University Touch Championships to give England Touch its biggest ever one-day tournament

The first national round of the 2022/23 British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) University Touch Championships will be giving England Touch the Association’s biggest ever single-day domestic tournament.

Thirty-two teams have signed up to the event, which will be taking over the University of Nottingham’s Riverside Sports Complex this coming Saturday, with spaces being fully booked a number of weeks before the tournament taps off.

Teams will be coming from as far afield as Edinburgh and Falmouth, who will be making their first appearance at national level.

As well as demonstrating Touch’s national presence, several of the universities are sending multiple squads of up to 14 players, which represents how entrenched and embraced the sport becomes at this level, helped by the opportunity for male and female players to compete alongside each other at prestigious events such as this.

Following qualification events in the north and south before Christmas, the national rounds of the inaugural BUCS University Touch Championships have been tiered based on the respective league standings in those regional tournaments.

The top four teams from the north and south make up the Cup competition. The north was dominated by Loughborough 1, Durham 1 and Nottingham Trent 1, who reached the semi-finals in both qualifiers. But the south was much more competitive, with Cardiff – who won the first qualifier – missing out following a disappointing round 2. Instead, perennial challengers Exeter 1 and Bath 1 will be joined by Exeter 2 and Surrey 1, who have continued their rapid development from 2021/22.

The teams ranked 5-8 in each qualifying league go into the National Plate, the teams ranked 9-12 the National Bowl, and the remaining teams competing for the National Shield.

Not only will there be two subsequent National rounds in Nottingham as winter becomes spring, but for the first time the top teams will be battling it out for all-important BUCS points!

The first games tap off at 10:00am, with teams playing in round robin pool stages in the morning in pools of four. The afternoon becomes a knockout, with the Cup finals at 4:25pm.

Cup – Loughborough 1, Nottingham Trent 1, Durham 1, Cambridge, Exeter 1, Surrey 1, Bath 1, Exeter 2

Plate – Edinburgh 1, Manchester, Loughborough 2, Birmingham 1, Cardiff 1, Bristol, Exeter 3, Bath 2

Bowl – Leeds 1, Durham 2, Edinburgh 2, Nottingham Trent 2, Oxford, Exeter 4, Southampton, Surrey 2

Shield – Birmingham 2, Leeds 2, Bath 3, Oxford Brookes, Royal Veterinary College, Falmouth, Nottingham, Cardiff 2