Monkstone Pétanque Club

Only time for a short summary this week:

1. Mammoths beat Mustangs 3-1 [41-34]
2. Mavericks beat Marlins 3-1 [51-26]
3. Meerkats beat Mercenaries 3-1 [43-31]
4. Marvels drew with Misfits 2-2 [44-43]

The shocks continued in this week’s Super League matches. On Wednesday, Marlins who could not buy a win before Christmas, took their second win in three games over the only teams who had not lost a game before the break when they overcame Meerkats (3-1) lifting them up to 4th in the table.

The week commenced with Mercenaries going down (0-4) to Mustangs although Meerkats remained top of table.

On Tuesday, Mammoths pipped Misfits (3-1) lifting them one place to 3rd in the table. Finally, on Thursday, Mavericks took on Marvels in the rain after all the other matches had been played on fine, if slightly chilly, evenings. The conditions proved too much for Marvels who lost (0-4).

Into the second week of the Super League after the winter break. where Mustangs and Meerkats, the only 2 unbeaten teams in the first half of the season fought out a draw (2-2) which, as Mustangs had lost last week, left Meerkats as the only unbeaten team.

Misfits gave Mercenaries a sound thrashing (4-0) to lift them off the bottom of the table but more significantly dented Mercenaries chances of catching the leading 2 teams, Meerkats and Mustangs

In the remaining two matches, Marlins continued there improved start to part 2 of the season by holding Marvels to a draw (2-2) whilst Mammoths overcame Mavericks (3-1) which meant Mavericks slipped to the bottom of the table.

The results are already showing that the teams that were at or near the bottom over Christmas are not giving up the fight and with only 3 points covering third place to seventh place, one win, or loss, can have a big effect on a team’s league position.

The 2nd Leg of the annual winter friendly took place at Caerleon on Sunday 9 February. The first Leg at Monkstone before Christmas was a very tight affair with Caerleon leading by 2 points at the end. It seemed that there was all to play for and Monkstone were optimistic of wresting the cup back from Caerleon.

On a fine but blustery day things didn’t quite turn out as might have hoped. I was going to point out the highlights but there weren’t many other than the excellent pointing from Sharon who was a late replacement for Vickie who was not well. In the opening singles, which she had never played competitively before, she took Tansy Mayfield to the wire before going doe 11-13 at the end.

So its just well done to the few Monkstone winners and congratulations to Caerleon, winners overall by 75pts to 39, in retaining the cup for another year.

The Super League recommenced after the winter break on 17 February 2025 with Mustangs unbeaten in the first half of the season and Marlins who couldn’t buy a win in the same period. Dreams do come true and Marlins ran out winners (3-1) moving them up from the bottom spot to 5th place.

On Tuesday Marvels took on Mammoths who were 4th and 7th respectively before the break although only 1 point separated them. The match ended with the spoils even (2-2) and still separated by 1 point.

Wednesday evening became Super Wednesday with 2 matches taking place although the weather didn’t play ball with very heavy rain persisting from shortly after the start.

Misfits who took on Meerkats, the only other unbeaten side before the break, went down to heavy defeat (0-4) although in one of the games they had led (11-0) before going down (11-13) which took Meerkats to the top and left Misfits languishing at the bottom.

In the other match Mavericks came up against Mercenaries but neither side could get the upper hand with the match finishing all square (2-2).