huge step forward for university rugby.
“This is about much more than watching matches. It gives players greater visibility, gives universities more content to share, gives families and supporters the opportunity to follow their teams wherever they are and provides a bigger platform for the next generation of rugby talent.
“The women’s pathway is particularly exciting, with 49 players from Women’s BUCS Super Rugby last season also featuring in Premiership Women’s Rugby or the PWR Cup, including 27 who played in PWR itself. This partnership will help showcase that talent and give the women’s competition the coverage it deserves.”
Lar Doyle, chief operating officer of Clubber TV, said: “We are committed to giving women’s sport the platform and visibility it deserves, and this partnership with BUCS is a significant part of that commitment.
“Women’s BUCS Super Rugby is producing outstanding rugby and some of the players coming through the competition will go on to have significant careers in the professional and international game. We want to help tell those stories and give players the opportunity to build an audience around their performances.
“Showing every women’s fixture live is a major step forward. It means players, teams, families, supporters and universities can follow the competition throughout the season, while giving women’s rugby the consistent coverage that is so important to growing its audience.”
What it means for you
- To watch Brunel’s women, every Women’s BUCS Super Rugby game this season is on Clubber TV, starting with Exeter on Wednesday 14 October. A season pass is needed except for the 18 free-to-air matches.
- Students and supporters can get a season pass discount in the opening weeks, BUCS and Clubber TV say; the details were not in the announcement.
- The men’s game is covered too: every men’s BUCS Super Rugby fixture will also be streamed live.
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