Monkstone Pétanque Club

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.

From our cub reporter Gareth Spencer

The third round of the MPC Super League saw the Meteors playing against the Marauders on a far from pleasant September evening, not only are the nights drawing in but the rain decided to put in an appearance too. So with waterproofs on and the occasional umbrella there to support both teams braved the elements and got down to the task in hand.

The first games saw Meteors Gill Clarke & Gill Greenwell playing Marauders Mike Cranston & Gareth Spencer with Meteors Norman Francis & Ian Baildon-Smith playing Marauders Phil Roberts & Rob Harris.

The Meteors were off to a flying start with the 2 Gills going into a 6-0 lead over Mike & Gareth.  Norman & Ian were also up for the challenge as they lead 5-1 in their game. Mike & Gareth were relieved to take a point preventing the Fanny making the game 6-1.  The girls took their next end making it 7-1.  However, as their name implies, the Marauders weren’t going to go down without a fight and that was the last end the girls won as Mike & Gareth stepped up a gear and finished the game at 13-7 to the Marauders.

Meanwhile on the other piste the game was a little more cat and mouse, Phil & Rob clawed their way back closing the gap to 6-5. It was then nip and tuck all the way to 10-10.  The Marauders continued with that fighting spirit and finished the game 13-10 winners.

The changeover saw Mike & Gareth facing Norman & Ian. This was the shortest game of the evening and was over in under 30 mins. (the previous games were 1hr 20mins and 1hr 35mins). Mike & Gareth went into a 12-0 lead, in the penultimate end Norman and Ian looked to be making a comeback when they took two points but unfortunately like a shooting star it didn’t last very long with Mike & Gareth taking two points on the next end to claim their second victory of the night.

In the other game Phil & Rob were having a tough battle with the reigning Welsh Champion duo of the 2 Gills.  This was to prove another nip and tuck game until the girls hit that magic number of 7 where they faltered again.  The game reached 7-7 and the fighting spirit of the Marauders kicked in with Phil and Rob taking 3 points on the next end. The game turned into another marathon eventually finishing at 10pm with a 13-7 win to Phil and Rob.

The Marauders fought well in their games but unfortunately the Meteors fizzled out disappeared into the wet September night. This saw the first 4-0 win by any team in the Super League and secured second place in the table for the Marauders. Next week they face the league leaders, Minotaurs. 

Super League Table after Round 3 

The first match of Round 3 of the Super League always promised to be a tense affair between the two first division sides with Monarchs searching for their first win and Minotaurs looking to extend their winning run to 3 matches.

In the first game Minotaurs Vickie & Pete K, unbeaten in their 4 games so far in the Super League, took on Monarchs Tony Smith & Roger Green.  The game was closely fought with the lead  changing hands a few times before Minotaurs turned the screw and ran out winners by 13-10. The second Minotaurs pair, Bernard & Pred, came up against Roger Griffin & Mike Jones. Bernard & Pred moved into an early lead but were pegged back by Roger & Mike only for Minotaurs to open up another lead which again was pegged back to 9-8. At this point Minotaurs, with 3 boule in hand, had a point for 4 and game, failed to take it with the first boule, put Monarchs on with the second boule and missed a shot for game with the third. Fortunately this didn’t rattle Minotaurs and they took the game 13-10 for a 2-0 lead at the change over.

The reverse pairs got underway and the first game between Vickie & Pete and Roger & Mike was another very close encounter with never more than a couple of points in it. With the score at 12-12, however, Monarchs took the final point to end Vickie & Pete’s five game winning streak. In the second game Bernard & Pred raced into an early lead and were 6-1 up. Monarchs Tony & Roger then picked up 1 or 2 points per end to slowly haul themselves back into the game and with the score at 8-8, Monarchs went into the lead for the first time, a lead that Minotaurs could not pull back, and Monarchs eventually ran out winners by 13-8.

