The qualification competition for Petanque England’s annual Inter-Regional Championship took place at Caerleon RFC PC on Sunday 13th June, which became a scorching day.

Seven teams entered the competition, with only 4 of the teams being selected to represent the WPA. Each team played each other to obtain the final ranking detailed below.

Even though the entries represented a small percentage of the membership, the competition was fierce to see which would qualify and represent the WPA in Melton Mowbray at the beginning of September. There was only one team that almost had a clean sweep: Monkstone PC team (WPA1) represented by Gill Greenwell, Gill Clark, Roger Green & Sean Smith, finishing with 5 wins (+31 points difference), losing only to the Wheatsheaf PC team (WPA3) of Gail Brooksbank and Jim and Linda Hutchinson who finished with 3 wins (+8 points difference).

The other two teams that qualified are the combined team (WPA2) represented by David Elston (Sully PC), Bob Pugh (Wenvoe PC), Derek Jones (Pontyclun PC) and Steve Sudden (Caerleon RFC PC), who finished with 4 wins (+17 points difference) and the Caerleon RFC PC team (WPA4) represented by Gemma Foster, Tansy Mayfield, Kon Tomczyk and Barbara Vaughan completing the day on 3 wins (+3 points difference).

The other results were as follows:

The second Wheatsheaf PC team comprising Alan Evans, Colin Sweet, Basil White and Dave Sharratt finished with 3 wins (-2 points difference).
Brecon RFC team comprising Tony Griffiths, Gareth Smart, Jim Page and AJ Jones finished with 3 wins (-15 points difference) and
the second Caerleon RFC PC team comprising Dai Bevan, Wally Wilkinson, Ray Williams and Ian Wheeler finished with 0 wins (-42 points difference).

The WPA would like to thanks all the players who took part in the qualification round and the executive and members of the Caerleon RFC PC for hosting the event and making the facilities available throughout the day.

Tony Smith
President.

The first National Championship took place at the South Wales Bowls and Recreation Centre-Petanque Section (SWBRC-PS) Sully on Sunday 30th May.  This is the first time a National Championship has been held at this new and rapidly developing venue.

Eight teams representing Pontyclun PC, Monkstone PC (Cardiff) and Wheatsheaf PC (Gwent) came together to take away the National Women’s Doubles title. 

The morning session saw the teams play in two leagues to decide their ranking and opposition in the afternoon knockout phase. The top team from Group A was Julie Bailey (SWBRC-PS) & Jayne Dunn (Monkstone PC), and Group B Simone Ballett & Sonia Ford (SWBRC-PS).

The first round of the afternoon knock-out session saw the following teams drawn against each other:

Julie Bailey (SWBRC-PS) & Jayne Dunn (Monkstone PC) v Patricia McCarthy & Jenny Spooner (SWBRC-PS)
Linda Thomas & Sue Roberts (SWBRC-PS) v Katharine Attfield & Marie Jones (Pontyclun PC)
Gill Greenwell & Gill Clarke (Monkstone PC) v Gail Brooksbank & Linda Hutchinson (Wheatsheaf PC)
Judith Smith & Amanda Jenkins (Monkstone PC) v Sonia Ford & Simone Ballett (SWBRC-PS)

The second round (semi-final) of the afternoon saw the winners of round 1 coming together with: 

Gail Brooksbank & Linda Hutchinson (Wheatsheaf PC) v Simone Ballett & Sonia Ford (SWBRC-PS) Score: 13-12
Julie Bailey (SWBRC-PS) & Jayne Dunn (Monkstone PC) v Linda Thomas & Sue Roberts (SWBRC-PS) Score: 13-7

The final saw Julie Baily and Jayne Dunn (dark blue shirts) against Gail Brooksbank & Linda Hutchinson (light blue shirts).

The final was a tight match between two experienced teams, Gail Brooksbank & Linda Hutchinson, who took an early lead, but Julie Baily and Jayne Dunn fought back to take the match and the title 13-10.

The WPA would like to thank the Executive and Membership South Wales Bowls and Recreation Centre-Petanque Section for their support during the competition.

Tony Smith
President