From the pen of our new reporter, El Pres – Mike Jones
The second half of the Super League competition got underway last night with Monarchs still ‘licking their wounds’ after their defeat to Meteors in the first match of the Super League. A focused, determined effort would be needed to avenge the loss. The temperature had dropped but things were to warm up on the piste. Psychological word games would not break the resolve of both teams.
The first game put Monarchs Mike and Keith N. against John Chich and Keith T. With a good opening point by Keith T the gauntlet had been thrown down. An early lead of 5-1 to the Meteors meant Monarchs needed to ‘ up their game’. Some good pointing and shooting put Monarchs on a winning streak as they raced to a 11-5 lead. ( The sigh of relief could be heard in Penarth!!!). With Meteors unable to claw back the deficit, Monarchs ran out 13-7 winners.
In the other game, Tony S and Sean were to face Norman and Ian B-S. It was to be a tense affair with no quarter given by either team. All four players were determined to excel and the game started with Meteors racing into another 5-1 lead. Again, good shooting and pointing saw a short revival by Monarchs but Meteors maintained the pressure moving to 9-5. Concentration and confidence was needed to get back into the game. With careful strategy Monarchs hit back taking the score to 11-11. The tension could be cut with a knife! The next end saw an amazing battle of skills. With boules surrounding the jack, Norman played a sublime point with his last boule, to stop 5 cm from the jack. Monarchs had looked to be victors as they were holding 2 at the time. With Tony holding the last boule, and a cluster around the jack, could an incredibly difficult shot at Norman’s boule give victory to Monarchs? What happened next was undoubtedly the shot of the tournament. A crisp hit by Tony smashed Norman’s boule out of contention leaving Monarchs with a 13-11 victory. A tremendous game by all four players.
The next two games were played with some relief by Monarchs, however a victory was their ultimate goal. Tony and Sean played ‘ cat and mouse ‘ at the beginning, the score reaching 4-4. Monarchs then turned the heat up and galloped to a 11-4 lead. Keith T and John C fought valiantly but were unable to prevent the score reaching 13-6 and a much needed 3-0 in games to Monarchs. Could Mike and Keith N make it a clean sweep? Well, the game looked in the bag as they manoeuvred to an 8-0 lead. Alas, with victory in sight, Mike fell into a trough of incompetence. Pointing became an alien activity to him and Meteors started to up their game. Excellent pointing and shooting by Norman, ably assisted by Ian, made for tense viewing. Moving from 11-3 down to 12-8 , Keith tried to motivate Mike with a barrage of groans, sighs and numerous tut, tut, tuts. Mike was quietly wandering in a somnambulant fashion trying to locate his wayward boules. Secretly, of course, he was toying with Keith all along!!! Providing the perfect channels for Keith to point onto the jack! In a game that had suspense, excitement, skill and depression, Monarchs won 13-8 providing a much needed 4-0 victory with a +20 points difference (32-52). The victory pushed Monarchs up into second place in the table ahead of the Marauders v Minotaurs match which has been postponed from Wednesday to Thursday in the hope of some slightly better weather.
All four games were well contested and a pleasure to participate in. Well done everyone.
