BRITAIN’S first Beach Rugby Tournament has been branded “a great success”.

The British Beach Rugby tournament saw nine male and three female teams taking part to raise awareness and money for the Braintrust charity.

The tournament took place on Boscombe Beach and was the first in the country run by the European Beach Rugby Association (EBRA).

Approximately 500 people were in attendance to watch the fast-paced matches.

This version of rugby has established itself throughout Europe, with both male and female teams taking part in tournaments in places such as Barcelona and Marseille.

The game is five-a-side, full contact and fast paced and aims to build on this opening tournament to establish itself in the UK.

One of British Beach Rugby’s founders Barty Hills decided that this event would raise money for the Braintrust charity. Mr Hills was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2009 and is giving back to the charity after receiving a lot of support from them.

One of the other founders of British Beach Rugby, Tom Watshott, spoke about the day and the future plans for British Beach Rugby.

He said: “It was a great success. We had the crowds turn out, the sunshine turned up and all the hard work and planning went according to schedule.

“We needed to prove the event would be successful to the EBRA and now we wait to get feedback from them on how they thought the tournament went, then hopefully it will be part of the full series next year attracting the international teams from the European series. Bournemouth is certainly on the shortlist.”

There was also a special Father’s Day match between the Dads and organisers before the finals.

The Honey Bears won the women’s side of the tournament, while the Pacific Islanders won the men’s tournament. The men’s champions then proceeded to perform the ‘Haka’, which Mr Watshott said was “quite a spectacle to end the rugby”.