Double-success for London Scorpions at MWTC Round 1

The first ETA event of the season kicked off in style with our first London tournament in several years. East London RFC played host to the opening round of the Men’s and Women’s Touch Cup, and there was a strong showing from the local and visiting clubs looking to show off their skills.

A little early drizzle couldn’t dampen the teams’ spirits, with nine teams competing in each of the Men’s and Women’s open divisions. Team Ref were in good spirits and working hard to cover a much-expanded tournament. Thanks to the player-referees and those refs across the South and Midlands who rallied to help out, particularly the new faces - we hope to see you back again soon. Special thanks go to Charlie Meredith, who managed to run the tournament single-handedly despite the best efforts of the generator and the usual tournament gremlins!

To the relief of the London teams, who have grumbled about the weather at many a Northern tournament, the sun quickly appeared and shone over some high-tempo match-ups. London Galaxy and CSSC battled over those mid-table positions with Thames Valley and Bareback Riders. Standards were high across both divisions, with Oxford and Nottingham playing strong games but unlucky to end up at the lower end of the table.

Some nail-biting games finished off the day, with three consecutive drop-offs on Pitch 1. First up was a hotly-contested 5 v 6 playoff between CSSC and Cambridge women; CSSC made a strong comeback from 2-0 down at half-time to finishing 4-4 but couldn’t keep out the Cambridge girls during a high-spirited and highly entertaining drop-off.

The women’s final was the next up and didn’t disappoint. London Scorpions faced off with local rivals Hot Custard in a high-scoring game of cat-and-mouse that had the crowd on tenterhooks. A late equaliser put the scores level at 8-8 for a drop-off, but as the sets came and went with teams dropping to four, then three players, it was still impossible to separate the two. After an impressive nine minutes of extra time, Scorpions broke through the Custard defences to claim the title but paid tribute to the exceptionally high standard of the match. Well done to both teams!

The day reached its climax with the men’s final, a much-anticipated clash between London Scorpions and Tumeke. After another first half of tit-for-tat scoring, Tumeke built up a strong lead in the second before allowing in some late Scorpions dives to even things up at the final whistle, with Scorpions scoring the winner in the drop-off.

Well done Scorpions for making it a clean sweep in the men’s and women’s divisions. The stage is set for a tough rematch in round 2; let’s see if they can hold on to both crowns in Manchester!

Rankings after round 1 (bonus points to the teams who kept their position consistent across both divisions!).

Great skills equals great pictures, so check out the gallery of the day on the England Touch Facebook page!

Men’s