Monkstone Pétanque Club

Although 6 month old Susie cannot walk yet or even hold a boule she can often be seen down at the Monkstone Club giving her Dad, Alex Hicks, the benefit of some coaching. It is quite remarkable how much Susie has improved Alex’s game since she started the coaching sessions.

Our annual Open Triples took place on a day of perfect sunshine. The number of entries was low but in spite of this the enthusiasm of the eight teams was very high. The morning’s play saw teams in two pools of four playing three matches each to qualify for the Cup or Plate in the afternoon.

 In Pool A, Monkstone Muses – a scratch team of Peter David, Lynda Hodges and Szabolcs Mohi – produced a surprise 13-4 win against the fancied team of Maesteg PC. However, Maesteg recovered their composure and emerged from the pool stage into the Cup with two wins, as did Wenvoe PC (Peter Westall, Louis Ellar and Harley Ellar).

In Pool B, the matches involving Caerleon PC and the three Monkstone teams of Marauders, Monks and Leipzigers saw Caerleon cruise into the cup with three straight wins, with the Leipzigers having to work hard to secure their cup place with two wins.

In the Cup semi-finals the Caerleon team of Kon Tomczyk, Barbara Vaughan and Gemma Foster continued their winning ways by beating Wenvoe 13-8. The Leipzigers (Roger Griffin, Bernard Adshead and Tony Smith) saw a commanding lead over Maesteg reduced to 12-12 before scraping home. Then in the final against Caerleon, the Leipzigers produced their best play of the day, winning 13-5.

Bernard, Roger and Tony : winning team Leipzigers

Barbara, Kon and Gemma: Caerleon

The Plate competition was an all-Monkstone affair with the Mysticals (Ian Baildon-Smith, Rasoul Nourizadeh and Mike Wigg) putting aside their torrid morning of no wins by beating the Marauders in the semi-final 13-12 and the Monks in the final 13-11. Two tight finishes but a very deserved Plate win for a Mysticals team that refused to give up.

The Plate winners: Mysticals – Rasoul, Ian, Nourizadah (missing from photo) and Mike

The plate runners up: The Monks –  John, Mike and Peter

Congratulations to Monkstone Leipzigers and Monkstone Mysticals for their respective wins in the Cup and Plate.

And finally, many thanks to Jackie Nott for donating a fantastic fruit cake to the raffle and congratulations to Gemma for winning it!

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