Archive – SA Pétanque League 2012-2013

Coonawarra Classic Clash

9 & 10 February 2013 – Coonawarra Pétanque Club

Trans Tasman Archive

The main story of the season has been an arm wrestle between Prospect and Club d’Adelaide for line honours. The lead changed after each of Rounds 3, 4 and 5 and in Round 6 this trend continued. Adelaide scored 30 points to Prospect’s 24 and converted a 3 point deficit into a 3 point advantage.

Congratulations, Adelaide, for a well-earned victory and your first interclub championship since the current format came into effect six years ago. Well done in particular to Margaret, Axel and Matt, who took the crucial third position in this round and were the club’s leading points scorers in each of the last three rounds. Commiserations to Prospect, who fought hard right to the end.
Adding spice to the competition was the Eastern Suburbs story. ESP looked right out of contention in the middle of the season, but a dominant performance in Round 5 brought them just within striking distance. However, they not only needed to secure maximum points (from their two best-placed teams), they also needed a couple more teams in the top placings just to keep the big points away from their rivals.

The task seemed nearly impossible but they got oh so close! Three teams in the semi-finals, finishing in 1st, 2nd and 4th place respectively, and that was nearly enough. But their next-best team missed out, by just one point, from being in a position to challenge for 3rd or 5th spot in the afternoon session. In the end, ESP finished third in the championship race – just six points shy of the leaders.

This has been the closest contest in the history of SAPL interclub. Championship points are allocated in multiples of three, which means the three point margins between first and second, and between second and third, are the smallest margins you can get short of a tie.

Further down the ladder, there were also two other closely-fought contests. In the battle for fourth, a depleted Gawler finished outside the points in this round, but Adelaide Hills could only manage to claw back 6 of the 18 championship points they needed to catch them, giving Gawler their first-ever top four finish.

Meanwhile, in their quest to climb out of the cellar, FAB scored three points to PNP’s none, which was not quite enough to achieve ‘not last’ status, but it was enough to leave them tied for sixth place with Port Noarlunga.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (23 June 2013)

But it’s not just a two-way contest… Gaining on both of them, Eastern Suburbs was clearly the dominant club in Round 5 — three teams in the top five, losing only two games between them (and one of those was playing each other!). A haul of 51 championship points means ESP have moved into a position where they can still entertain ideas of doing what they did last year and snatching the premiership with a late surge and a big final round (at home). However, they’ve set themselves a much bigger task this year and it would take something special.

For ESP, the highlight of the day was undoubtedly the final — in which Alexi, George and Arwed came back from 2-9 down to win 13-9 and take out the honours for the day. Great effort guys. A truly memorable match, against a valiant but ultimately thwarted Prospect team of Tory, Lionel and Dave.

At the other end of the ladder, FAB kept Port Noarlunga out of the championship points and scored six for themselves, to get within four points of being ‘not last’. Once again, it will all come down to the last round.

Meanwhile, in the battle for fourth place that has been going on all season, Gawler’s one team was better than the Adelaide Hills’ two, and gave Gawler their third consecutive top-four finish and their third consective gain against AHP. Fresh from his successful Trans-tasman campaign, Luke has become a real force to be reckoned with, and his team-mates continue to improve too. A further six championship points means Gawler have now stretched their lead out to a handy (but not insurmountable!) eighteen points. (But then I’m biased.)

For Round 6, let’s see if we can get a really good turn-out and make it a fitting climax to the season. With a few more teams, we can have a second division. The championship would be entirely up for grabs in Div II as, sadly, it would be the first and only round for the season.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (26 May 2013)

Sat 18th & Sun 19th May 2013

Lake Macquarie City Pétanque Club
New South Wales, Australia

• A perspective from the ‘Dark Side’… the ‘Boule Blacks’ – Trans Tasman 2013 New Zealand Report

From the Sport page of “The Leader” newspaper.

Click here to view full newspaper article.

Its first dampening effect was to scare off a number of players, leaving a reduced field of just 18 intrepid teams to brave the conditions and fight for Round 4 honours. This threw the best-laid plans of the tournament director into complete disarray. Eventually, the problem of trying to provide everyone with a decent competition was resolved by adopting an emergency format. Seedings, pools, divisions and play offs were all abandoned in favour of a simple all-in random draw with the results decided by wins and points.

The morning was punctuated by several periods of thick fog, at times reducing visibility to about 20 or 30 metres. Those who played will remember these brief periods with fondness, as they were about the only times that the persistent rain and icy-cold winds were simultaneously absent. After lunch, earlier hopes that the conditions might improve were soon dispelled. With the rain getting heavier and increasing areas of the ground disappearing under water, it was decided to curtail proceedings after the fourth game.

