Honours shared at 2024 Opens, Seniors and Masters Nationals

The 2024 Opens, Seniors and Masters Nationals delivered an outstanding weekend of Touch yet again.

For a second successive season England Touch combined the three divisions into a single weekend, providing more people with an opportunity to represent their region in their chosen category.

The competition was fiercer than ever, with some extremely close matches, especially in the knockouts.

As has been the case in several recent Nationals, the match of the weekend was the Mens 30 final. South West Saxons and South East Taipans had been split by just the one try in the pool stages, and it was the same margin in the final, with the Saxons scoring just before the hooter to take the game into extra time, and then crossing for a dramatic try in a 3-v-3 drop-off.

It was a similar story in the Womens Open. The South East Sharks and South East Taipans have dominated the category in recent years, and the two met in the final once again. In the pool stages the Sharks had edged the derby contest 5-4, but in the final the Taipans took the spoils in a low scoring contest – always the most dramatic! – by three tries to two.

The South East Sharks regained the Mens Open title, seeing off a resurgent North West 11-8. But the South East’s domination of the Opens categories was broken by Midlands Tigers, who finished the weekend with a 10-8 win over the Sharks to lift the Mixed Open title.

The Tigers also regained the Womens 27 crown, with the added bonus of team captain, Lucy Snape, being awarded the Benita Lee Award after being nominated by the Regional Senior Womens coaches for showing the qualities to bring her team together and inspiring those around her to greater heights.

The Masters titles were won on Sunday, with the Midlands Tigers winning three of the five categories on offer – Womens 40, Mens 40, Mens 50 – with South East Sharks retaining the Womens 35 crown and the South East Taipans taking home the Mens 45.

CLICK HERE to see all the results.