2022 Opens Nationals preview

The dust having settled on England’s international exploits over the summer, attention turns again to the climax of the domestic calendar, The Nationals.

This weekend the Opens teams from across the country will head to Nottingham’s Riverside Sports Complex for three days which will decide which region will get onto the front foot to be crowned the best in England.

Each of the six regions is represented in at least one category, and plenty of players who won medals at the European Touch Championships and Junior Touch Championships will be out to add to their collection in the East Midlands.

2021’s Opens Nationals was dominated by the South East, whose Sharks and Taipans reached all three finals, producing some stellar and competitive Touch along the way, even in the ultra-challenging conditions which turned Lady Bay’s pitches into a quagmire.

This year the forecast is much more favourable for flowing Touch, and with the National Touch Series having been a close-run thing between teams from the South East, Midlands and North West, expect some fierce competition throughout the weekend – especially with most of the players having experienced 40-minute games in either Nottingham or Vichy.

Tap off on Saturday and Sunday is at 10am, with the first match on Monday’s Finals Day tapping off at 9am.

CLICK HERE to see the full schedule, and live streaming will be on the England Touch home page and YouTube channel throughout the weekend!

As well as the Opens Nationals, there will also be an Exhibition Series on Saturday between Womens 40 teams from Midland Tigers, Northern Diamonds and West Wildcats. This is the first time that a dedicated Series for this category will have been held within the England Touch domestic calendar, and we are looking forward to welcoming the women to Nottingham as well!

Midland Tigers

Womens Open

Anna Goddard, Katherine Green, Isobel Hobson, Katherine Jones, Charlotte Lloyd, Sophie Lloyd, Ella Loveridge, Hannah Mclaughlin, Lucy Norburn, Emily Simon, Phoebe Simon, Lucy Snape, Rowan Stewart, Annelise Thurley, Abigail Walters, Mia Watts

Mens Open

Tom Davies, Harry Goodhew, Liam Halpenny, Nick Hodson, Ben Le Noury, Will Lupton, Matthew Maynard, Brent McDougall, Louis McManus, Dan Powell, Ben Rhodes, Matthew Sandlant, Will Tyrrell, Ellis Watts, Thomas Watts

Mixed Open

Eimear Conroy, Elle Fleming, Victoria Franks, Glenn Jones, Andrew Kayley, Alex Marrenn, Augustine McMahon, Fraser McPherson, Harry Missin, Sam Missin, Laura Morcom, Bradley Murphy, Will Murphy, Mekayla Popoff, Ben Powell, Hana Suzuki

North East Raiders

Mixed Open

Benjamin Burton, Alex Butler, Jonathan Clark, Carl Cockburn, Michelle Crawford, Tommy Dixon, Athena-Maria Enderstein, Neil Hennigan, Angus King, Lesley Marshall, Carl Sheffield, Annabel Smith, Peter Strachan, Jessica Whitehead, Hester Williams, James Woodward

North West

Womens Open

Sage Bannister, Meghan Clayton, Anna Crossley, Ellie Davidson, Joanne Devine, Danielle Evans, Olivia Harborow, Alice Hobson, Emily Kelly, Georgina McKavanagh, Amelia Paton, Nollaig Quinn, Sade Rihari, Nicola Wise, Jessica Wright, Carly Wynne

Mens Open

Cooper Bainbridge, Matthew Bate, Adam Brimelow, Robert Crawford, Jordan Crosse, Samuel Dixon, Sam Grant, Ben Grinter, Luke Lawrence, Ben Meakin, Jake Morris, Toby Phillips, Mike Rice, James Simons, Robert Taylor, Samuel Thorpe

Mixed Open

Annie Ainscough, Richard Barningham, Matthew Crossley, Millie Cullen, Dylan Fletcher, Sam Grinter, Lucy Hawkrigg, Matthew Hawkrigg, Bex Holmes, Becky Illingworth, Lucy Morriss, Jacob Rigby, Jack Slessor, Ben Wilcock, Ted Wilson, Charlie Wood

