RUGBY was the winner as around 1,500 attended Luctonians' inaugural Sundogs Festival last weekend.

Sevens sides from across the country travelled to Mortimer Park for the elite and social competitions.

Specialists Ponty Butchers ran out the elite winners beating Plymouth University 26-0 in a hotly contested final.

Local sides Bucknell Barbarians and Hereford met in the Plate final with Bucknell running out 12-5 winners.

The social sevens competition was also popular with a host of local sides playing alongside those from Wednesbury, Birmingham and Stourbridge.

Camplas beat Pilgrims 33-5 in the final.

"It went really well and we had the best part of 1,500 attending through the day," said Luctonians' operations manager Alex Smith.

"The sevens competitions had an elite category which had some decent sides in and then the social competition which was a huge mix of social teams and younger players.

"We would like to run it every year and the day also included a music and beer festival."