Blaze take the spoils in a fantastic SUNNY Manchester Touch Championships.
This year we went back to our roots and ran a much more development event, for clubs to bring new players along and enjoy a friendly tournament environment.
🏉 20 Matches ⏱ 10 Time slots 🙌 8 Teams 🏆 1 Winner
Teams Entered
Crewe & Nantwich Blaze
Chester Cheetahs
Manchester Village Spartans RUFC
Manchester Chargers
Orrell Touch Rugby
Revolution Touch
Warwick Touch Rugby
Yorkshire Thorns Touch Rugby
The tournament ended with a fantastic battle between Crewe & Nantwich Blaze playing Yorkshire Thorns.
The teams had also met in the group stages, where neither side could be separated in a 3-3 draw.
Heading into the knockout stages both of the eventual finalists were undefeated, and Blaze looked strong with a 9-3 win over Chargers, while Thorns pipped Chester Cheetahs to the final, winning 5-4 in a drop off in the Cup Semi-Final.
The Shield Final, saw the young Orrell side take on the Village Spartans. Spartans had a tough time in the group stages, losing all their games, but put up a good fight in their final game, eventually getting on the score sheet, as Orrell took the win.
A huge credit is due to the Revolution team for making the Bowl Final, their first ever tournament entered having only been created at the back end of 2018. The silverware game was a local derby, as they met Warwick Knights in a game of pride. A strong and experienced Revs team, and they showed their worth heading back up to the midlands with a well-deserved win.
The Plate Final saw a reply of a pool round with Chargers taking on Cheetahs. An end to end battle as the large Cheetahs squad took an early lead, going 2-0 up in the first five minutes. Chargers came back to have a deficit of just one score at half time. Cheetahs pulled away again, running out eventual winners, with a 7-4 win.
Blaze started as if they were on fire and ran in two quick scores, in the Cup Final, but a neat score by the Thorns and an interception just before half time brought them back into it. As expected it was a close run game with Blaze just keeping their noses in front and a couple of crucial scores towards saw them come out as the victors 6-4 in a great contest.
Roll of Honour
A big shout out to those who player reffed and also full time refereed too, Dan Twist, Kevin Hill and Sian Gilding, much appreciated and a great job done by all!
The penultimate round is in just around the corner, on March 10th, looking forward to it already! If you've not yet signed up, use this link and get involved.
