The British School Al Khubairat (BSAK) 10s and Girl’s Touch Tournament held last weekend continues to grow, with the school’s director of rugby predicting a bright future.
Ed Lewsey said he was left exhausted from the ‘monster’ tournament.
This year, they introduced a girl’s touch rugby competition featuring 24 teams, while it also welcomed international visitors for the first time.
Those two aspects indicate to Lewsey that the event’s future is indeed looking very rosy.
“We’ve not done anything like this tournament on such a scale before,” said Lewsey.
More than 1,000 kids descended on the school as well as Zayed Sports City for the tournament, with 60 boys’ teams joining the 24 girls’ teams and 200 female players.
The tournament celebrated its sixth year, with Lewsey having organised the last four editions.
“It was a monster tournament, but it all ran smoothly,” he said.
BSAK hosted the Under-11 and U12 tournaments on Thursday, with refreshments and a barbecue for spectators in addition to the feast of rugby on show.
It was then over to Zayed Sports City for action in the U14, U16 and U19 and girls’ tournaments.
“Standards are definitely improving,” added Lewsey.
“There was some really high quality rugby on show, it’s just a shame BSAK only won only one of the seven tournaments.”
BSAK did win the main Cup in the girls’ touch U19 section, beating Al Yasmina in the final, with GEMS Wellington Academy taking home the Plate.
Dubai English Speaking College (DESC) and Dubai College were the big winners over the weekend, winning two competitions each.
DESC A won the U12 Cup, beating Repton School, with JESS Arabian Ranches winning the Plate and the U16s Cup.
Dubai English Speaking fared much better in the U14 girls’ tournament, beating Al Yasmina in the final, with GEMS Wellington winning the Plate, while they beat BSAK in the final of the U19 Cup, with Jumeirah College taking the Plate.
BSAK also had to be content with second place in the U11s Cup, losing in the final to Abu Dhabi French, with JESS Arabian Ranches winning the Plate.
Repton won the U14 title, beating Jumeirah College while Dubai College won the Plate.
“It’s definitely a tournament on the up,” said Lewsey.
“It was also the first time we’d welcomed international teams, both from Lebanon, including ACS Beirut and an U19 combined Lebanon school’s team.
“It’s brilliant to widen the scope and that’s definitely an aspect we want to pursue in the future
