Gloucestershire Barracudas Underwater Rugby player George Vallance said competing in the Paris Open League was “such a fun feeling,” as his side returned to the pool for the second round of the competition.
The Barracudas got off to a tough start with a 21-1 loss to Jarl Arden, before coming much closer to a win against Paris 2 and Puy L-Eveque with single goal defeats. Stade Toulousain, Valtellina, and CATHARSIX also proved too strong for the Cheltenham-based team, but Vallance insisted the experience was only positive.
“It was epic,” he said. “It’s such a fun feeling to be honest, just to be out there with people you’ve trained with for so long, having the best of the team there, it’s a really good feeling. It was epic. The energy was fantastic.”
Despite Gloucestershire remaining winless, round two saw their closest games at the 2026 tournament as they bounced back from their opening defeat.
With four teams not turning up for the second leg, the Barracudas finished 12th in the tight Division Two standings, marking progress for the team.
“We had two particularly close games,” Vallance started. “Our second game, I think we were 2-1 up for the majority of the time, and it was a really close game. It was competitive. We were fighting to the end. We always felt like we had a chance.
“The other close game was our third one, which we ended up losing 3-1. However, at the end of half-time, we were 1-0 up and it was a really close half, and we played well in the second half as well. I think we just slightly got the edge and maybe we’re slightly tired, but it’s a new thing to be fair.”
The Barracudas have grown in numbers since 2017 and now have a mixed-gender team largely between the ages of 20-40, having originally begun as women only.
Now competing regularly at tournaments, Vallance hopes that the club continue their trajectory, increasing in popularity and success.
“I’ve only been at the club for three and a half years, but even in this relatively short span, the club’s really grown both in size and also in skill level, its competitiveness,” he revealed.
“We are really pushing with these games, and even though we didn’t get a win this time, I think that looking forward it’s absolutely something that we are going to get. We’re getting better and better, and we’re getting closer and closer as a team.
“We’re now rivalling some of these European teams that we’re playing. The two games that we had, they were by far the closest games we’ve had in recent memory, and we were unlucky at a couple of points to actually not get the win.”
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