Hi fellow XXX Amsterdam Touch Members,
Last weekend was the European Touch Senior Cup 2021, held in Coimbra, Portugal. XXX had a strong showing with x12 team members playing across two teams plus a ref/ organiser.
For those who haven’t heard of Coimbra, it served as the capital of Portugal from 1139 to 1385; it’s 20 degrees warmer and sunnier than Amsterdam and is home to one of the world’s oldest universities (it’s a must-see).
The 3-day tournament featured teams in age categories from Womens 27s all the way to Mens 45s. Special mention to Barbs, who organised the whole tournament, she was well and truly a crowd favourite.
Masayo and Marriette played for the Euro stars in the Womens 27s After 3 hard days of play, they ended in the 5th and 6th place playoff. Mariette had a strong final game with several strong drives that sent the opposition backpedalling. Coach Masayo put on a clinic, pulling the strings from the middle.
(sorry for the potato quality photo)
Played in stifling heat, the game ended up in a drop off. With seconds remaining, Coach Masayo showed her class, setting up a beautiful try for the winger to seal 5th place and a huge roar from the crowd.
x10 XXX mens players were selected for the Dutch Lions, who competed in the 30s tournament - Eliki, Kevin, Doug, Regan, Dan, Eric, Christian (also known as Changa), Lindsay and Chris Hatch all featured.
The pool games were a mixed bag with a win against Germany, a draw with the Swiss and a loss to our arch-rivals the Belgians. The morning of the last day was not a pretty sight, after 2-days of hard play in the heat, many of the boys were walking around like their legs were made of wood, several calls of “have a look at old peg leg over here” were heard at breakfast.
The Dutch were pitted against the Belgians in the semi-final, in a must-win clash the, the boys turned it on, with relentless penetrating drives and suffocating defence. The first try was scored by Arko off a beautifully executed 32 short, the Lions never looked back and came home victors 4-2.
The final was against the Swiss Steiboks in the last game of the tournament. After a draw in the pool match, the Dutch went into the game confident. In a highly entertaining final, the Swiss showed their class with an excellent 3-man drive and deadly quickie attack led by their captain Thomas Blazer.
The Swiss raced out to a big lead before Regan and Lindsay pegged back scores, in the end the Swiss were deserving victors 8-2. While the boys did not bring home the chocolates, they did bring home silver, and the experience can only help strengthen the club when they come back to training.
A huge thank you to everyone who watched the live stream and sent their support in the Facebook group - A quote from one of the boys sums what it meant to them “It gave us a huge lift, knowing that the whole club was watching us, it really meant a lot”.
See you at training!
X X X
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