South East Sharks

Womens Open

Georgina Burford-Taylor, Laura Cochrane, Emily Crowe, Emily Hacking, Emily Irons, Annabel Jansen, Elizabeth Merrett, Emma Oliver, Isobel Penniceard, Hannah Pike, Gracy Pyrgos, Mayleen Sabathier, Bronte Sykes, Isobel Thomas, Lydia Ticehurst, Julia Unsworth

Mens Open

Ewan Armstrong, Teddy Brooks, Marcus Chung, Edward Hayward, Max Howard, Jamie Ironside, Alexander Morris, Horatio Price, Alex Scott, Will Serocold, Tom Slater, Henry Stratford, Zubin Tanna, Charlie Thomson, Dom Tripp, Oli Turner

Mixed Open

Will Coomes, Oscar Davies, Samuel Davies, Georgina Dick, Daniel Eaglestone, Tom Hall, Chloe Hill, Lois Lau, Daniela Mendes, Vince Parker, Harry Richards, Ben Robertson, Amelia Stanley, Charlie Steed, Isabella Tan

South East Taipans

Womens Open

Sophia Barkham, Emily Bayliss, Niki Bird, Katya Byng, Naomi Fearnett, Katy Fielding, Gabriela Gebara, Danni Gregory, Ella Halsall, Nicola Marsh, Kensie McNaught, Eleana Panayotou Ennes, Meghan Pemberton, Haniyyah Rahman-Shepherd, Emily Rona-Roper, Erin Payten

Mens Open

Mark Aldous, James Baron, Josh Bendel, Dominic Brook, Tom Hall, Tomos Hardiman, Josh Henderson, Angus Lister, Doug Maltby, James Marsh, Vaughn Meredith, Richard Moody, Adam Pelier, Hanro Rossouw, Kamil Shahabdeen, Louis Treays

Mixed Open

Richard Brumpton, Susanna Hyvonen, Michael Kelly, Macsen Lambert, Matthew Mayall, Rory Moore, Sabrina Pilkington, Ciara Purvis, Russell Reid, Cathryn Richardson-Waldin, Elliott Russell, Colin Scott, Olivia Turner, Ashley Grimsey, Emma Young

South West Saxons

Womens Open

Mia Ainscough, Helen Ayres, Georgia Bell, Jessica Clarke, Niamh Corry, Katrina Cottey, Chie Kameyama, Rosie Kells, Hannah Lewis, Charlotte McFarland, Eleanor Moss, Nhu Nguyen, Josephine Parr, Steph Sullivan, Ria Vithlani, Rose Willoughby

Mens Open

Ryan Attwood, Edward Boynton, Jack Corry, Marcus Evans, Ieuan Galvin, Robert Grist, Callum Hogan, Akshan Jirasinha, Rhys Jones, Charlie Meredith, Max Pawlowicz, Andrew Smerdon, Dan Thomson, Sam Ticehurst, Chris Wade, James Webber

Mixed Open

Holly Atkinson, Megan Burton, Dylan Collier, Emily Davey, Michael Jeffrey, Jessica Miller, Veronika Rojek, James Smith, Martin Smith, Josh Whenman, George Williamson, Ethan Knight

West Wildcats

Womens Open

Kate Allen, Kathryn Brown-Williams, Emily Cann, Cara Edwards, Cerys Godwin, Rebecca Hickman, Sinead Hughes, Victoria Hurrell, Shona Mackie, Maddie Miles-Kingston, Katherine Nash, Poppy Riddlestone, Natasha Rose, Sophie Wadsworth, Kat Williams-Sharpe

Mens Open

Bailey Blackburn, Jackson Chan, Theo Edwards, George Gerrish, Ben Greer, James Hockey, Cameron Keeys, Sam Lawton-Davies, Tom Lawton-Davies, Dylan Madge, Simon Mallard, Luke Milson, Lewis Partridge, Adam Sale, Christopher Whimpenny, Christopher Wray

Mixed Open

Martin Bunn, Claire Davis, Ben Edwards, Fergal Evans, Matthew Halligan, Olivia Jones, Charlotte Nichols, Lucas Norton, Izaac Oxford, Hannah Rickards, Maisie Rosewell, Claire Rylance, Daniel Sharpe, Benjamin Smith, Oliver Smith