Invicta's Sharks, Taipans, and Saxons Retain Nationals Titles

Invicta Touch players were instrumental in helping their regional teams successfully defend the titles they won last year as England’s regions convened in Nottingham at the weekend to contest Europe’s premier domestic tournament.

This year there was an international flavour to proceedings as a number of neighbouring national teams had been invited to take part in friendly matches against the English sides.

Lydia Ticehurst completed a personal hat trick of women’s open titles as the South East Sharks retained the crown they won last year. The Sharks topped the pool stage with four wins from five. A single-try defeat against the Midlands Tigers was the only blot on their record. The Sharks also recorded impressive wins in friendlies against Scotland and France before disposing of the South West Saxons in the semi-final and gaining retribution against the Tigers with a 5-2 win in the final.

In the mixed open, Toby Lister claimed a second successive winner’s medal as the South West Saxons completed a clean sweep of victories against the other regions and strolled to an 11-3 win over the North West in the final. This year Toby was joined in the Saxons lineup by Danny Ticehurst who got himself on the scoresheet in the final. An impressive French mixed team were the only side to get the better of the Saxons all weekend. JJ Lister finished fourth with the Midland Tigers while Matthew Mayall and Eliot Nye came fifth with the South East Taipans.

In the men’s 40s division, the South East Taipans posted a series of convincing wins over the other regions in the pool stage and even found time to record a dominant 13-3 victory over the Scotland men’s 40s in a friendly. The final provided a stiffer challenge as a resurgent West Wildcats side pushed them all the way before the Taipans prevailed 5-4, thanks in part to a try from Invicta’s Mike Bailey who now has two winner’s medals from two campaigns. For veteran Taipan Dan Dyer it was a fourth consecutive Nationals title and sixth overall.

Elsewhere, Invicta’s representatives acquitted themselves well but their teams came out on the wrong side of fine margins. The men’s open division was phenomenally competitive with very little to choose between the top four sides. Both semi-finals were settled by a single score with Vaughn Meredith’s Taipans losing out 6-5 to eventual winners the South West Saxons and then by a similar margin (12-11) in the third-place play-off against the North West. The Taipans did claim a notable scalp with a 9-5 friendly win over European silver medalists Ireland and pushed France close in an 8-6 defeat.

The South East Sharks continue to close the gap on the Saxons and Tigers in the men’s 50s division. This year Martin Reynard’s side lost to the two finalists by just a single try each but ultimately had to settle for third place.