A well fought, friendly but highly competitive affair between two extremely well matched teams which was reflected in the 2-2 draw with points also equal at 46-46.

In glorious sunshine, the club today held its first Women v Men Challenge Competition. The teams consisted of 12 players each and the competition was held over four rounds, two of doubles and two of triples. The team captains, Sean Smith and Gill Clark, picked the pairs and triplets to compete in each game and, as in the Cup for Clubs, there were 3 points for a doubles win and five points for a triples win.

In Round 1 there was notable win for the Women when Rose Fiera/Beryl McCarthy beat Roger Griffin/Tony Newton 13-1 but the Men returned the compliment with a 13-1 win for Mike Jones/Bernard Adshead over Vickie Adshead/Barbara Kensett. Perhaps the most remarkable finish was in the game between Sean Smith/Ian McCarthy and Judith Smith/Linda Halloran. With the Men leading by 12-8, captain Sean contrived to shoot out the jack with his last boule leaving the Women with 5 in hand giving them a 13-12 victory – as they “It’s not how you win …..”. The round finished with the Men leading 4-2 in games giving them a points lead of 12-6.    

The second round saw the Men consolidate their lead by winning 5 games to 1, with the Women’s only victory coming when the Judith/Linda combo put one over on Bernard/Ian by 13-7. The round ended with the Men leading 9-3 in games and 27-9 in points. 

Following a break for a picnic lunch, supplemented by some of Tony’s finest ales from the bar, Round 3 the 4 games of triples got underway. Would the Women fair any better in this format? In the event it certainly seemed so with the honours being even. The 2 Gills, Clark/Greenwell* recorded a 13-11 win over Peredur John/Mike Jones/Tony Smith and Vickie Adshead/Denise Jones/Betty Hoyle stole a 12-11 win over Roger Griffin/Ian McCarthy/Phil Roberts by taking 1 point in the final end after limit time had been called. the scores at this point had the Men leading 11-5 in games and 37-19 in points.

* Rose Fiera had a family commitment in the afternoon, so the 2 Gills had to play as a pair 

And so it was into the final round which unfortunately did not go well for the Women, with the Men taking all 4 games to leave them the overall winners by 52-19.  The match was, however, a lot closer than the score suggests but the Men, with 9 first division players in their squad, just proved too powerful on the day. It is a tribute to the Club that they can put out a team of 12 Women with at least 2 others who wanted to play but couldn’t for various reasons.

Everyone enjoyed a very friendly day of petanque and huge thanks go to everyone who took part and especially to the two captains, Gill Clark and Sean Smith, who also conceived the idea of the competition, for the work they put in managing their teams. Everyone agreed that it should become an annual event.

The day finished with Gill Clark generously presenting, socially distanced of course, the trophy to Sean Smith whilst warning that the Women would be looking to take it back next year. 

The Teams

From our sports reporter – Roger Griffin

In the second game of Round 2 of the Super League, Monarchs faced Marauders, each team needing a win to close the gap on Minotaurs. In the first game, Mike J and Tony S of Monarchs soon found themselves 8-0 down against Phil and Tom and could not recover against Marauders’ accurate play, losing 13-1. In the other game, Monarchs’ Roger Green & Sean were drawing with Gareth and Michelle at 4-4, at which point Marauders stalled allowing Roger and Sean to take the lead towards a 13-4 win. So at the turnaround honours were even at 1-1.

In the second half, Mike and Tony were behind Gareth and Michelle at 3-5, when they picked up 5 points and pulled into the lead 8-5. Gareth and Michelle rallied Monarchs held their nerve and won the game 13-8. Phil and Tom started where they’d left off and raced into a 8-0 lead against Roger and Sean. Monarchs responded by taking 11 points in two ends and at 12-9 were coasting to a win, but Phil and Tom were having nothing of this, and came back to win 13-12.

An honourable draw but with Round 2 completed it’s the Minotaurs who are smiling.

SUPER LEAGUE TABLE AFTER ROUND 2