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BRISTOL
UNIVERSITY UNILEVER RUGBY LEAGUE 9's TOURNAMENT
Contrary
to popular belief, rugby league is not only played by hard northern
bastards but has recently enjoyed a boom in Wales and the South.
With this in mind Bristol's own rugby league team organised the
first ever Uni and intramural rugby league 9's tournament. It attracted
a wide variety of teams from the hard tackling Welsh sides such
as UWIC and Glamorgan to Bristol University's own intramural sides
who had never played before, and did not know what to expect. In
a close Shield final Swansea institute played the Medics. Both these
union sides had throughout out the day adapted well to the challenges
of rugby league but sadly the Shield went to Swansea 17-10. It did
however provide the Medics with some good match practise for their
national 7's tournament the following week which they won beating
all the odds on the way.
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Despite
the initial setback of Sunday morning hangovers, which resulted in
a couple of teams not showing, the remaining teams were split into
4 groups of 3. The winners of each group qualified for the Cup with
the 2nd and 3rd placed teams playing in the Shield and Plate competitions
respectively. |
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1st round threw up a few surprises with the Medics almost upsetting
Glamorgan in a tough battle, which saw them lose by 8-6. The Engineers
won their group with ease, beating both Portsmouth and Bristol 'B'
in the process and Wills Hall put up a spirited effort against UWIC
by scoring first. Along with the almost upsets came the handing out
of a few lessons. Bristol 'A' dished out some punishment to the newly
crowned intramural rugby union league winners, the Wandering Hands,
with a convincing 34-0 win. |
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The
Plate final was between Goldney and Wills Hall with Goldney winning
eventually 10-0. Afterwards one Goldney player from the States was
over heard saying "Why have you guys not told me of this game before,
it's great." Their captain was also delighted to be able to put a
trophy behind their bar in a previously empty cabinet. Along with
Goldney and Wills, Hiatt Baker and Bristol 'B' contested the plate
both putting in valiant efforts in the semi-finals. |
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cup competition was the highlight of the tournament with surprise
semi-finalists the Engineers joining Glamorgan, UWIC and Bristol 'A'.
Sadly despite putting up tough resistance both the Bristol sides went
out. One engineer said afterwards they tried hard and even scored
2 tries with 1 pass. He obviously took to many 3 man tackles during
the afternoon. In a dramatic final the 2 pre- tournament favourites
saw UWIC convert a try in the dying seconds to level the scores 10-10
and put the final into sudden death. After 5 tense hard fought minutes
Glamorgan grabbed the golden try. |
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Overall
the day was a great success with many of the players enjoying the
hard northern bastard's game of rugby league. Hopefully we will see
the same next year and actually grab some upsets. |
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