State Competitions

Results of State Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Triples & Shooting competitions

Interclub Competition Round 2 NOVAR Gdns – 22 September 2019

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The renaissance of SA pétanque continued in Round 2 with a population explosion. Undeterred by the threat of showers (which fortunately stayed away for the most part), a staggering turn-out of 87 players took to the pistes at Novar Gardens. That’s 15 more than in Round 1, which in turn had the most we’d seen for over a decade.

Five different clubs were represented in the top five positions, but the winning team was the highly-credentialled and experienced trio of Selina Dally, Wendy Bensen & Maurice Belz, from ESP. No surprises there. However, also on the podium were some of the newer entrants to the field and potential stars of the future. In second place, and all taking home their first League medal, were Mike Read, Ashton Claridge & Mal Bedsonfrom the Adelaide Hills club. Bronze went to the Novar Gardens team of Jonathan Giddings, Bruce Lucas & Jean-Luc Gonnet, with Bruce also registering a personal best. Congratulations and well done to all.
Selina, Maurice, WendyMike, Ashton, MalBruce, Jonathan,
Jean-Luc

This was one of those rounds where the pattern of results did not fit what we would normally expect. In particular, we had a very unusual situation in Pool A where five of the fourteen teams won all three of their preliminary games, with only one of the others winning more than one. This created a few apparent anomalies in the final rankings, such as one team that won all five of their games but couldn’t climb up to a medal-winning position because their morning points tally was ‘only’ +19.

In terms of the championship, the lesson was that there’s safety in numbers. Despite the fact that each club can only claim the points from their two best-placed teams, it was the three clubs with five or more teams that picked up the biggest hauls ‒ Eastern Suburbs cemented their place at the top of the table, while Adelaide Hills and Novar Gardens were the big movers. The latter two have climbed up into third and fourth place, respectively, at the expense of FAB and Gawler, while Adelaide (2nd), Prospect (6th) and Port Noarlunga (8th) all maintained their first-round positions.

Thanks to the well-organised Novar Gardens crew for hosting the day.Continue reading→

2019/20 SA State Doubles Championship

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at:  Prospect Pétanque Club                  25 August, 2019

This year’s State Doubles Championship was held at Prospect in fine and mild conditions. Twenty-five pairs took part, including male, female and mixed-gender teams, which was the best attendance at this event for at least ten years.

The competition was more even than some might have predicted, with lots of close games and plenty of upsets. By the end of the four preliminary games, only one team remained undefeated and that was a portent of what was to follow.

The stand-out team on the day was the pairing of a young gun and emerging star with an established grand master of the game — Nick Armstrong & Maurice Belz swept all before them and are the new state champions. Well done, messieurs! This is the second SA state title for each of these players. Nick’s winner’s trophy will sit next to one from the 2107/18 Mixed Doubles, while Maurice is now the reigning champion in both Doubles and Singles.

Maurice Belz & Nick Armstrong

Congratulations must also go to Sue & Peter Matthews, who performed strongly all day and finished as runners-up and ‘the best of the rest’. Sue & Peter were part of a large contingent of teams from the fledgling Novar Gardens club that, on the whole, accounted for themselves very well.

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Interclub Competition Round 1 ESP – 29 July 2019

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In fine and mild conditions, the 2019/20 season got off to a roaring start with twenty‑four teams in attendance. This turn-out has not been matched since 2012 and the last time we’ve had more than that was in 2008. What makes it all the more remarkable is that this happened at a time of year when quite a number of regular players from various clubs are absent. Host clubs be warned — we might be in for some big crowds this year!

As is customary for the first round, the day began with the presentation of medals for the most outstanding players of the season just completed. Congratulations to Wendy Bensen for winning the Best Player award, and to Alexi Alexi (Best Male Player); Susan Krieg and Mark Reardon (Best New Players); and Tory McBride, Lionel Pujol & Dave Ward (Best Veterans). Wendy is the first woman to win the overall award, making it the first time the medal for ‘best player of the other gender’ has been for the ‘best male’.

At the end of the day, there was another set of medals to present. The gold ones went to the only undefeated team, the very experienced Adelaide trio, Jean-Paul Bouyer, Louis Oltarczy & Alain Rousse. They appear to have recaptured some of the form that saw them dominating the competition a couple of years ago.

Gold Team – Jean-Paul Bouyer, Alain Rousse & Louis Oltarczy

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SA State Triples Championships

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held at:   Prospect    30 June, 2019

From one extreme to the other… This season’s State Triples Championship was postponed in February due to extreme heat. Second time around it was nearly a washout. Fortunately, the torrential downpour that fell on Saturday made way for a fine day on Sunday. It was a bit chilly and the pistes were still damp, but at least they weren’t flooded and it wasn’t raining.

The atmosphere at this competition was a little different to previous years. This was not just because of the very pleasing record turnout of twenty teams. It was also because many of the players (about half of them) were participating in the event for their first time. However, the standard of competition has remained high in this renaissance period for South Australian pétanque.

Many of the newer teams gave a very good account of themselves, making up about half of the teams that progressed beyond the preliminaries and claiming some big scalps along the way. On the other hand, those who missed the cut included a few of the more seasoned teams who initially might have been seen as some of the strongest contenders for the title.

In the end, though, it was experience that won out. In fact, the grand finalists may have felt a sense of deja vu, as five of the six players involved had also played in the final of the 2017/18 championship. On one side were the formidable defending champions, Selina Dally, Craig Stewart and Alexi Alexi, from the Eastern Suburbs club. Their opponents once again were an Adelaide Hills combo, comprising Brian Tuckfield & Anthony Pietsch, out for revenge, teamed up this time with Ralph Foster.

A very experienced player, Ralph has had an extended hiatus from competitive pétanque but was recently persuaded to return to the fold and thus reconstitute a team that has had some success in the past. It may have been some time between drinks, but the combination of Foster, Tuckfield & Pietsch already had a  State Triples title to their name. Interestingly, their victory in 2009/10 came after having been runners-up the year before.

This year’s final was hotly contested and the quality of the game did not disappoint the small crowd of spectators who stayed to watch — not as much shooting as we sometimes see, but plenty of the more subtle arts of the game were on display. It started as an arm wrestle until, at 6-7 down, the ESP team made their move and forged ahead. They had their chances and, at 12-7, some may have thought the whole thing was done and dusted. However, little did they know that the Hills team were working to a cunning plan. In a masterful execution of the old ‘lull them into a false sense of security then jump them at the end’ strategy, timed to perfection, the latter prevailed to take out the honours.

On a historical note, Ralph, Brian & Anthony become the first trio to win two State Triples Championships in SA. A number of  players have won multiple titles (including Alexi and Craig), but it has always been as part of different combinations.Continue reading→