Our own Zac Nottingham became a dual-code international of a slightly different kind last weekend, when he helped the Wales Mixed U15s Touch side to a silver medal in the Atlantic Youth Cup in Ireland.

The West Wales Jets player, who was in the Wales RL U16s side that won the Four Nations earlier this year, follows in the footsteps of Wales Women’s star Amberley Ruck, who was part of the Wales open-age Mixed side that won the European Championships in 2022.

Yesterday, not long before Ruck was kicking a goal for Wales in our win over Scotland yesterday, Nottingham’s side was outscoring Scotland 19-1 in the semi-finals of the weekend-long tournament before unfortunately losing 6-5 to France in the final.

In Touch, an independent sport that is very much like rugby league, there are only tries, that each score one point, with the play-the-ball in the sets of six being around twice the speed of regular rugby league. The sides are split into male, female and mixed categories. 

We had 13 players in action for various sides in Wales Touch over the weekend, where Wales were runners-up in three competitions.

Other players from our leagues in the Wales Mixed U15s side were Emie George and Gracie Coles (South Wales Jets), Sam Phillips and Ben Whittleton (Aberavon Fighting Irish) and Callum Brown (Bridgend Blue Bulls).

Over the weekend, in an outstanding set of results, they beat China 16-1, Cayman Islands 11-0, England 11-1, Scotland 13-2, Portugal 19-3 and Scotland 19-1 before losing 6-5 to France in the final.

The Boys’ U15s was a four-team competition where Wales lost to England 12-7 in the final after being beaten by them twice in the group. Wales had previously beaten Lebanon and Ireland twice. Players from that side included Alex James (Swansea Rams), Jacob Thomas (Aberavon Fighting Irish), Oscar Jones and Riley Allen (Bridgend Blue Bulls) and Riley Davies (Cynon Valley Cavaliers).

Sophia Cole-Wilkins and Cailyn Jarvis of South Wales Jets were in action for Wales Girls U15s who had a five-match series against England, whilst the Wales Mixed U18s, who fielded Jack Parrott from Bridgend Blue Bulls, also lost in their final, 7-6 to hosts Ireland after winning four and losing three in the round robin.

Congratulations to all involved.