Atlantic Youth Touch Cup 2025 Reports

Wales Touch made its mark at the recent Atlantic Youth Touch Cup 2025 in Limerick, with an impressive showing from all six of its youth teams. Competing across the U15 and U18 age groups in the mixed, boys and girls divisions, Wales showcased remarkable skill, teamwork, and determination.

The teams brought home a total of 4 silver medals and a bronze. Beyond the medals, all teams demonstrated significant progress and grit, with the Mixed 18s pulling off a stunning upset against England to reach their final. This tournament not only highlights the bright future of Welsh Touch but also celebrates the individual achievements and collective spirit of the players who represented their nation with pride. Here are the reports from each squad. Wales Boys 15s

It was a historic campaign for our Boys 15s team, not only the first Welsh boys 15s team but also this was the first year for this division. With all 16 players receiving their first cap, the progress show over the last few months has been fantastic and this really showed in their performances. After playing against Ireland, Lebanon and England twice, the boys put in some fantastic displays to make it through to the final where they would face England. After an incredibly competitive and high standard game the boys ended up coming away with a silver medal!

We couldn’t be prouder of the team and are very excited to see how these players continue to develop in the sport.

Wales Girls 15s

Making History

Last week in Limerick, Wales entered their first ever Girls 15s team into this new division. The team was led by captain Megan Mullet who demonstrated great leadership on the field by setting up some crucial plays.

They faced a tough English side in a five-match series, and while the results didn't go their way, the team showed incredible skill and scored some fantastic tries.

The very young and talented team included ten 12 year olds, and all bar 2 of the squad are eligible to compete next year. We were thrilled to send this iconic bunch of girls to their first international tournament, and are super excited for what’s to come! The future of Wales touch is bright indeed.

Wales Mixed 15s

The Wales Mixed 15s side put on an exceptional display of skill, teamwork, and defence at the Atlantic Youth Touch Cup 2025, held over the weekend. Starting in Pool B and progressing into the Final, the team showcased their dominance throughout a thrilling campaign.

Pool Matches

Day 1

Wales 16-1 China

The tournament began with a statement victory over China. Wales came out firing, scoring freely and defending with discipline. A 16-1 win set the tone for the weekend.

Wales 11-0 Cayman Islands

A composed and clinical performance followed against Cayman Islands. Wales maintained a clean sheet while adding another double-digit score, underlining their consistency on both sides of the ball.

Day 2

Wales 11-1 England

Wales continued their strong run into day two, dispatching England with a commanding performance. Fluid attacking moves and tight defence earned another emphatic win. This was the biggest win a Wales team has ever had over England.

Wales 13-2 Scotland

In their final pool match, Wales overpowered Scotland with pace and precision. A 13-2 result completed a perfect pool stage, with 51 tries scored and only 4 conceded.

Quarter final

Wales 19-3 Portugal

Wales carried their momentum into the knockout rounds, overwhelming Portugal in the quarterfinal. Dominating on Line attack and Outstanding Transition Defence , they raced to a 19-3 win the teams biggest margin yet.

Day 3

Semi Final

Wales 19-1 Scotland

A semi-final rematch against Scotland saw an even more clinical Welsh side. Ruthless in attack and rock-solid in defence, Wales cruised into the final with a stunning 19-1 triumph.

Final

Wales 5-6 France

In a tense and high-quality final, Wales faced their toughest challenge yet. Despite a valiant performance and leading at half time, Wales narrowly lost out 5-6. It was a heart-breaking end to an otherwise dominant campaign.

Wales ended the tournament with the Highest Points Scored in the X15s Category and 2nd least points conceded out of any of the Teams across all categories at the Atlantic youth cup

• Games Played: 7

• Wins: 6

• Losses: 1 (Final)

• Total Tries Scored: 94

• Total Tries Conceded: 14

• Points Differential: +80

Special mention to Ruby Cole who picked up the MVP award for her expectational performance.

