Six members of Canterbury Rugby Club’s Touch Rugby team, three of them from the same family, have won international recognition.

Stuart Meredith, Matt Davis, Dan Mayall, Danni Payten, Ayla Payten and Erin Payten have been selected for the England Lions Under 18 squad which will compete in the European Junior Touch Championships.

The event, the second of its kind, is being hosted by England later this year.

The success of the city club players follows an outstanding season in top class tournaments for the Touch Rugby section.

The section was also behind the success of a Canterbury Schools side at the England Schools Touch Tournament Cardiff this month.

Coached by Tom Humphreys and Vaughn Meredith they became champions.

The England Schools Touch rugby tournament was held in Cardiff on 9th and 10th July at the Strade School. A team of boys and girls from the Canterbury High and Simon Langton partnership competed in the mix team event.

Canterbury Touch selected and trained the teams who proved to be a formidable force against all oppositions, setting up tries on all angles of the field. The team won all their pool and knockout games playing all teams twice, and finishing as champions winning 7-0 in the final.

Throughout the tournament, each member of the team showed great skill and dedication.

On Saturday 11th July, the Canterbury Cougar’s mixed Touch team competed in the penultimate Development Touch Series (DTS) tournament hosted at the Lincoln RFC.

The team was managed and run by Tom Humphrey’s and captained by Vaughn Meredith on the day. The Canterbury cougars won all their pool games, with a dramatic semi-final against a strong Green and Gold side.

The game went into a drop off which Barney Howard bamboozling the oppositions defence to set up the winning touch down.

The Cougars won the final and remained unbeaten throughout the day. Congratulations to all the players who competed, Tom Humphreys the coach and Vaughn Meredith the captain on the day and Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament.