Exeter clinch inaugural BUCS University Touch Championships

Exeter Hurricanes were crowned as the inaugural British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) University Touch Champions at a special ceremony on Saturday evening.

The Hurricanes regained the national title they last won in 2019, but this time around there were all-important BUCS points at stakes, helping the University of Exeter as they try to chase down Nottingham and Loughborough at the top of the Mixed and Open table.

Exeter’s first team built their momentum throughout the University Touch Championships to win the Cup trophies at the second and third national tournaments, and clinched the overall title when they beat Loughborough 1 in the Cup semi-finals at the final event last Saturday.

Exeter’s second and third teams showed the university’s continued strength in depth by finishing in the top eight overall, but while the overall winners may have been familiar the growth of University Touch was demonstrated by some of the other winners during the course of the season.

Surrey Stags won the first national Cup trophy of the spring semester, while Cardiff won their first silverware in the autumn’s regional qualifying events. Meanwhile Nottingham Trent University showed they are a force to be reckoned with by finishing fourth overall. All three of these universities also entered multiple teams for the first time, as did Edinburgh, Leeds and Birmingham, joining Exeter, Bath, Loughborough and Durham in having clubs able to enter squads of up to 14 players into each national event.

Surrey Stags were highlighted as the most improved team in 2022/23, Edinburgh Panthers were the best newcomer team, while the Royal Veterinary College earned the Spirit Award for their continued positive approach in every event they entered.

The University Touch Championships welcomed Falmouth for the first time, giving the competition a truly national representation.

Surrey and NTU provided the competition’s overall Players of the Season in the form of Emma Oliver (Surrey) and Ben Grinter (NTU), who themselves were just two of a number of age group and Opens internationals to play in the UTC this season, raising standards and passing on best practice from the England Touch High Performance Programme, while also showcasing the importance that Universities can play within development pathways.

Lily Williams (Bristol) and Ben Greer (Birmingham) received the highest number of nominations as most valuable player within individual matches, where their contributions were identified by their opponents’ captain.

Top try scorers were Bethan Padbury (Loughborough) and Vince Parker (Surrey), who crossed the whitewash 24 and 38 times respectively.

Across the season’s seven events – two regional qualifiers each in the north and south in the autumn and three national tournaments in the spring – some 618 players took part, representing one of the 33 teams entered by 20 different University clubs. 429 games were played and 2,925 tries scored, with England Touch also live streaming the finals day for the first time.

University Manager, Jack Harris, says that the 2022/23 BUCS University Touch Championships will live long in the memory.

“We’ve been running University competitions for several years, but the first one within the BUCS programme was always going to be special,” he says. “To have 32 teams at the first national event, representing clubs from as far afield as Edinburgh and Falmouth, shows just how much University Touch has grown, and because we’re just at the start of our BUCS journey we’re really excited about what the future can bring.

“More universities are taking part with even more expressing interest in joining, and the closeness of the results showed that we have strength in depth at all levels of the competition.

“A massive thank you to all of the teams, clubs, players, host venues, and especially all the tens of referees who made this year so successful. Thanks as well to BUCS, and to Chris Simon and the England Touch management for their support.”

England Touch Chief Executive, Chris Simon, added that the University Touch Championships had entrenched itself within the sport’s infrastructure.

“Jack has done an amazing amount of work to make the 2022/23 BUCS University Touch Championships our biggest and most successful year of University Touch in our history, and he deserves thanks and praise for everything he has done,” Simon commented.

“I’d also like to thank Christine Bailey and the event, sports and grounds team at the University of Nottingham for doing a fantastic job for all three national events. Thanks as well to Sheffield Hallam University and Surrey Sports Park for hosting the regional qualifiers before Christmas.

“It is particularly pleasing to see the number of players progress from schools and the England age group teams to now play University Touch in the winter, alongside their club and High Performance commitments during the rest of the year. It is essential that we have pathways for existing young players to develop, and for new players to join them in enjoying our sport.

“What is most impressive is that Jack, and everyone else within our University team, is a volunteer, and with the right backing from visionary organisations and companies there is no limit to how far Touch can grow within Universities.”

Planning is already underway for 2023/24. If your University or College is interested in playing Touch or hosting a University Touch Championships event, or if your organisation or company wants to provide the financial backing to springboard the sport into its bright future, then email university@englandtouch.org.uk