France claims European Opens mixed gold as England dominate men’s and women’s

25 Aug 2025 @ 9:00 UTC

In the first European Opens Touch Cup held at Rugby Calvisano this weekend, Touch France took the first gold in the mixed open, but England dominated the competition overall with gold, silver and bronze in the women’s, and gold and silver in the men’s.

France beat silver medallists Belgium in the mixed competition twice – once in the round robin (10-4) and again in the final (15-8) to deservedly claim gold in the first final of the afternoon. Players of the final went to Belgium’s Louis Chantraine and France’s Astrid Vellet.

Belgium’s silver was their first international medal and whilst Switzerland was obviously disappointed not to take the bronze, instead it went to hosts Italy – claiming their first medal as well. Meanwhile Lebanon beat Middle East to claim 5th place.

In the women’s open event, England Storm beat France in a close 3rd/4th game to claim bronze ahead of an all-England showdown for gold. Phoenix came out on top, beating their England counterparts, Mavericks, 5-3 in the final, with Phoenix’s number 11 – Naomi Fearnett taking the Player of the Final award. Scotland beat Ireland (10-6) to claim 5th place and Netherlands beat Italy (7-2) to claim 7th.

And finally, in the men’s open, Ireland stopped England from taking a clean sweep, coming out on top 8 to 6 tries against Phoenix. In another all-England final, Storm couldn’t stop Mavericks who took the game 10-8 to claim gold. It was a Storm player – Louis Treays though that took the Player of the Final award. Scotland beat France (12-11) to claim 5th place and Netherlands beat Italy (5-4) to claim 7th.

For detailed results and final standings, please click here.

Medals, Players of the Final and Referees of the Finals

Mixed Open

🥇France

🥈Belgium

🥉Italy

Players of the Final: Louis Chantraine (Belgium) and Astrid Vellet (France)

Referees of the final: Simon Fau, Renat Iskakov, Vincent Lebacq 

Womens Open

🥇England Phoenix

🥈England Mavericks

🥉England Storm

Player of the Final: Naomi Fearnett (Phoenix)

Referees of the final: Robin Budd, Julian Edwards, Phil Holiday

Mens Open

🥇England Mavericks

🥈England Storm

🥉Ireland

Player of the Final: Louis Treays (Storm)

Referees of the final: Jack Harris, Gareth Hinds, Kevin Hobbs