West Wittering beach rugby teams coast to new success

The event, now in its third year, attracted schools and colleges from Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.

The weather played a big part, with everything from sunshine to heavy rain and thunder testing the teams.

Despite adverse conditions, the matches were played in a great spirit and all the students displayed a superb attitude under the watchful eye of the referees, who were RFU community rugby coaches.

After some fiercely-contested matches, the final was a repeat of 2010 but with a different result this time around as Taunton College narrowly beat Chichester College by a single try.

This year’s tournament was also the first college event to be played with the backdrop of the new RFU Choose Rugby marketing campaign.

With around 100 students playing rugby on the beach, the event has continued to grow each year and for 2012 yet more colleges will be invited.

Thanks go to David Piper (West Wittering Beach Estate), Mark Bonar (Chichester College), Ben Polhill (Chichester District Council) and Kate Smith (Partnership Development Manager) for helping to organise and run things on the day.