Loughborough remain undefeated as University Touch Champs heats up

As autumn began to turn into winter, University teams once again headed to Sheffield and Guildford for Round 2 of the University Touch Championships Regional Qualifiers where results and standing became anything but expected or straightforward!

Round 2 North - Sheffield - 19th November

Edinburgh 2 and Birmingham 2 joined teams who had taken part in Round 1 for a 14-team competition on a misty and wet day on the artificial pitches at Sheffield Hallam University Sports Park.

The top four from Round 1, Loughborough 1, Nottingham Trent 1, Durham 1 and Cambridge all successfully topped their groups in a seemingly predictable outcome. However, the afternoon results were anything but!

The shock came in the Cup quarter finals, where Cambridge succumbed to an ever-improving Manchester, led by Masters student, ex-Exeter player and England Mens Open Training Squad member Alex Morris.

Manchester couldn't live with the pace of Loughborough 1 in the first Cup semi-final but took it to Durham Knights in the 3rd/4th Play-Off to finish on the podium for the first time in the club's history.

The Cup Final saw a repeat of Round 1 with Loughborough taking on Nottingham Trent. Loughborough were too strong for the pink army, took home a second Cup trophy and remain the only unbeaten team in the country.

Cambridge went on to beat Loughborough 2 for a place in the Plate final alongside Edinburgh 1, who had dispatched Birmingham 1 in their semi-final. A hugely close encounter in treacherous conditions saw Edinburgh victorious with a 1-0 win, exacting revenge after losing to Cambridge in the pool stages.

Six teams had to compete for the Bowl this time round with the previous winners Leeds 1 taking on newcomers Edinburgh 2 in the final. Edinburgh 2 put on a magnificent display, evidently unphased by the competition, to take home the silverware with a 4-1 win. Nina Shariff of Edinburgh 2 also took home the Female MVP award.

Shout-outs must go to NTU's Jake Morris who took home the male MVP award, bettering his Round 1 tally by scoring 13 tries during the day. And also to Loughborough's Emma Hall who set a UTC record for a Female player by scoring nine tries during the day.

Thanks to the results in Round 2, qualification for places in the National Championships went to the wire with Cambridge taking the final Cup qualification place based on scoring only one more try than Edinburgh across the two events.

Northern Region
Teams 1-4 qualify for national Cup, 5-8 for National Plate, 9-12 for National Bowl, 13-14 for National Shield
	Team	R1	R2	Try diff	Tries scored	Total
1	Loughborough 1	24	28	60	75	52
2	Nottingham Trent 1	22	26	37	63	48
3	Durham 1	20	22	25	47	42
4	Cambridge 1	18	18	16	41	36
5	Edinburgh 1	16	20	16	40	36
6	Manchester 1	12	24	-2	28	36
7	Loughborough 2	14	14	-15	25	28
8	Birmingham 1	10	16	-18	27	26
9	Leeds 1	8	10	-6	34	18
10	Durham 2	6	8	-30	19	14
11	Edinburgh 2*	0	12	0	13	12
12	Nottingham Trent 2*	4	4	-25	12	8
13	Birmingham 2*	0	6	-19	6	6
14	Leeds 2	2	2	-39	7	4
* denotes new team
Points tie = count-back on try difference then tries scored

Round 2 South - Guildford - 26th November

Oxford Brookes joined the teams from Round 1 to make a full 16-team contingent on what turned out to be a dry but cold day.

Results were anything but straightforward, especially when Cardiff, Round 1's Winners, drew with Bath 2 to only qualify second in their pool based on try difference.

This created an extremely interesting line up for the Cup quarter finals with Bath 1, Exeter 1, Cardiff 1 and Exeter 2 (Round 1's Plate Winners) all on the same side of the draw.

Surrey 1 continued their strong form, qualifying for another Cup semi-final after beating Exeter 3, and Bristol were also able to improve on their Round 1 result by dispatching Bath 2. Surrey and Bristol faced one another for a place in the Cup final (something neither club has achieved in a number of years) and Surrey dug deep to win by the smallest of margins 6-5. But who would they face...?

Cardiff faced Exeter 1 in their quarter final having finished second in their group, and on a day that wasn't one to remember for the Dragons, they could not keep up with the Hurricanes.

Bath 1 then had the seemingly easier task of beating Exeter 2, but this was not a day for Bath to remember either. In a 3v3 drop-off, Exeter 2 showed some amazing determination to dispatch the current champions and set-up an all-Exeter Cup semi-final, with Bath dispatched to the Plate.

Exeter 1 eventually met Surrey in the Cup Final and with previous experience of high pressure games the Hurricanes took the top spot and also topped the Southern Region qualifying table.

An evidently disheartened Bath went on to take the Plate and Cardiff, nursing a few injuries, eventually finishing only eighth, neither of Round 1's finalists making the top four this time around.

In the Bowl Quarterfinals, Surrey 2 overcame the Royal Veterinary College to improve on their Round 1 result, but ultimately they could not compete with Oxford and Exeter 4 who earned their places in the Bowl Final in a repeat of Round 1's encounter. Exeter 4 took their revenge to take home the silverware.

In the Shield, Essex found themselves in a second successive final but on the wrong side of the result, with Southampton taking home the trophy with a comfortable win.

The Male MVP award went to Exeter 2's Theo Lebard after their amazing third place finish which snuck them into the last National Championships Cup qualifying spot ahead of Cardiff.

Female MVP went to last year's most nominated MVP, Lily Williams of Bristol.

Surrey's Vince Parker scored 14 tries, one better than Jake Morris the week before. Looking ahead to the new year it will be a race to see if either them – or indeed any other player – ould either match or beat England Men's Open and ex-NTU player Will Lupton's long standing record of 15?

And only a week after Emma Hall's new record of nine tries for a female player, Bath's Ella Halsall went on to go one better with 10.

Southern Region
Teams 1-4 qualify for national Cup, 5-8 for National Plate, 9-12 for National Bowl, 13-16 for National Shield
	Team	R1	R2	Try diff	Tries scored	Total
1	Exeter 1	26	32	45	65	58
2	Surrey 1	24	30	25	58	54
3	Bath 1	28	24	53	75	52
4	Exeter 2	22	28	32	65	50
5	Cardiff	30	18	18	48	48
6	Bristol	20	26	28	61	46
7	Exeter 3	18	22	1	39	40
8	Bath 2	16	20	3	42	36
9	Oxford	14	14	13	51	28
10	Exeter 4	12	16	1	39	28
11	Southampton 1	10	8	-8	44	18
12	Surrey 2	6	12	-31	34	18
13	Bath 3	8	4	-46	17	12
14	Oxford Brookes	0	10	-11	18	10
15	Essex*	4	6	-56	26	10
16	RVC	2	2	-80	18	4
* denotes new team
Points tie = count-back on try difference then tries scored

The UTC now takes a break through the Christmas and exam period but will return to Nottingham’s Riverside Sports Complex on February 11th for the first round of the inaugural BUCS University National Touch Championships which will see all 30 teams (and a potential two others) take part and vie for those all-important BUCS points!