Exeter capitalise on home advantage

Round 3 of the University Touch Series was hosted by Exeter at Duckes Meadows, and was run simultaneously with a local South West Series tournament, proving to be a huge day of Touch!

The group stages kicked off with some big games; Exeter Hurricanes starting their day as hosts well by beating Loughborough Wolves 3-0, and Bath Hawks beating Exeter Monsoon 2-1. Oxford University fell to the Exeter Hurricanes 6-0 in the next round of games, which also saw Southampton put on a good show beating Loughborough 2nd team 6-2, and Bath Pumas beat Exeter Storm 5-1.

At the end of the groups the top eight teams went through to the Cup quarter finals, which saw the following results:

Ex Hurricanes 13 - 3 Southampton
Bath Hawks 9 - 1 Bath Pumas
Bristol (1s) 9 - 2 Exeter Typhoon
Ex Monsoon 2 - 3 Loughborough Wolves

The Bowl semi-finals saw Oxford beat Bristol (2s) 5-2, and Ex Storm beat Loughborough (2s) 3-1, setting up a final between Exeter Storm and Oxford.

The losers from the Cup quarter finals played one another in the Plate semi, which saw Exeter Typhoon and Exeter Monsoon progress to the Plate final, which Exeter Monsoon went on to win 4-2.

The Cup semis saw two great games with UTS heavyweights. Exeter Hurricanes ground out a physical game with Bristol (1), eventually winning 4-3, and Bath Hawks secured their second Cup final of the season beating Loughborough Wolves 5-3.

The Cup final therefore saw Exeter Hurricanes look to defend their home turf against the Hawks, something they have failed to do in previous seasons. It started badly for the hosts with the Hawks scoring with the first phase of the game; however the Hurricanes didn't let this affect them and responded with a number of scores of their own, ending the half 4-2 up. The Hurricanes put in a more dominant display in the second half and ran out 7-2 winners, winning the Cup final for the first time in a home round.

Notable MVP’s went to Valerie Toze and Dom Brook, both of Exeter.

Thank yous as always go to the referees Stephen Dubreuil, Tom Bedkowski, Aubrey Collins, and Tim Chandler, as well as to Exeter University and Max’s committee for hosting.