Surrey set early pace as University Touch Championships goes national

Surrey Stags showed just how far they have developed over the last 24 months by taking home the first Cup title of the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) University Touch Championships national rounds in Nottingham.

Coming out of the pandemic, Surrey’s Touch club was – it is fair to say – facing its challenges. But thanks to the hard work of the committee, led by past-president Charlie Steed, and coaching from England Men’s Open captain, Dom Tripp, Surrey have not just gone from strength-to-strength but have now made their mark as serious contenders at the top end of University Touch in England.

Surrey saw off Loughborough 1 4-3 in a tense, tight and flowing Cup final during which the teams matched each other blow for blow.

Loughborough had come into the national rounds having won both North Regional Qualifiers, and they took this momentum throughout the day, including beating Surrey 10-3 during the pool stages and pipping Exeter Hurricanes 2-1 in the semi-final.

For their part Surrey shrugged off that initial loss to beat reigning champions Bath 1 in the pool and then Exeter 2 and Nottingham Trent 1 in the knockout stages before exacting their revenge over the midlanders.

The event, which was England Touch’s biggest ever domestic tournament with a fully booked 32 teams, was divided into Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield competitions in advance.

Exeter 3 showed the continued strength in depth at that university by winning the Plate and joining Exe’s firsts and seconds in the Cup next time around. They did so by beating Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham in the knockout stages, completing an unbeaten day.

The Bowl headed to Oxford after by far the longest game of the day which went to 3-v-3 sudden death extra time against Leeds 1. The Dark Blues’ morning had been straightforward, as had their quarter final, but the semi-final against Exeter 4 was as tight as the final would prove to be, Oxford winning both of those by just the one try.

Finally, the Shield stayed in the host city, Nottingham marking their first appearance of the season by recording an unbeaten day to see off Oxford Brookes in the final.

CLICK HERE to see the full results.

Round 2 returns to Nottingham’s Riverside Sports Complex on Saturday, March 4th.