The Berkshire Unicorns have made their Touch My Brum tournament debut. The tournament is an inclusive touch rugby competition hosted by the International Gay Rugby (Association & Board) member club, Birmingham Bulls RFC.

Now in its fourth year, Touch My Brum 2017 saw 23 teams from across the United Kingdom and Ireland compete for the Calthorpe Cup.

The Unicorns were drawn in Group 4 and played pool matches against Carl’s Coyotes, Emerald Warriors, Northampton Outlaws and Wessex Wyverns. Winning their Group with 3 match wins and 20 tries, the Unicorns’ were placed 4th overall against all 23 teams after the tournament’s pool stage.

Following their convincing performance in the pool matches, the Unicorns progressed to the Cup quarter-finals where they played and beat the Manchester Village Spartans 4-2.

The Unicorns then faced for a second time their fellow Group 4 team, and new rival, Carl’s Coyotes in the semi-finals. After an extremely hard fought game in which the Unicorns’ Daniel ‘Bambi’ Lambert dislocated his shoulder (who said touch rugby was less physical?) the Unicorns lost out to the eventual tournament winners 2-5.

After the tournament Club Chairman Mark Bearfoot said “I’m incredibly proud of our debut performance. The players have trained extremely hard in the run-up to the tournament and have left everything on the pitch – that’s all I can ask for as a Chairman. To win our pool group and reach the semi-finals, only losing against the eventual Cup winners is just amazing.”

Congratulations to Matt Lewis and Steve Tyler who were voted joint Players of the Tournament by their fellow Unicorns.