England, France and Ireland take the spoils at Atlantic Youth Touch Cup

Witnessing some of the most exciting international junior touch ever seen, an estimated 3,000 people took to the grass banks and surrounding areas of fields 1 and 2 as the nine categories reached an exhilarating finale on Sunday 3rd August. The event started with a cultural celebration on Thursday 31^st July as the 45 teams from 12 nations took part in a parade and short opening ceremony at the University’ sports facilities.

England took six golds but perhaps didn’t dominate as much as they have done in the past. They upset the hosts Ireland in the first final, by taking the X20’s division and edged past France in both the girls and boys 18s, winning the boys with a fantastic score deep into the drop off with both teams down to three players. They also won two of the three 15s categories and the Men’s 20s, coming out on top against France in all three test matches. England also claimed a silver and two bronzes.

France had their best day at a youth event, taking home two golds (X15 and W20) and three silvers (B18, G18, M20), whilst Ireland took the last final of the day, winning the Mixed 18s to rapturous home support, to take their first gold alongside their X20s silver and B15s bronze.

Wales had to settle for silvers in all the 15s categories, as well as the mixed 18s. They also claimed bronze in the boys 18s, whilst South Africa took bronze in the X18s, X20s and W20s.

Many thanks to all our participating nations - players, coaches, support staff and spectators and a huge thank you to the team of referees, event staff and volunteers.

Also thanks to our global partners Inferno Sports and Steeden and to our more local Irish partners - Fáilte Ireland and Limerick County Council.

For detailed results and final standings, please click here.

Read on for a more detailed round-up across the nine categories of competition…

20s division round-up

The 20s division was first up on finals day, with the mixed taking centre stage at the University of Limerick. Ireland, having beaten England twice in the round robin stage were expected to win and make an early statement for the hosts, but England had other ideas. In a fantastic advert for the game of mixed touch, England came out on top, winning 10-9 in the final seconds of regular time. Meanwhile, South Africa beat Scotland 7-5 to claim the bronze medal.

In the men’s competition, England and France fought out a three-match test series, with England coming out on top 3-0. Both sides also played games against an England Lions invitational team and thanks to those who made the trip and provided competition for both teams, earning a creditable 10-10 draw against France on the morning of day 3.

In the women’s tournament – a competitive three team division, England, France and South Africa had all taken points from one another in the round robin, but South Africa just missed out on a place in the final. England beaten twice by France on days 1 and 2, showed what they could do earlier on Sunday, winning 5-4 in the final group game.

They pushed France all the way in the gold medal match but couldn’t quite get over the line. In the end, a very talented French team managed to win 5-4 in another exciting final providing fantastic entertainment for the day three crowd. 

15s division round-up

In the 15s age group, England won the inaugural girls and boys divisions, coming out on top against Wales in both. Wales pushed them hard, especially in the first half of the boy’s competition, before England drew away after half time, winning 12 tries to 7 in the end. The hosts Ireland took the bronze by beating Lebanon 10-2 with the medals reflecting the finishing positions from the round robin phase of competition.

Wales also pushed England hard in the final test match between the two girls’ teams – although England nudged ahead to win the match 5-2 and the overall series 5-0 to become the first Girls 15s champions. The division is expected to grow in 2026 with several countries already expressing interest to get involved.

Wales came off second best in the mixed competition as well, as Touch France edged an exciting end-to-end final, coming out 6-5 winners. The Welsh were devastated to get so close, but despite no golds, testament should be given to the Wales junior programme and in particular the work being done by lead Jacob Williams. Fielding 6 teams across all the junior age categories, the future bodes well for Wales Touch.

England took bronze in the mixed 15s, beating Scotland 10 tries to 3. Credit to the Scottish set-up, their biggest engagement in the youth programme since it began and thanks to the other competing nations – Belgium, China (in their second youth competition), the Cayman Islands, hosts Ireland, Lebanon, Portugal (in their first youth competition), and the England Lions (who provided hard competition in Pool A despite not being able to progress to the knockout stages).

18s division round-up

The 18s age group, the largest in the tournament was perhaps also the most exciting, with all three finals keeping us on the edge of our seats.

The girls set the tone with England edging past France 5-3, a much closer scoreline than the pool game had suggested possible. England dominated the round robin and were expected to win the final, but credit to France who pushed them all the way and kept an upset on the cards until the final hooter. The bronze was taken by South Africa in another closely fought game, as they beat Wales 7-6. This after South Africa had lost in their semi-final 7-8 to France following a drop-off.

In the boys, the English were also expected to take the gold after a dominant round robin phase. France had other ideas and with a last second score in normal time forced the game to drop-off. France scored straight from the tap-off, but England replied shortly afterwards. France had their chances to win during the remaining two minutes of 4 on 4 format but failed to get over the line and England got the decisive winning score in sudden death with the game down to 3 on 3. What a final, with England edging it 12-11!

In the bronze medal play-off, Wales showed their class beating hosts Ireland 13-6 and Ukraine took 5^th by beating Portugal in their first international touch tournament. Credit to both teams who improved substantially through the course of the weekend.

And finally, to the mixed and a fitting finale with Ireland beating Wales in another extremely close encounter. England went through the round robin phase unbeaten, but as with previous tournaments, they came up against a spirited Welsh team in the semi-finals and went out 5-4. A buoyant Wales fancied their changes against Ireland, who had beaten Belgium 10-7 in their semi-final, but it wasn’t to be as the hosts claimed a 7-6 win to take home the final gold medal in a fitting finale to the weekend. England went on to claim the bronze medal beating Belgium in a very exciting 3^rd/4^th play-off, coming out winners 12-11 in the end.

Medals, MVPs and Referees of the Finals

Boys 15s

• 🥇England
• 🥈Wales
• 🥉Ireland
• Most Valuable Player: Eli Bingley (England)
• Referees of the final: Sylvain Charras, Jonathan Naas, Vincent Lebacq

Girls 15s

• 🥇England
• 🥈Wales
• Most Valuable Player: Trixie Al-Qasab (England)
• Referees of the final: N/A

Mixed 15s

• 🥇France
• 🥈Wales
• 🥉England
• Most Valuable Player: Ruby Cole (Wales), Isaac Gibbs (France)
• Referees of the final: Lois Lau, Bibi Pulles, Martin Vigneron

Boys 18s

• 🥇England
• 🥈France
• 🥉Wales
• Most Valuable Player: Will Stockdale (England)
• Referees of the final: Jack Harris, Ben Baum, Fergal Evans

Girls 18s

• 🥇England
• 🥈France
• 🥉South Africa
• Most Valuable Player: Nuha Levy (South Africa)
• Referees of the final: Simon Fau, Christophe Rivier, Siobhan Daly

Mixed 18s

• 🥇Ireland
• 🥈Wales
• 🥉England
• Most Valuable Player: Henri Chantraine (Belgium) & Caitlin Morris (Wales)
• Referees of the final: Lance Stevens, Nicolas Van de Rijt, Brad Goodey

Mens 20s

• 🥇England
• 🥈France
• Most Valuable Player: Sam Dixon (England)
• Referees of the final: N/A

Womens 20s

• 🥇France
• 🥈England
• 🥉South Africa
• Most Valuable Player: Elsa Claes (France)
• Referees of the final: Ailsa Falconer, Chris Whimpenny, Julian Edwards

Mixed 20s

• 🥇England
• 🥈Ireland
• 🥉South Africa
• Most Valuable Player: Kiran Byrne (Ireland) and Lucy Evans (England)
• Referees of the final: Julien Martin, Layo Aromire, Mike Davis

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