Final Thoughts

The Wales Mixed 15s team were one of the standout squads of the Atlantic Youth Touch Cup 2025. With impressive attacking fluency, excellent defence, they lit up the tournament. Though the final didn’t fall their way, the squad can take immense pride in their performances across the weekend.

They return home as silver medallists and have set a high benchmark for future campaigns. Da iawn, team!

Wales Mixed 18s

A challenging Day 1 for the X18s saw narrow losses to dark horses Belgium and the hosts, Ireland, but was punctuated by a crucial win against Scotland to keep hopes alive.

Day 2 marked a turning point, with the squad delivering three strong wins over South Africa, Lebanon, and the Cayman Islands—building momentum ahead of the final day.

To close out the round robin, Wales faced an unbeaten England side, suffering an 11–2 defeat. Just three hours later, the teams met again in the semi-final, where the 4th-seeded Welsh produced a breath-taking 40-minute display to upset the top seeds 5–4 and book their place in the final.

Following the emotional high of knocking out their rivals, the squad had just hours to recover before facing a formidable Ireland side, who had impressed throughout the tournament.

The X18s Final was the last match of the 2025 Youth Atlantic Championships—and it didn’t disappoint. In a thrilling, end-to-end contest, Ireland narrowly edged out Wales 7–6 to take the title.

Despite the heartbreak in the final, the Welsh X18s showed seismic improvement throughout the tournament. Reaching the final in such a competitive division is a significant achievement—and one that bodes well for the future of Wales Touch.

Wales Boys 18s

Day 1: The B18s had a very tough start to the tournament with losses to the ever imperious English and the lightning fast French squad much improved from last year. Spirits were bolstered however by a win against Portugal.

Day 2: With a challenging first day out of the way the B18s turned their attention to Ukraine and Ireland for the remainder of the pool stage fixtures. Despite being the first ever tournament for Ukraine they tested the Welsh defence with excellent athleticism but were eventually bested. Ireland up next, with a more structured play style and some experience Ireland fought hard to frustrate Wales. Wales closed out the game comfortably putting themselves 3 in the Pool and up against Portugal once more for the Semi-Final qualifier.

The Wales B18s performance had snowballed to this point, learning and growing massively thought the 5 earlier games culminating in historic win over Portugal 24-0, the biggest points difference of any junior game since F.I.Ts records start in 2019 (possibly the biggest points difference of any Welsh squad in my memory).

Day 3: The boys faced France once more in the Semi final match. Wales put in a performance for the ages, the best a Wales B18s team as played since winning the 2017 tournament in Scotland. The French with one less game under their belts flew out the gates and played some excellent touch. The fist half finished 7-2 a margin well within grasp. With a half time re-set and some powerful words from captains Dylan Davies and Rhys Ruttley Wales won the second half 2-1 unfortunately not enough to book a place in the final but a display of heart and effort to be proud of.

Wales then face Ireland for 3rd, a valiant fight from the Irish wasn't enough to tip the balance and Wales took home bronze with a 13-6 victory.

Wales Girls 18s

The Girls 18s division proved to be one of the most competitive, with close games throughout the round Robin. Our girls started their tournament with a fantastic performance against France which ended in a 5-5 draw. The side then went on to play an against a very strong England side, ending in defeat.

Next up was Ireland where the months of preparation all came together and saw our girls win 9-3! The final round robin game against South Africa would decide where Wales would finish in the top 4. Both sides had drawn with France earlier on in the competition and after a tough game our girls just missed out against a very fast South African side.

Finals day, despite the narrow defeat against South Africa, Wales had a semi final up next against undefeated England. In a much improved display to when they play against them in the round Robin, the semi final ended in defeat which meant the final game of the tournament would be the Bronze medal game against South Africa. In a tight game, the score at the end of the 40 minutes was 6-6 which meant our girls would go to drop off. Sadly after going down to 3v3 South Africa took the win. Despite this, our Girls 18s showed massive progress and was by far the most competitive Welsh Girls 18s side we have taken to a Junior tournament over the last 4 years. With many young players in the squad, the future of the Women’s game looks bright for Wales Touch.