Tony Mann writes:

The first of our two challenge matches against Adur PC (Lancing) took place on a lovely warm and still evening at the Peace Statue terrain. Our friends from Adur brought along 12 of their members and we had 17. Pat Connolly welcomed our visitors with a great spread of wine, juice, water and various nibbles which were appreciated by all. Tony Mann was the competition organiser.

Adur formed 6 doubles teams and BHPC formed 5 triples and 1 doubles team so that everyone present played two games each. Our team of Ray, Gareth, Clifford got us off to a great start with a convincing 13-0 win. Slowly, four of the other games finished with Adur winning 3 games to our 1. The final game of Round 1 to finish was Pat, Terry and David against John and Norman which Adur eventually won 13-12 in a very tight match.

This meant, after Round 1, Adur were on 4 wins and BHPC on 2 wins. However the point’s difference was equal with both teams scoring 59 points each so all to play for in the second round.  

The first round results were:

BHPC                                                                                  Adur PC

Marcus H/Margie H               6-13           Brian/Hazel

Pat C/Terry G/David M         12-13          John/Norman

Ray A/Gareth J/Clifford C      13-0           David/Sue

Pat K/Eddie K/Jill C              8-13           Pam/Malcolm

Alan P/Steve E/Jill G            7-13           Veronica/Barbara Fi

Tony M/Norman K/Lisa C      13-7           Chris/Barbara Fr

As the second round began, Ray, Gareth, Clifford once again got us off to a great start with a 13-3 win. Over the two games this team only conceded a total of 3 points! Other results started to come in and it appeared that the tide had turned and BHPC were winning the majority of them. Well done to Adur’s Sue and Dave having been fannied in the first round they were the only Adur winners in the second round. 

At the end of Round 2, BHPC had 5 wins scoring 72 points and Adur 1 win scoring 44 points. The second round results were: 

BHPC                                                                                Adur PC

Marcus H/Margie H                13-5         Chris/Barbara Fr

Pat C/Terry G/David M           13-6         Veronica/Barbara Fi

Ray A/Gareth J/Clifford C        13-3        Pam/Malcolm

Pat K/Eddie K/Jill C                7-13        David/Sue

Alan P/Steve E/Jill G              13-8         John/Norman

Tony M/Norman K/Lisa C        13-9          Brian/Hazel

Tony announced the scores from the second round, then the final results with BHPC winning 7 games scoring 131 points and Adur PC 5 games scoring 103 points. 

Tony dedicated BHPC’s win to the memory of Adur PC member, Peter Davey who sadly passed away last month. 

Thanks go out to Pat for organising such a fantastic welcoming spread, Terry and Steve for preparing the terrain and all the members who helped pack up at the end of a very enjoyable evening. Special thanks too for former club member (and who knows she may rejoin) Irene Franco for taking the squad pictures and for attempting to keep our Norman in order (not an easy task!).

The return match takes place at Adur PC in Lancing on Tuesday 23 August.

The Houdini Two

Every Easter Monday Crondall Petanque Club (just west of Guildford) hold an important open doubles competition attracting teams from all over the country.

Undaunted by the blazing heat – the country’s highest ever April
temperature of 27.8o was recorded in nearby Wisley – Tony Mann,
shooter, and David Alfred, pointer (team name The Ex-Presidents) popped
up to Crondall for what turned out to be a memorable day of pétanque.

36 teams (the maximum number) were divided into nine groups of four.
The 9 group winners and 7 of the best-placed runners-up would qualify for
the Main competition. The Plate competition would be made up of the 16
best-placed teams from the morning groups. The last 4 teams would play
a Spoon round robin. In both Main and Plate, the 8 losers after the first
round would go into separate Consolage competitions.

Tony and David came second in the first round after losing to a team from
Kent who went on to be runners-up of the Main, and winning the other
two games, one from 2-8 down. (Unbeknown to them, this would be good
practice for the afternoon session.)

So Tony and David found themselves in the 16-team Plate – the teams
were probably seeded based on the morning’s results – play starting just
after 2pm.

The Plate
Game 1. Tony and David won 13-1 against a team from Kent.

Game 2: quarter-final. Due to circumstances that seemed beyond their
control, T & D found themselves 4-11 down to a Bournemouth (Southern
Region) team. Something had to be done to prevent an early ejection
from the tourney. Tony agreed to David’s suggestion they switch roles as
he was pointing so feebly. Thereafter, a combination of Tony’s excellent
pointing and a deterioration of the opposition’s play resulted in T and
D getting up to 9-12. In the next end, the opponents point to 6” to the
left of the jack. David shoots a carreau with his first boule. With the last
two boules in the end, David shoots two more carreaux (in the wrong
order through a fortunate deviation of direction), leaving 4 points “on the
carpet”. T & D win 13-12.

Game 3: semi-final with a nice couple from Cobbetts PC. As above, again
trailing 4-11, Tony, having missed quite a few shots, suggests they switch
again. Now, Tony again points superbly, getting in every first point, and
the opponents’ game again falls apart. In the last end T & D take 3 points
with David successfully hitting (though not at all straight) one crucial
boule. T & D, who should now be renamed the Houdini Two, win 13-11.

Game 4: final. Tony and David meet David Randall (of our club) and Ash,
a comrade from Croydon. In the first end T & D had played 2 boules while
the opponents had played all 6 but were holding with one right by the jack at over 9 metres. Tony’s shot hit it so hard the jack flew about 35 to 40 metres into a neighbouring field but one. It was intensely amusing to watch. Three boules left in hand: 3-0.

In the second end, with his penultimate boule, David R shot and hit the
jack sideways by about 12 metres. The competition organizer decided the
terrain was now ‘open’, so we continued. David R fluffed his last point and
Tony pointed in well for 2 points. 5–0.

In the next end but one, the opponents were left holding the first, third
and fourth points. However, with the last boule in the end, David R shot
their own holding boule. 6-1.

Thereafter, with ours the last game on the large terrain, gone 6.30pm,
and with the sun still blazing, David R went on, uncharacteristically, to
miss many shots, while Tony and David continued to play well, resulting in
their winning 13-2 and the Plate.

So, as you might imagine, our intrepid Ex-Presidents were very chuffed
with the day’s play, the reward of four bottles of wine each and the nice
face and arm tan.

Report by David Alfred.

Terrain de Boules

Our next club event is the Welcome Doubles, Sun 24th April at the Peace Statue Terrain.

This is a very popular event where we pair up newer or less experienced members with the more experienced club members to provide a bit more guidance and tuition in a friendly competition.

These are some of the things we try and emphasise:

Playing as a team

This is one of the most important things to learn to get the most from team games.

• Agree team roles, pointing and shooting
• Work together, evaluate the head, decide what shot to play and who is going to play
• Support and encourage your team

Stand at the jack

The view from the circle is often deceptive. You should stand together as a team at the side of the jack for the following reasons: