NEWS ARCHIVE
23|11|2020
Training Begins Post Lockdown
With the conclusion of the one month lockdown the ETA has announced that full training can resume. As such St Albans training will resume on Tuesday 8th December.
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
10|11|2020
European Championships Delayed Again
The European Touch Federation have announced that the European Touch Championships have been delayed until summer 2022 due to the second wave of covid-19 in Europe. While there is hope that touch competitions will return in 2021 the decision was taken to delay the European championships to allow national squads which have had little time together to have a full seasons preparations. This is the second delay for the European Championships which were due to be held in Nottingham in July this year.
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
04|11|2020
Training to go hiatus during 2nd Lockdown
As expected England Touch have today announced that all training and matches have been suspended following the parliamentary vote confirming the new 4 week lockdown. While we understand that is frustrating we ask that all members follow the governments advice to help limit the spread of coronavirus and we look forward to seeing you all back on the pitch soon.
To see the full ETA statement click here
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
Full Training Returns
With the DCMS approval, The ETA have announced that clubs can return to full training with groups of up to 30 people and intra-squad matches. As such St Albans first session back under the new guidelines (ETA Return to Play phase 3) will be Tuesday 19th August.
Clink the link below to see the ETA current Coronavirus guidelines.
http://www.englandtouch.org.uk/coronavirus
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
21|07|2020
England High Performance Squads announced for 20-21 Season
Five St Albans players were among those selected for the England High Performance Squads for the 20-21 season. Meadhbh Aherne (Women's 27's), Mark Carlyon (Men's 50's), Emma Garfield (Women's 27's), Alex Krikorian (Men's 30's) and Matthew Sandlant (Men's Open).
St Albans Head Coach James Butcher was also announced as continuing in his role as assistant head coach of the Women's Open side.
To see the full squads click here
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
29|05|2020
National Touch Series events and August Nationals cancelled
England Touch have today announced that the National Touch series events scheduled for July have been cancelled along with the Open and Senior Nationals in August. While England Touch hope to be able to organise smaller local tournaments later in the summer as government restrictions ease Covid-19 continues to impact the national schedule.
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
12|04|2020
Tournament Update
England Touch have today announced the cancellation of Rounds 1 - 3 of both the Elite and Development National Touch Series due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and Government restrictions on mass gatherings.
With the situation changing continuously tournaments planned for later in the year will be reviewed in due course.
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
20|03|2020
Covid-19 Update
For the health and safety of all our players St Albans Touch has suspended training until further notice. This decision has been made based on the latest advice by the Government, Public Health England and England Touch.
We will continue to review this situation and provide updates as the situation develops.
Stay safe and see you all back on the pitch soon.
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
15|03|2020
Emerging Men's and Women's Tournament Series Round 1 - Results
St Albans kicked off their 2020 season at Wasps RFC for the first round of the Emerging Men's and Women's Touch Series. The Men were drawn in Pool C along with Crewe & Nantwich Fire, Exeter Eagle Owls and London Scorpions, while the women were drawn in Pool B with London Eagles, Nottingham Mavericks, Surrey Bison and Thames Valley Vikings. The Men were in action first and made a perfect start to the season seeing off C&N in convincing fashion 4-1. The Women kept the fast start going edging past Nottingham 3-2 with some excellent defence in the last few minutes to maintain their lead. Quickly back in action against a determined Thames Valley side the Women could not break down the Vikings defence and had to settle for a 1-1 draw. The Men were next up against Exeter and continued their hot start with a second consecutive 4-1 win. The women were swiftly back to winning ways in their 3rd pool game topping Surrey Bisons 3-1. In their final pool game the ladies could not quite get a winning score against London Eagles but their 2-2 draw was enough to see them finish joint top of Pool B.
The Men finished their pool games facing off with London Scorpions. Despite their best efforts they could not keep up a high quality London team who ran out eventual 4-1 winners meaning the Men finished 2nd in Pool C.
Having played some high quality touch in the morning session both St Albans squads headed into knockout rounds full of confidence. The Women's Semi Final was up first with St Albans squaring off against Manchester Chargers. St Albans played hard but luck was not on their side and they could not find a way though a very well organised Manchester defence who held out for a 2-0 victory. A tough end to the day but a 3rd place finish overall puts St Albans in a good position for the rest of the series.
The Men's Plate Semi Final was against Midlands rivals Nottingham Mavericks. What followed was a seesaw game with the lead swapping multiple times and neither team able to lead by more than 1 point. With time winding down and the scores tied at 4-4 a drop off looked imminent but Nottingham were able to squeak over the line to take the lead again. With no time to respond St Albans fell to an agonising 5-4 defeat. Despite this they headed into their Plate Playoff match against old foes Manchester Chargers with confidence. Ignoring the terrible pitch conditions St Albans made a fast start taking a 2-0 lead and never looked back. Despite the brief threat of a Manchester comeback, St Albans maintained control throughout the game and ran out 4-2 winners. A 6th place overall finish and a good platform to move up the table at the next event.
Round 2 in the series takes place in Oxford on Saturday March 28th and both squads will head there full of confidence and hopeful of bringing home St Albans first silverware of the season.
St Albans Touch Rugby Committee
