After a gruelling five day Touch World Cup tournament in Edinburgh, the Ireland Touch teams returned on Monday proud of their achievements.
‘’We’re absolutely exhausted, but incredibly proud to have competed for Ireland against the best in the world in our sport.’’ President of the Ireland Touch Association Michael Davies said.
‘’It was a tough tournament, with teams playing up to three matches a day. Every player gave their absolute best on the pitch and played right to the end.
‘’We had a great support team over there, and a big thank you should go to the coaches, managers, physios and support staff who coordinated our teams and kept the players out on the pitch.’He said.
Ireland competed in four divisions in the Mixed Open, Men’s Open, Men’s over 35s and Men’s over 40s categories.
‘’There was some great matches and each team had great support as they went out on the pitches.’’
‘’For many of us, to compete at a World Cup was a dream. But to achieve it has been an opportunity of a lifetime. We trained incredibly hard for this tournament, and each team should be proud of their efforts at the World Cup.’’ Mr Davies said.
27 countries participated in the event, with over 500 matches being played during the course of the tournament.
Australia took out most categories with many finals including Australia and New Zealand, where Touch rugby is a common social sport.
Ireland finished 16th in the Open Category, and 11th in the Senior age division. The Mixed Open team came 15th and the Men’s Open finished 12th in their category. In the Senior division the Men’s Over 35’s finished 11th and the Men’s Over 40s had the best result finishing 5th in their pool.
For more information, please see www.irelandtouchassociation.com
Picture Captions:
Image 1: entire Irish squad
Image 4: from left to right: president of the ITA Mr Michael Davies;
Cllr Neale Richmond; Orla Brennan retired Irish Women’s Rugby
representative; Abigail Doyle and David Condon from the Ireland Mixed Open Squad; Tania Rosser, Kukri Sports; Peter Gilbourne GMC
Mortgages.
Photos: Craig D’Alton
