Fylde is delighted to welcome 22 years old Patrick Bishop to the Club for the 2024-25 National League season. In the last three seasons Patrick has been playing principally at fly-half for the Durham University 1st XV in the BUCS Championship.
Patrick learnt his rugby initially with Ripon RFC Mini-Juniors and at Kesteven RFC before moving to study at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. He played rugby and progressed at LRGS from 1st year to upper 6th under successive Heads of Rugby, Evan Stewart and Alex Loney.
At a Junior level Patrick earned representative honours for Lancashire under 15s, 16s and 18s and also for Sale Sharks Academy from under 15s to the under 18s Academy League.
Patrick (5’11” & 87 kg) has earned 52 BUCS super rugby caps for Durham University 1st XV over three rugby seasons (2021-22, 2022-23 & 2023-24). He was fly-half in the BUCS Super Rugby league winning and record breaking 21-22 season and he skippered the 1st XV in the 22-23 season. Although he hasn’t yet played club rugby he did play for Fylde in an internal game at the Woodlands back in May 2021 when a fixture against Blackburn was cancelled due to Covid.
He has been included in the North of England Select XV set to play the UK Combined Armed Forces at Kingston Park on the 22nd June 2024 for the ‘Military Vs Cancer’ Charity
Patrick said: “I consider myself primarily a 10 as I have played the majority of my rugby there. However, I am comfortable at 12 or 15 and I have spent some of the 2023-24 season playing at 15 for Durham.
Asked about how he linked up with Fylde, he said: “I asked Alex a few years ago if I could come down to Fylde pre-season and I’ve been doing that for the past three years now before heading up to start the university pre-season. This provided me with a chance to get a head start on the university pre-season but also the opportunity to get to know some of the boys at Fylde and understand what the Club is about.”
“I know Alex well from school and he got in touch this year to ask if I would be keen to come to play for Fylde for this season after finishing my Management masters degree and I said I’d be delighted.”
