BUCS What You Might Have Missed 18/10/26

October 18, 2026 11:44 by Kian Gadsby

After weeks of preparations, the 2026/27 BUCS season finally got fully underway, with 90 University of Nottingham sports teams in action in the first full week of fixtures of the season.

We had rematches of National Championship finals, opening day thrashings and long-awaited first victories of the year.

Here are the key stories you might have missed from this week.

Men’s Rugby Union 1s finally got their season rolling, as Thomas Cunningham’s last gasp try was enough to beat Leeds Beckett 38-31 for their first win of the BUCS Super Rugby season. The Women’s 1s also won, as they continued their perfect start to the Premier North season with a comprehensive 30-12 victory at Durham.

Women’s Football 1s got their revenge for last year’s National Championship final defeat by thrashing Northumbria 4-1 thanks to a goal and a hat-trick of assists from Amelia Penfold. However, the Men’s 1s were pegged back by a dramatic late equaliser from Stirling to hold them to a 2-2 draw and continue their winless start to the Premier North campaign.

Both Water Polo and Lacrosse got their seasons underway with crushing victories. Open and Women’s Water Polo 1s travelled to Manchester and earned 37-4 and 20-15 wins against Uni of Manchester and Manchester Met respectively, while Ladies Lacrosse 1s thumped Liverpool 28-0 before the Men’s 1s got their Premier North title defence off to a perfect start with a 22-0 win over Manchester Met.

Men’s Volleyball 1s also started their season with a victory, as the defending Premier North and National Championship Champions beat Durham in four sets for their 14th consecutive BUCS win. However, their female counterparts were defeated 3-0 by the Northern outfit in a dominant display from the reigning National Champions.

Netball enjoyed an excellent week, with all six of their BUCS teams picking up victories. That includes their 1s side, who made it two wins from their opening two games by beating Leeds 59-50 to move top of the Premier North table following reigning champions Loughborough’s shock defeat against Birmingham.

Meanwhile, Men’s Basketball 1s picked up their form where they left off from last season as they beat Oxford 62-58 on their first game in Midlands Tier 1 following promotion, and the Women’s 1s overcame Northumbria with a 63-60 victory to secure their first win of the Premier North season.

Finally, there was a huge shock in the Saturday fixtures, as Gaelic Football caused an upset by beating Loughborough 5:6 – 1:6 to hand their Midlands rivals a first league defeat for over a year. They recovered from going down seven points in the opening ten minutes to lead at the break, before they saw out the second half to earn a valuable first win of the campaign.

Featured Image Courtesy of UoN Sport. No changes were made to this image