News

CLAYTON, North Carolina – Coaches from one of the most successful professional rugby teams in the world are paying Clayton a visit. At the end of the month, Grant Keenan and Tony Flay from the Crusaders’ International High Performance Unit are coming to Clayton for a coaching and player development camp. The legendary Super Rugby...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – The action on the pitch was as hot as the temperature as 27 teams were vying for top honors at the 4th Annual CottonTown 7s Rugby Festival. Hosted by the Clayton Rugby Football Club, the tournament met expectations and then some as teams survived the heat to produce an amazing day of...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – The Clayton Rugby Football Club officially closed out their 2018/2019 XVs season with the club’s Annual End of Season Banquet. Hosted by Deep River Brewing Company, the banquet was a celebration of another great year of rugby and fellowship. The banquet brought together members, both old and new, as well as sponsors...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – After a sobering loss to Triad on February 16th, the Clayton RFC 1st XV had their backs against a wall. After a strong start to their season, they were faced with a tough road to reaching the Carolinas D3 playoffs for the second consecutive season. To complicate things, during their nearly month-long...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – The Clayton Rugby Football Club has announced the date for their 5th Annual General Meeting of Membership. The annual event is the only time that the club meets as a group to discuss club business, review the previous calendar year, and look at goals for the upcoming year. The AGM also serves...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – On a gorgeous fall afternoon, the Clayton Rugby Football Club hosted their final home double header of 2018. Fans on hand at East Clayton Community Park were treated to not one, but two exciting games as both matches went down to the wire. In the opener, the Bootleggers 1st team faced off...Read More

CLAYTON, North Carolina – The Clayton Rugby Football has released their 2018/2019 Men’s 1st XV and Men’s 2nd XV schedules with play kicking off later in September. The Bootleggers face a tough schedule this coming season as they take on the challenge of fielding teams in two separate divisions (D3 and D4). The club is...Read More

CLAYTON, North Carolina – This past Saturday, the Clayton Rugby Football Club hosted their 3rd Annual CottonTown 7s Rugby Festival. The tournament, which is one of the largest in the Carolinas, took place at East Clayton Community Park. This year’s event drew 29 teams to Clayton for a fun-filled day of rugby and community. An...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – The end of the Clayton Rugby Football Club’s XVs season brings with it a resting period for many of the Bootleggers. The players moving onto the summer 7s tournament circuit get little rest as they return to practice next week to prepare for the 7s season. For the members of the Clayton...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – On a gorgeous Carolina Winter afternoon, fans were treated to not one, but two great matches at East Clayton Community Park. All four teams, in play, made the most of the excellent conditions and produced two exhilarating matches. The opener was a heated battle between the 1st and 2nd place teams in...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – The Clayton Rugby Football Club has announced the date for their 4th Annual General Meeting of Membership. The annual event is the only time that the club meets as a group to discuss club business, review the previous calendar year, and look at goals for the upcoming year. The AGM also serves...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – It was a busy day of rugby action in Clayton this past Saturday as the Clayton Rugby Football Club hosted a triple-header of rugby games at East Clayton Community Park. For the Bootleggers, it was their final home match of 2017, so the squads aimed to finish off on a high note...Read More

SOUTHERN PINES, NC – The Bootleggers opened up their 2017/2018 season this past weekend at the Carolinas Kickoff Classic. The men dropped both of their matches, but showed a lot of heart having traveled light to the tournament. The club also took an inexperienced side to Southern Pines with a number of brand new players getting...Read More

For immediate release CLAYTON, North Carolina – The Clayton Rugby Football Club is proud to announce that they have entered into a formal partnership agreement with East Carolina University Rugby Club. The partnership agreement is the culmination of a relationship that has progressed over the past few years. The partnership provides a platform for the...Read More

