Canterbury Cougars host CTS4

Due to the dramatic growth of Touch in England, England Touch launched a new two tier system in 2012. The top flight National Touch Series (NTS) and the second tier the Challenge Touch Series (CTS).

The 2013 season sees the CTS in its second year with its popularity on the increase as it is now also attracting some European club entries. The aim of the CTS is to develop the club game and encourage more club sides to get involved at a national level.

Saturday 13^th July saw Canterbury Rugby Club host, the fourth tournament, in the ‘CTS Touch’ series.

Canterbury entered three teams Canterbury Cougars, Canterbury Cubs and Canterbury Touch. The Cubs made it through into the knockout stages which is a fantastic effort as several of the girls on the team had never played in a competitive Touch game before.

The Cougars progressed through a hard fought pool stage undefeated.Sixteen teams entered the competition which was divided into three pools. On a glorious summer day, in the garden of England, all teams battled with not only the opposition but also the sweltering temperatures.

In the semi-finals, the Cougars defeated the experienced Touch team Wigan. Hard grit and determination in defence along with some dynamic attacking from the mids saw Cougars into the final.

In the last game of the day Canterbury Cougars took on Wookies. In a closely fought contest, the game was an end to end running battle, in both defence and attack. However it was the continual injection of pace from the Cougars substitutes, who took advantage of the Wookies defence, which saw them edge to a 5-4 victory.

Results

Shield: Winner Galaxy – Runner Up Wigan

Bowl: Winner Vikings – Runner Up Ewoks

Plate: Winner Destroyers – Runner Up Cambridge

Cup: Winner Canterbury Cougars – Runner Up Wookies