Mens NTS and Womens NTS taps off 2023 club season

The domestic club season starts this weekend in Banbury RFC with the 2023 Mens National Touch Series and Womens National Touch Series.

This is the first of our new-format NTS weekends, where teams are ranked into divisions rather than the previous ‘Elite’ and ‘Development’ from previous years.

Saturday sees divisions 1 and 2 take place, where teams will play 40-minute matches against the other teams across rounds 1 and 2 before the finals decide the overall champion.

Divisions 1 and 2 of the Womens NTS have six teams each. They will play three games this weekend, then the remaining two games in round 2, before the placing finals.

Division 1 represents the leading teams from the last few years, namely London Eagles 1, NQ Rebels, London Scorpions, Nottingham, Cambridge and Galaxy London, who filled six of the top seven places in the Elite table in 2022.

London Eagles and NQ Rebels shared the overall title, having been tied on 52 league points each and the two will go head-to-head in their final match this Saturday.

Division 2 sees Thames Valley Vikings and Hot Custard joined by the 2022 Womens Development NTS champions, Revolution, along with Wigan Warriors, Cheltenham and Oxford.

Divisions 1 and 2 in the Mens NTS each have eight teams, sub-divided into two pools of four. They will play their league matches in round 1, and with all eight of the top teams from 2022 returning in 2023 these will be games not to be missed!

There is plenty of derby spice in Division 1 Pool A, with reigning champions London Scorpions, Galaxy London and Hot Custard all coming from the capital to Oxfordshire, with Wigan Warriors the other team.

Division 1 Pool B welcomes Old Wesley from Dublin along with NQ Rebels, London Eagles 1 and Cambridge.

Division 2 is set to be equally competitive. Pool A has Nottingham, Thames Valley Vikings, Revolution and Manchester Foxes, who won the Development Mens NTS last year. Pool B includes Chester, who pushed the Foxes all the way in the Development Mens NTS, London Eagles 2, Oxford and Canterbury Invicta.

CLICK HERE to see all the fixtures in full.

Sunday’s Division 3 sees 10 Womens and 20 Mens teams head to Banbury, with the division divided into pools of five teams. They will all play 20-minute round-robin games in the morning, with knockout games in the afternoon.

A few clubs are making their NTS debut, including Kelpies, a group of Womens 40s players from Scotland, Nailsea and Blackwell from Somerset and Staffordshire Stormers, and we welcome them into the competition! It is also great to see Nottingham Trent University, who were one of the breakthrough teams in the 2022 University Touch Championships, enter a team into the full NTS for the first time.

Womens Division 3 Pool A – London Eagles 2, Exeter, London Vipers, Kelpies, Surrey Bisons

Womens Division 3 Pool B – Bristol Jets, Chester Cheetahs, Crewe and Nantwich, Nottingham Trent University, Nomads

Mens Division 3 Pool A – Chester Cheetahs, London Scorpions 2, Cambridge 2, Nailsea and Blackwell, Northampton Dragons

Mens Division 3 Pool B – Bristol Jets, Exeter, Titans, Maidenhead Mohawks, Peterborough

Mens Division 3 Pool C – London Vipers, Crewe and Nantwich, Wigan Warriors 2, Liverpool Otters, Staffordshire Stormers

Mens Division 3 Pool D – Cheltenham, Galaxy London 2, Camelot Jesters, Horsham Tigers, Surrey Bisons

CLICK HERE to see the full fixtures