Chepstow Rugby Football Club is a rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 team from the town of Chepstow

Chepstow

Chepstow is a town in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the River Wye, close to its confluence with the River Severn, and close to the western end of the Severn Bridge on the M48 motorway...

, in Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union

Welsh Rugby Union

The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Wales, recognised by the International Rugby Board.The union's patron is Queen Elizabeth II, and her grandson Prince William of Wales became the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union as of February 2007.-History:The roots of the...

 and is a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons

Newport Gwent Dragons

Newport Gwent Dragons are one of the four professional Rugby Union regional teams in Wales. They are jointly owned by Newport RFC and the Welsh Rugby Union and play all their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport. They play in the RaboDirect Pro12, the Anglo-Welsh Cup and the Heineken Cup...

.

History

Chepstow Rugby club was formed in 1878 by former pupils of Chepstow Grammar School under the mentorship of headmaster George Dewdney. In 1879 the Chepstow Weekly Advertiser appealed to local gentlemen to patronise the newly-formed club in an attempt to gain sponsorship to allow the club to remain financially stable.

In 1880 Chepstow RFC were thought to be one of the clubs at the Tenby Hotel in Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

 which is incorrectly believed to have been the founding meeting of the Welsh Rugby Union

Welsh Rugby Union

The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Wales, recognised by the International Rugby Board.The union's patron is Queen Elizabeth II, and her grandson Prince William of Wales became the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union as of February 2007.-History:The roots of the...

. The accepted founding actually took place in Neath

Neath

Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...

 in 1881, at which Chepstow RFC were not in attendance. In 1881 Chepstow player Edward Peake

Edward Peake

Edward Peake was an English-born rugby union three-quarter and county cricketer. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford, Peake would win a Blue for cricket before representing Gloucestershire. Peake is most notable for being a member of the first Wales rugby union team that played England in 1881...

 was selected to represent the very first Welsh rugby international, played against England.

In 1969 a match was held between Chepstow and a Welsh XV that included many famous players such as Brian Price. The match was supposedly held to commemorate the founding of what at the time was claimed to be the oldest rugby club in Wales. Chepstow lost by a large margin.

Notable former players

Lyndon Mustoe

Lyndon Mustoe

Lyndon Mustoe was a Welsh rugby union prop who was selected for the Wales national team on ten occasions during the 1990s....

 Edward Peake

Edward Peake

Edward Peake was an English-born rugby union three-quarter and county cricketer. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford, Peake would win a Blue for cricket before representing Gloucestershire. Peake is most notable for being a member of the first Wales rugby union team that played England in 1881...

(1 cap)
Cliff Ashton who was capped seven times for Wales in the period 1959 to 1962 played for Chepstow during most of the 1960s and was for many years captain of Chepstow RFC.
Glyn Davidge who was capped nine times for Wales and was the hero of the defeat of the All Blacks by Newport played for Chepstow for a number of years in the early 1960s