TADLEY rugby stars Abbie Parsons and Devon Holt helped the University of Gloucestershire to finish third at the European Universities Rugby Sevens Championships.

The England Under-20 players, who first started playing the game at Aldermaston RFC, travelled to Hungary for the event, having helped their university to the British title earlier this year.

The University of Gloucestershire got off to a good start, beating Hungarian outfit Szent Istvan University 36-5 in their opening pool game.

They lost their second match 24-12 to eventual winners the University of Paris, but bounced back with a 19-5 victory over the University of Coimbra from Portugal.

Drawing their final pool game 19-19 with another Portuguese side, the University of Porto, saw Gloucestershire finish third in the pool stage, setting up a rematch against second-placed Porto in the semi-finals.

This time, the Portuguese side were too strong, winning 13-5 to reach the final, but Parsons and Holt helped Gloucestershire to win the third-place play-off, beating Coimbra 36-0 to pick up the bronze medal.