The annual Winter Friendly with Caerleon RFC PC started today with the 1st leg at Monkstone PC. Caerleon won the competition last year so Monkstone were looking to get off to a good start to take to the 2nd leg in Caerleon after Christmas to try to bring the trophy back to Cardiff.
The format of the competition was tweaked slightly this year. When it was found a large number of people wanted to play, instead of the normal 3 rounds of 12 singles, 6 doubles and 4 triples with any number (minimum 12) of players allowed, it was decided to have a fixed number of 18 players. The other thought was to avoid players having to sit out one of the rounds and, as neither club could accommodate 18 singles at the same time, it was decided to have just 2 rounds – Round 1 being 6 singles and 6 doubles played at the same time and Round 2 being 6 triples.
The match got underway under leaden skies with rain threatening. In the singles half of the 1st round, Caerleon managed to gain an advantage of 4 games to 2 giving them a match point lead of 4 points. In the doubles, which were being played alongside the singles, Monkstone came out on top by 4 games to 2 giving them a match point advantage of 12 – 6. So at the end of Round 1, the games were equal at 6 – 6 but Monkstone held an all important lead of 2 match points.
After a short break for lunch, Round 2 commenced with light rain threatening and both teams looking for a decisive score to take a good lead into the second leg. The competition was fierce but friendly but neither team managed to break away and when the dust settled it was 3 – 3 in games and 15 – 15 in match points with Monkstone retaining their slight lead of 2 match points to carry into the 2nd leg.
Thanks to all the players who took part and when the teams meet again in Caerleon on 7 January 2024, IT’S ALL TO PLAY FOR!
RESULTS
