Local lads display a touch of class

Sam Missin (front left) with the England Under 18 Boys team that won silver medals.

Sam Missin was in the Under 18 Boys team that won silver, Ben Dobson was in the Under 18 Mixed team that also came away with runners-up medals and Harry Missin and Logan Noble were in the Under 15 Mixed team that won bronze.

Sam Missin from Whittlesey, an England regular for the past three years, came mightily close to winning gold.

He ran in a late try in the gold medal match against Wales as England went 6-5 ahead with the clock running down.

Ben Dobson (back row, second left) with the England Under 18 Mixed team that won silver medals.

But Wales scored after the hooter, then again after the tap-off, and with England not able to reply it was the Welsh who had the gold medals around their necks.

Prior to the final, England’s only loss had been to Wales in their last game of the round-robin stage.

Boys Under 18 Team: 1 James Anderson (Manchester Chargers), 2 Angus Lister (Canterbury), 3 Cameron Birkett (Wigan Touch Warriors), 4 Charlie Delaney (Nomads), 5 Christian Scott (Thames Valley Vikings), 6 Evan Michaels (O2 Upminster), 7 Harry Hardman (O2 London Scottish Red Lions), 8 Jez Traynor, 9 Keir Clark, 10 Logan MacDonald, 11 Matthew Bate (Chester Cheetahs), 12 Matthew Maynard (Cambridge), 13 Max Loveridge (Nottingham), 14 Oliver Maynard (Cambridge), 15 Samuel Missin (Cambridge), 16 Will Lupton (Lincoln)

Dobson, competing in his second European Championships with the Mixed Under 18 squad, also got to a gold medal match.

Harry Missin (front third right) and Logan Noble (back fourth right) with the England Under 15 Mixed team that won bronze medals.

Unfortunately their only defeat of the weekend came in that contest against Scotland.

They won six of their eight group games, drawing against both Scotland and Wales, but in the final the hosts ran out 8-5 winners.

Mixed Under 18 Team: 1 Adam Bimson (Wigan Touch Warriors), 2 May Burke, 3 Tamzin Corcoran (Orrell St James), 4 Benjamin Dobson (Peterborough), 5 Josh Henderson (Thames Valley Vikings), 6 Oliver Holmes (Crewe and Nantwich), 7 Sophie Lloyd (Nottingham), 8 Bradley Murphy (Cambridge), 9 Ben Nurse (Crewe and Nantwich), 10 Edward Pizzey (Nottingham), 11 Aaron Povall (Wigan Touch Warriors), 12 Niall Povall (Wigan Touch Warriors), 13 Ellen Scantlebury, 14 Emily Simon (Nottingham), 14 Lucie Skuse, 16 George Worboys (Bristol Fijians)

As with the Mixed 18s, the Mixed 15s, which included Missin from Whittlesey and Noble from Werrington, had seven different opponents in the round-robin stages. They won five of the matches and lost to Wales and France.

The semi-finals went to form, Wales beating Scotland and France beating England, which put England into an Anglo-Scottish match-up for the bronze medal.

Here Noble scored one of the tries as England edged it 4-3. Glinton schoolboy Noble, who is only 13, was awarded most improved player in the England Under 15 squad

Mixed Under 15 Team: 1 Alana Gauntlett (Crewe and Nantwich), 2 Anna Reeves (Percy Park Pirates), 3 Flori Nasir (Canterbury), 4 Olivia Walker (Wandsworth), 5 Phoebe Simon (Nottingham), 6 Thea Dawson, 7 Connor Hughes (Canterbury), 8 Elliot Nye (Canterbury), 9 Harry Missin (Canterbury), 10 Isobel Penniceard (Wandsworth), 11 Logan Noble (Peterborough), 12 Matthew Mayall (Canterbury), 13 Max Penniceard (Wandsworth), 14 Tom Penniceard (Wandsworth), 15 Tom Lawton-Davies (Thames Valley Vikings), 16 Tom Pollard (Nottingham).