The sandy dust has settled on the 6th International Beach Rugby Festival, hosted by our good friends Lanzarote RFC at Estadio Playa Honda last month – so we thought we would highlight the good work done by Larne man in exile Leroy Heatley and his committee, in continuing to spread the rugby gospel under the blue skies and sunshine of the Canary Islands.

This year’s Festival was as tightly contested as ever and boiled down to 4 Semi-finalists slugging it out in 28C heat in front of an expectant crowd. The host club, Lanzarote faced stiff competition from Acton Nomads RFC, perennial crowd “favourites” Lewes RFC (who compete in London league 2) and the Barbarians of Beach Rugby – the invitational Los Diablos RFC.

The final match saw a fiercely contested re-match of last year’s Final between the ever-lovable Lewes and the star-studded, multi-national Diablos. Tempers boiled over in the mid-day sun at one point with a bit of a fracas on the half-way line – however, once order had been re-stored the final whistle saw a 3-3 draw as the result. A steward’s enquiry then followed with the Paul Pettersson Memorial Trophy going to Nomads on the Tries Scored count-back throughout the Tournament. Worthy winners indeed and great supporters of the Festival over the years since its inception.

Huge thanks should go to Leroy Heatley for his work in ensuring this Tournament continues to exhibit all that is good about the sport we love with old friendships renewed and new friendships established.

Los Diablos RFC would also like to thank Mark Doherty of the Village Foot Clinic in Newtownabbey for his very generous sponsorship of the most sought-after playing jersey in the Northern Hemisphere #VamosDiablos?

Big “muchas gracias” to Gonzalo Mejias Pardo of NoticiasdeLanzarote for his superb photos.