UTC 2023 - It’s up for grabs now…

The inaugural British Universities and Colleges Sport University Touch Championship reaches its climax in Nottingham tomorrow (Saturday), and the situation could not be any more finely poised.

Loughborough 1 and Exeter Hurricanes head into Round 3 tied on 118 points at the top of the table, the Midlanders having reached the Cup finals in both Rounds 1 and 2 and the south west outfit winning Round 2 and reaching the Round 1 semi-finals.

This makes the maths simple – whoever finishes further in Saturday’s competition will take home the overall title and the BUCS points which comes with it.

Loughborough and the Hurricanes have been drawn in separate pools, but as has been seen throughout the UTC so far every match during the morning round-robin or the afternoon knockouts could very well come down to a try here or there to decide where the title goes.

Should Exeter win, they will be regaining the title they last won three years ago, but should Loughborough prevail they will be making a bit of history for their university as the first team to win the national Touch competition.

Exeter have been drawn alongside Nottingham Trent Timberwolves, who have come on in leaps and bounds this season, Bath Hawks, who lost 1-0 to the Hurricanes in the Round 2 semi-final, and Exeter Typhoon, who progressed into the Cup by winning the Plate in Round 1.

Loughborough are pooled with Surrey Stags, who won the Round 1 Cup, Durham Knights, who have posed plenty of problems for their opponents all season, and Exeter Monsoon.

The crunch contests will be live streamed throughout the day live on the England Touch website home page and YouTube channel, with the Cup final tapping off at 5:00pm.

It is not only the Cup which will be live streamed, but the Plate as well, and these pools are likely to be just as competitive.

Cardiff Dragons, who won the Round 2 Plate, open up the action at 10:00am against Edinburgh Lions, and with the Dragons, Loughborough 2, Bristol Cobras and Birmingham Lions all on 80 league points there is likely to be a lot of movement in the middle of the league table by the end of the day.

The Bowl final will also be live streamed, as we seek to give as many finals as possible the best exposure to everyone watching at home!

It is not only the team awards which are in the balance, but the outcome of top try scorer and the recipients of most MVP nominations are also going down to the wire as well.

Among the female players Loughborough pair Bethan Padbury and Emma Hall are on 21 and 20 tournament tries respectively, with Shani Evans (Bath, 17), Ella Halsall (Bath, 16) and Amelia Rees (Exeter, 15) not far behind. Vince Parker (Surrey) and Jake Morris (Nottingham Trent) are on 38 and 32 tries, with NTU’s Ben Grinter on 28.

Parker also leads the cumulative Male MVP tally, too, on 13, with Ben Greer (Birmingham, 12), Eberendhu Igwe (Loughborough, 11), Jake Morris (NTU, 9) and Will Heath (Durham, 8) all still in the running.

The Female MVP race could very well be decided in the final couple of games, too, as Lily Williams (Bristol), Victoria Summers (Bath), Lydia Ticehurst (Loughborough), Emma Oliver (Surrey) and Nina Shariff (Edinburgh) all covered by just four nominations.

MVP nominations are given at the end of each game, with the participating teams choosing which male and female players from the opposition stood out for them.

Cup

Pool A Exeter Hurricanes, Nottingham Trent Timberwolves, Bath Hawks, Exeter Typhoon

Pool B Loughborough 1, Surrey Stags, Durham Knights, Exeter Monsoon

Plate

Pool C Cambridge, Bristol Cobras, Birmingham Lions, Oxford

Pool D Cardiff Dragons, Loughborough 2, Edinburgh Lions, Bath Sparrows

Bowl/Shield

Pool E Leeds Headrow, Durham Archers, Cardiff Sheep, Falmouth Raiders

Pool F Exeter Storm, Edinburgh Panthers, Surrey Bucks, Royal Veterinary College

Pool G Nottingham, Nottingham Trent Army, Leeds Belgrave, Oxford Brookes