The first stage of the tournament in the morning consisted of a ‘round robin’ schedule with the winners entering a group stage format which would dispute the main title, the ‘Browns Cup’. The Algarve team had a “bye” and entered directly into the group stage of the Browns Cup. The three teams that did not make it into the group stage of the ‘Browns Cup’ were entered into the ‘Vilamoura Cup’.

The highlight of the ‘Browns Cup’ tournament goes to teams Agronomia and Frascati (Italy) as they had shown, from the beginning of the tournament, clear intentions that they wanted to go home with the main trophy. The teams from Benfica and Algarve, who had smaller number of players available to them, felt the difficulties of the high standard of play during the day. They were unable to maintain the same rhythm of play throughout the tournament and as such faltered. The final between Agronomia and Frascati was a skilful game of rugby to watch, with good moments of rugby being displayed. The players of both teams demonstrated ‘fair-play’. In the end the speed of the Agrónomos backs dictated the difference between the two teams, with the winger Paulo Ribeiro scoring an excellent individual try.

Individually, the highlight goes to the player from the Frascati team, Cesare Evangelisti (who won ‘Best Player’of the competition). In addition Browns would like to thank the legendary New Zealand All Black Wayne Shelford for his presence at the tournament as this inspired many players to produce outstanding performances. In addition, a mention must go to the highly rated skills of Manuel Amorim Ferreira, the scrum half from Agronomia. He was extremely dynamic behind his forwards and served his back line well with his excellent passing.

In the Vilamoura Cup the team from Seville created a fortress with their excellent defence and in the end beat the “brave” Veterans of the CDUP 10-5 and managed a tie with the team from Alentejo who never lowered their resilience and competitive edge throughout the tournament.