On Monday night over 160 students took part in a Touch Rugby tournament organised by the university rugby club to raise money for Movember, the men’s health charity.

Upon arrival at Weetwood players were split into the region they hail from; teams from the North, the Midlands and the South subsequently battled it out with plenty of passion to win the prizes provided by the Movember sponsors. Prizes included bottles of HP sauce, Gillette gifts, Toms merchandise and many fake moustaches. A minimum of 3 women had to be on the pitch at any time, some of whom stole the show; in particular Amy Gosney, Women’s rugby club captain, who showed Varsity winning scrum half Dan Oliver a clean pair of heels to score past him in the corner.

Movember is an idea that has really caught on, especially in the sporting world with many high profile sporting ambassadors, including Jenson Button and Richie McCaw. Prostate cancer accounts for nearly one quarter of all cancer in males and in 2010 was the cause of 11,000 deaths in the UK alone. In 2011 over 1 million moustache growers managed to raise just short of £80 million, with the money going to support Movember run programmes, such as Prostate Cancer UK and The Institute of Cancer Research.

After an hour the tournament drew to a close, with a team from the Midlands being declared the winners, deservedly so as they had remained undefeated in all 6 of their matches. Donations were made by all who took part and spectated with the final count still to be confirmed it is expected to be a sum in the region of £250 pounds.

If you would like to make a donation to Movember go to http://uk.movember.com/donate/ or alternatively donate to the University Rugby Club Page by searching “LURUFC” on the Movember donate page.

By James Twomey