Full house for 2020 National Touch Series opener

The 2020 club season taps off in west London this Saturday with a full house in the opening round of the Emerging Men’s and Women’s National Touch Series.

Sixteen Men’s and 10 Women’s teams will be heading to Acton, home of Wasps RFC, for a full day of action. And, building on last year, the tournament will see both individual club sides and teams made up from a number of clubs compete and give players the opportunity to compete.

Reigning Men’s champions Nottingham will be looking to get their campaign off to a good start, but they will have stiff competition, not least from a pool which includes Canterbury, Thames Valley Vikings and Cambridgeshire Cowboys, made up from players from Peterborough and guests.

The England Men’s 45s are using the Men’s and Women’s NTS as an opportunity to start their preparations for the European Touch Championships, and teams will be coming from as far afield as Exeter, Manchester and Canterbury.

The Women’s competition is divided up into two pools of five, and while the south east is well represented teams are heading to Acton from the south west, north west and the Midlands as well.

Tap off in the first game is at 9:30am and the full schedule can be seen by CLICKING HERE.

MEN’S POOLS

Pool A – Nottingham, Canterbury, Cambridgeshire Cowboys, Thames Valley Vikings

Pool B – Surrey Bisons, CSSC London Eagles 1, Colt 45s, Oxford

Pool C – Crewe and Nantwich, St Albans, Exeter Eagle Owls, London Scorpions

Pool D – Manchester Chargers, Cheltenham, EY London Vipers, CSSC London Eagles 2

WOMEN’S POOLS

Pool A – Revolution, Crewe and Nantwich, Fijian Tiger Owls, London Scorpions, Manchester Chargers

Pool B – Nottingham, Surrey Bisons, St Albans, CSSC London Eagles, Thames Valley Vikings

THINGS TO NOTE

Covid-19

All players and referees are asked to note the current advice from Public Health England and the NHS regarding the Coronavirus (Covid-19).

England Touch is monitoring developments continually, and there will be plenty of hand wash and sanitiser available in communal areas at the venue.

However players and referees are reminded that if they have any symptoms of fever and/or respiratory infection (eg new cough, breathlessness, wheezing) then please do not attend the tournament and seek advice by calling 111.

Similarly, if you have recently either travelled to a country affected by Coronavirus or had contact with a known or suspected individual case of Coronavirus then please do not attend the tournament and seek advice by calling 111.

Finally, if you attend a known-affected institution, eg school, university, community group or workplace, then please seek advice by calling 111 before attending the tournament.

Rules of Play

Due to some ongoing uncertainty regarding the rules that the 2020 European Touch Championships will be played under, this tournament will be run under the FIT version 4 rulebook, ie the same rules as 2019.

Full-time referees are being briefed accordingly, and there will be a full briefing for team captains and player/refs on Saturday.

This is for this round only and there will be a further decision made regarding future rounds in due course.