For immediate release CLAYTON, NC – The excitement is building as there’s just one week until the 2nd Annual CottonTown 7s kicks off. After pulling in 18 teams to the event in it’s inaugural year, expectations were high going into 2017. Hosted at East Clayton Community Park, this year’s rendition is poised to raise the...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – This past weekend, the Clayton Rugby Football Club hosted their annual End of Season Banquet and Awards Presentation for their members, families, and fans. As part of the festivities, the club presented a number of awards to players, coaches, and admin staff for their performances during the 2016/2017 playing season. The Clayton...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – The Summer 7s season is just around the corner and with that comes the launch of the Carolinas Geographic Rugby Union 7s Qualifying Series. The Carolinas 7s Series consists of five host tournaments to decide which Men’s and Women’s teams move onto to the South 7s Championships and continue their path to...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – In an effort to bridge a much needed gap in the playing continuum, the Clayton Rugby Football Club is pleased to announce that they are adding a U20 program to their club structure for the 2017/2018 playing season. The U20 side joins the club’s current list of Men’s teams that includes a...Read More

Clayton, NC – The Clayton Rugby Football Club is excited to announce that they have added MATI Energy as their newest partner. Founded in 2012, in a Duke University dorm room, MATI Energy is a healthy alternative in the energy drink market. MATI Energy currently has six flavors of all-natural energy drinks made with tea,...Read More

As opposed to our standard news releases, we have decided to make the account of our travels to Scotland less formal. I promise that we had every intention of releasing these at the end of each day during our trip. Honestly. However, the tight schedule, travel and lack of sleep quickly caught up with us. What...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – As part of plans to expand the roles within the club’s operational structure, the Clayton Rugby Football Club is proud to announce that active Bootlegger, Walter Webster, has been named as the Club’s Player Welfare Representative for 2017. Webster, whom joined the Clayton RFC in 2015, is a lawyer by trade and was...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – Rugby has grown exponentially in Johnston County since the sport was introduced to the area in 2012. With hundreds of players from ages 6-50 playing rugby in Clayton and Johnston County, the evidence is tangible, but it is work that is never complete. In an effort to continue to spread the game...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – Last week, the Town of Wilson’s Mills Council voted unanimously to approve an agreement with the Clayton Rugby Football Club. The agreement will see the Clayton RFC work with the town to develop rugby fields at the town’s new athletic park complex located on Powhatan Road.  The Club’s Board of Directors sealed...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – On a hot and sunny early September afternoon, the Clayton Bootleggers opened up their first season in Division 3 in style with a convincing 48-10 win over Fort Bragg. The Bootleggers used a seven-try barrage to take home their first official D3 victory in club history. The scoreline didn’t properly reflect the...Read More

ATLANTIC BEACH, NC – This past Saturday, the Clayton Bootleggers made their annual trip east to Atlantic Beach for the Blackbeard 7s Beach Rugby Championship. The team battled the heat, scorching sand, and their opponents in a fun filled day of beach rugby. For their efforts, the men returned home with the championship trophy for...Read More

CLAYTON, NC (June 8th, 2016) – The Clayton Rugby Football Club is proud to announce that they are hosting a player development camp for all men’s and women’s players in the Carolinas Geographic Rugby Union. The camp is a joint venture between Clayton Rugby, the Carolinas Geographic Union, and the Glendale Raptors. The camp is...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – The Clayton Bootleggers finished off their Spring season this past weekend on a very high note. The club organized a full day of rugby that included youth, women, men, and Old Boy matches hosted at East Clayton Community Park. The youth matches were a warm up for the Clayton Copperheads as they...Read More

CHARLOTTE, NC – This past weekend the Clayton Bootleggers traveled West to take on the Charlotte Barbarians in a Spring friendly at the Rugby Athletic Center. Coming off of playing at the Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Tournament, the Bootleggers made the trip light on numbers, but determined to give the Barbarians a tough match. The...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – This past Saturday, the Clayton Bootleggers split a double header with Duke Grads in front of fans at East Clayton Community Park. The rugby day festivities kicked off with the Clayton Copperheads High School JV side hosting Wilmington. The next match on tap was the Clayton 1st XV as they took on...Read More

