Exeter win leaves University Touch Championships finely poised

The outcome of the inaugural British Universities and Colleges Sport University Touch Championships is on a knife-edge following Exeter Hurricanes’ Cup triumph in Round 2 last weekend.

In beating Loughborough 1 6-3 in the final at Nottingham’s Riverside Sports Complex the Hurricanes pulled themselves level with the Midlanders, who were unable to turn an appearance in the Round 1 final into Round 2 silverware.

With both teams on 118 points whoever finishes higher in the standings in Round 3 will have an odds-on chance of being crowned champions. However, Surrey Stags are just four points behind, and given how competitive both Rounds 1 and 2 have been then they will not be counting themselves out of the race.

Indeed, the three-try margin in the final was the largest difference between teams across the semi-finals or the play-offs which decided the finishing positions within the Cup. Loughborough had to rely on extra time and a score after the hooter to beat Nottingham Trent 1 5-4, while Exeter’s tries in their 2-0 win over Bath Hawks both came in the second half.

Cardiff Dragons’ 6-2 win over Bristol in the Plate final was very much an outlier in terms of the closeness which was the hallmark of the day’s other finals.

Bath Sparrows took home the Bowl, but Leeds Headrow deserve plenty of credit for the way they pulled back a two-try deficit to force extra time, only for Bath to edge the contest 6-5.

Leeds did take home some silverware, however, as their second team, Belgrave, beat Cardiff Sheep 4-2 in the Shield final.

Saturday’s results mean that after two national rounds there have been eight different teams taking home trophies from the eight finals which have been played, equivalent to one in four of the teams who have taken part.

The final round returns to the Riverside Sports Complex on Saturday, March 25th.