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Edinburgh retain national touch rugby title against tough competition

Edinburgh’s touch players retained their place as national champions on the weekend but faced stiff competition as the quality of the sport continues to rise across Scotland.

The capital’s sides won both the men’s and the women’s titles at the Scottish National Touch Championships (SNTC), held at Stirling University on Saturday (23 August), to repeat the clean sweep they achieved last year.

However, the growth of the sport and the rise in standards across the country was reflected in the close games and tough competition throughout the day, in contrast to Edinburgh’s domination at last year’s event. About 110 players and 15 referees from Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Stirling competed and officiated on the day.

Glasgow’s men improved on a fourth place finish in 2007 to come second in the men’s competition this year, briefly leading Edinburgh Men’s Blue in the final before the Edinburgh team ran out 6-2 champions.

In the women’s division, Edinburgh Women’s Red overcame Aberdeen 6-1 in the final. The northern side came away with one award though, with Monica Coyle named Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the women’s division. Stirling’s Stuart Smith was named men’s MVP, capping a day in which the city’s side won its first game at this level.

Scottish Touch Association president Peter Faassen de Heer said the tight scorelines and high quality play throughout the day was a pleasing end to a successful year for the sport.

‘This event has a number of aims; to determine Scotland’s national champions; to further develop the sport across the country; and to identify new players who are worthy of selection into the Scotland national squad. I’m thrilled that the tournament has achieved all three aims,’ said Faassen de Heer.

‘It caps off a really good year for Scottish touch. We started 2008 by signing a Partnership Agreement with Scottish Rugby, which will see continued growth and development of the sport here. During the summer, the growth in the domestic leagues across the country continued. And in July, our national squad won the mixed division at the European Championships and also won two silver medals and a bronze to give us our most successful performance at an international tournament yet.’

For full details please see our press release section.

Scotland’s touch rugby players win European gold

Scotland’s top touch rugby players are celebrating their first European champions title and a host of medals after the country’s most successful international tournament to date.
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Scotland Mixed Open Team

The national squad has returned from the 2008 European Touch Championships in Paris, with the Scotland Mixed Open side having won their division, the country’s two men’s age group teams winning silver medals and the Women’s Open side winning bronze.

The Mixed Open team overcame injuries to several players to beat the favourites England by 12 touchdowns to 9 in an action-packed final, winning Scotland’s first ever European title and gold medals.

Earlier in the day Scotland’s Men’s over 30s won silver, after losing 6-3 to England in that division’s final. The Men’s over 35s also got silver medals, falling 6-4 to Wales. The Women’s Open team came third in their division, recovering from a semi-final loss in extra time to Wales to then beat Germany 2-1 in the bronze medal match. The Men’s Open came fourth, after losing a play-off with France, while the Women’s over 30s team were there as an invitational side and ended the tournament on a bright note with a 2-1 win over France.

Scotland was one of 15 European countries taking part in the tournament, which takes place every two years and involved around 600 players. Scotland came third in the tournament overall, after being narrowly beaten to second place by Wales, with England coming first.

Scottish Touch Association president Peter Faassen de Heer said the national squad’s success reflected the preparation, hard work and commitment that the squad of around 100 players, coaches, support staff, and administrators had put in over the ten months before the tournament.

“This was the biggest and best prepared Scotland squad to go abroad to an international tournament yet. To come back with a European title and lots of medals – gold, silver and bronze – was very satisfying and a testament to the work everybody involved has put in.”
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Dan Fitzgerald scores for Scotland

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