There has been plenty of success for Canterbury Rugby Club’s touch rugby players to celebrate.

The European Championships were held in Nottingham, with six players from Canterbury representing England in three different categories - all winning gold.

Danni Gregory and Lydia Ticehurst won in the women’s open and Vaughn Meredith and Max Howard came out on top in the men’s open. Spencer Nye and Adrian Riggs were men’s over-50s victors. That event was held from August 2 until August 6.

Heading abroad to Vichy, France, Alice Summers, Iris Nasir and Abigail Pritchard won under-18 girls’ gold at the European Junior Championships from August 12 until August 14.

“It was really nice because they all got the same colour medal,” said Sally Overson, a Canterbury touch rugby committee member.

“They have been training for it for ages.

“It’s the first time back after Covid, you don’t really know what the other countries have been doing so you can’t gauge who is going to win, basically. So it was a really good achievement for England.

“They train all over the country because all of the players come from all over England so they have to meet up and train. It’s a massive commitment.

“Also, touch rugby as a sport doesn’t get any sponsorship yet so that’s a big outlay as well. They have to be really, really committed. It’s just a good achievement, really.”

Oversen says their respective success stories are great for the club and hopes it will help to inspire the next generation to get involved in the sport.

She said: “A lot of them are going off to university so it’s good to get some promotion for the club - especially for secondary age children (who can replace Canterbury’s players heading off to university).

“You can just play club-level if you want. We have lots of club-level tournaments nationally and in the south east but, if you want to play elite touch rugby, there’s a real path.

“We have good coaches at Canterbury, both for social and elite players. It’s a great sport. It’s mixed or single sex.

“So it’s just a great sport to be involved in from when you are small to when you are in your 60s or whatever.”

Adults train on Thursdays throughout the year at Canterbury, usually from 7pm until 8.30pm but this changes seasonally.

The juniors train on Fridays in term time only at Canterbury from 5.15pm until 6.15pm.