CLAYTON, NC – The Clayton Rugby Football Club has released their Spring 2016 schedule with an exciting mix of tournaments and matches set to take place this season. The Bootleggers open up their season at the President’s Day Tournament hosted by Camp Lejeune and finish the Spring with the Clayton Old Boys taking on the...Read More

CHARLOTTE, NC – On a rainy Fall afternoon in Charlotte, the Clayton Bootleggers battled through rain and mud to come away with a 90-0 lopsided win over the Charlotte Royals. The match was the first meeting in 15s between the two sides after meeting twice previously at 7s tournaments. The Bootleggers hit the ground running...Read More

ATLANTIC BEACH, NC – Last weekend, the Clayton Rugby Football Club sent two teams to participate in the annual Blackbeard 7s Beach Tournament. The club came away with the tournament championship, which served as the club’s first title in their short existence. The Bootleggers A-side defeated Camp Lejeune 29-0 in the title match in a...Read More

CHAPEL HILL, NC – This past weekend, the Clayton Bootleggers made the trip to Chapel Hill to play at the King of the Hill 7s, hosted by the Chapel Hill Warriors. The tournament, an eight-team event, was in its second year of play and has turned into a very competitive tournament. The Bootleggers learned how...Read More

The Clayton Rugby Football Club received notification this weekend that the rugby tournament, to be held at the State Games of North Carolina, is cancelled. Citing poor registration numbers, the tournament organizers vow to have the tournament back in 2016. The Clayton Bootleggers made their 7s debut at the 2014 State Games and were looking forward to challenging for...Read More

While the club is in between seasons as they prepare for the start of the Summer tournament season, the Clayton Bootleggers have used the free time to get out and support a community cause. This past Saturday a group of Clayton Rugby Football Club members participated in the annual Heart Chase Clayton to raise money...Read More

HAVELOCK, NC – On Saturday, the Clayton Bootleggers travelled east to take on Cherry Point. Travelling strong, the Bootleggers hoped to bring home a victory, but expected a hard-fought match against a side that is becoming a nice friendly rivalry with the men from Clayton. In a hard hitting affair, the two sides traded leads and big...Read More

RALEIGH, NC – This past Saturday, the Clayton Bootleggers travelled to Raleigh to take on the Tobacco Road Legends, a side made up of Old Boys from the Raleigh Rugby Club. The two sides met in the Fall for an exciting match and much of the same was expected as the two sides came into the match...Read More

After going without a designated coach during their first full year of existence, one of the Clayton Rugby Football Club’s top priorities for 2015 was to appoint a Head Coach to help guide the development of the club’s teams. With a fast-growing playing base, it was an absolute necessity for the club. After a few...Read More

The Clayton Rugby Football Club is excited to announce their Spring 2015 Schedule. The schedule should prove to be a test of the club’s development as an increase in playing numbers led the club to add a couple more fixtures than originally planned. The schedule includes a few familiar opponents for the Bootleggers along with first-time matches against...Read More

Clayton Rugby Football Club Notice of Annual General Meeting December 18th, 2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 1st Annual General Meeting of the Clayton Rugby Football Club will be held at Woodall’s Fitness on Saturday January 31st, 2015 at 12:00 noon. Location: Woodall’s Fitness, 107 Best Wood Drive, Clayton, NC 27520 Time: 12:00pm (Noon)...Read More

The sport of rugby continues to blossom in the small community of Clayton, NC. After starting with just ten kids a few years ago, the Clayton Copperheads Youth Rugby program is launching the first-ever High School Rugby team in Johnston County. The addition of the High School team now gives the Copperheads a complete sweep...Read More

It was a tale of two halves as the Clayton RFC went 1-3 at the King of the Hill 7s hosted by the Chapel Hill Warriors. During the first half of each game, the Bootleggers battled against even the toughest opposition in the tournament and looked every bit of a competitive 7s team. However, the...Read More