WESTCOUNTRY Wasps RFC travelled on their first tour to Newcastle last week, taking part in the Hadrian Cup 2025.

16 teams entered a sought-after 10s tournament, full of high-intensity gameplay and fitness. The weather was beautiful in the north which was a surprise yet welcomed by everyone competing in the tournament all day.

Westcountry Wasps got off to a fantastic start in the tournament, beating the Hadrian Heroes (a barbarian side of players from around the world) with a solid scoreline of 45-0.

After a short 30-minute break, the team were back on the pitch to take on the reigning champions, Caledonian Thebans, a well-drilled team who obviously had plenty of time to train together before the tournament. Although the Westcountry Wasps tried their hardest, they were beaten a whopping 50–0.

Wasps moved onto their 3rd and final game after a 1.5-hour break, this was the play-off for second place in the pools and the decider as to who would move onto the Antinous Plate semi-final.

It was a tough and hard-fought game, both Manchester Spartans and Westcountry Wasps putting in an absolute shift, with big plays coming from the forwards and quick balls out wide, Wasps took victory 20–0 and moved into the Plate semi-finals.

Wasps, now moving into their respective semi-final, found out that they were going to be playing York Templars on Kingston Park, the home pitch of Newcastle Falcons. This was a 5G rubber crumb pitch, the ball would react differently to grass and the lads now had to get in the mindset of playing inside an actual stadium too.

The speed of 10s rugby was taking its toll on the pack who adopted the "hit whoever comes near us and then give it to the quick pretty boys out wide" approach to the game!

Every single Wasp played their heart out and after a nail-biting half-time chat, they got their heads together, reminded each other that it was a win-it-or-be-knocked-out moment and took victory 20–10.

Onto the final, where Wasps played Coventry Corsairs. With a short break, the Wasps were out of breath and fatigued when they received the news that the Corsairs didn’t have a semi-final to play because a team forfeited (due to injury), meaning they were well rested and ready to go.

This played into the Wasps’ hands though because with only a 15-minute break, they didn't have time to get in their own heads and really think about the situation they were in. The temperature on Kingston Park felt like they were playing in the Mediterranean rather than the Northeast and the Wasps dug deep to ensure they kept possession where possible and won possession when it came.

Wasps put in three tries within the opening 5 minutes and then paced themselves from here!

The job in the middle of the pitch still had to be done though, every single player gave it their all, blood, sweat and tears went into the full 20 minutes and Westcountry Wasps came out victorious, a 25–0 win against Coventry Corsairs.

Westcountry Wasps came second in their group stage, moved on to the playoffs and won their final for a 3rd place finish overall.

The usual award ceremonies were followed by some serious celebrations. Thanks go to Newcastle Ravens and Newcastle Falcons for putting together and hosting an amazing tournament, next year the Wasps will be back with the Hadrian Cup in their sights.