Students from colleges across the North West were in the thick of the action during a touch Rugby League competition this week.

South Cheshire College hosted the ‘North West Emerging Colleges Touch Rugby League’ event on its impressive new MUGA (Multi Use Games Area).

Students from six colleges, including South Cheshire College, all joined forces to take part in the event which targets colleges who may not have tried the sport before.

Touch rugby is a modified version of Rugby League and is face paced with minimal contact that encourages socialising as well as taking part in the game itself.

This was the second of three competitions with the last event being staged next Wednesday 30th March and out of the six teams, three colleges were completely new to the sport of Rugby League.

The competition is the culmination of taster sessions being run for the College students in preparation for the competition.

The long term objective of the programme is to leave a legacy with the Colleges to continue playing and promoting Rugby League to future students and encourage current students to continue playing rugby league when they leave.

Other Colleges that took part included Liverpool College, Wirral Metropolitan College, Riverside College and Blackpool Sixth Form College.

South Cheshire College students were pipped in extra time by Riverside College in the final of the competition.

Shane Eccles, League For All Officer for the RFL, said: “The competition has been a big success.

“It is the first college Touch Rugby League competition to be held in Cheshire and to see six teams taking part has been great.

“We have had three colleges who are new to Rugby League taking part in this competition which shows how adaptable Touch Rugby league is to new participants.

“The other great attraction of Touch Rugby League is that it can be played by both males and females together.”

Martyn Kiel, Further Education Sports Co-ordinator at South Cheshire College, said: “We were delighted to host the competition here on our new MUGA facility.

“This event gave our students the opportunity to compete in touch rugby against other colleges and hopefully it will help to raise the profile of rugby league at colleges across the region.”

For more information about Touch Rugby, please visit http://www.tryit.co.uk or visit www.therfl.co.uk