In terms of the premiership table, the only significant movement was at the top, as Club d’Adelaide regained the lead and moved clear of second-placed Prospect. None of the other positions changed. Eastern Suburbs consolidated in third, with Alexi, George and Arwed taking top spot on the day but without a second team in the points. Gawler likewise improved their lead over fifth-placed Adelaide Hills, by virtue of their second silver-medal performance in a row.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (21 April 2013)

The warm conditions made it tough going for some. It was also a tough one for the Tournament Director, with such a large number of games to deal with and a series of late changes to the line-up to keep him on his toes.

In the Open there was a sense of deja vu, as Lionel Chazal dominated the proceedings once again with a class display of petanque skills. Just like last time, he took out the Singles championship by defeating Alexi in the Final and Craig Stewart in the Semi-final. Lionel is the first player in any category to win mulitple SA Singles titles.

The battle for the Open Veterans title was a much more close-fought affair. With one veteran in each of the Quarter-finals, and none progressing further, there was a four-way tie! This was resolved by a tie-breaker series of two short games (played to 5 and 7 respectively), which was won by Martin Verdonk for his first Veterans title. (Is it true that one of the other contenders took a dive because he didn’t want to achieve fame as an ‘oldie’?)

In the Ladies tournament, Rada Pierre won her maiden Singles title. Having won State Doubles and Triples championships in the past, this completes the set in her trophy cabinet. She eventually prevailed by one point in a hard-fought final against Glenis Head. Glenis also posted her best ever Singles result, as overall runner-up and Ladies Veterans champion.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who participated.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (03 March 2013)

(To view the ‘South Australian Pétanque League Championships Archive’ click here)    

Runner Up: Alexi Alexi
Semi-Finalists: Craig Stewart
Dominique Pierre
Consolante Winner: Phil Pollard
Consolante Runner Up: Wayne Twigden
Conviviale Winner: Tony Stojsic
Conviviale Runner Up: Anthony Pietsch
Open Veteran Champion: Martin Verdonk

Ladies Singles Champion
Rada Pierre

Runner Up: Glenis Head
Semi-Finalists: Tory McBride
Selina Dally
Ladies Consolante Winner: Annie Hambour
Consolante Runner Up: Valmai Nicoll

Ladies Veterans Champion:  Glenis Head

The “Coonawarra Vignerons Classic Clash” Petanque Tournament  last weekend on the 9th and 10th February 2013, and was hailed a huge success.  The Coonawarra Park was the venue for 17th Annual triples tournament with fierce interstate rivalry  between New South Wales, South Australian and Victorian teams, played in perfect conditions over the two days

This 2 day event run by the Coonawarra Petanque Club, is becoming recognised as one of the biggest and best tournaments in Australia. With the help of the Coonawarra Vignerons Association and other local sponsors, teams vied for over $5000 in cash, Coonawarra wines, prizes and the Championship honours.

The extremely successful weekend had excellent numbers of entries again, with over 180 players entered, creating 60 teams in the competition, who travelled from Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle, and with a good turn out of local teams attending.

“We travel to Coonawarra for this tournament because it has a great atmosphere about it and the standard of the competitors is excellent. The number of people attending is also a testament to the quality and organization of this event” said Grant Threadgate from Newcastle on his third visit to the region for this  tournament.

On Saturday, previous winners from the Weird/St Kilda Petanque Club in Melbourne showed great form to win all 6 games and finish in top place after the Qualifying Rounds. Also winning all 6 games were local Coonawarra team of Mal Redman, John Innes and Alistair Rowland putting them in 6th place for the Sunday Finals, and with other local teams doing well to take out 10th, 14th and 16th in the top 16 teams.

Some spectacular petanque was played on Sunday to decide the top two teams for the Grand Final. Saturdays top team of Pierrot Lubin, Yannick Finette and Patrick Dufresnes continued their run into the finals to play against the Coonawarra team of Andrew Jackman, Jean-Paul Bouyer and Loius Oltarczy.  The Victorian team showed great skills and dominated this ‘Principale` Final’ winning 13 – 0, giving them a clean sweep for the weekend by not loosing a game.

The high standard of play by the local teams was seen through Mal Redman, John Innes and Alistair Rowland, losing only one game for the weekend and being placed 6th outright for the tournament, and Stuart Abbey, Grant Hetherington and Mark Heyn being defeated in the ‘Consolation Final’ to finish in 10th place overall.

‘The whole weekend has been beautiful and was enjoyed by all who came along”. said Guy Detot, President Coonawarra Petanque Club. ‘The influx of people for the weekend has been tremendous  for the region, and we expect to see even more people coming along in the future, as the reputation of this event is still growing’.

Mal & the crew, Coonawarra Pétanque Club (11 February 2013)

The day started with a bit of spice — three separate husband-against-wife contests and they all happened to be drawn in the very first round of games. All three were closely-fought affairs. Interestingly, in contrast, the games where couples played together as a team seemed to be more one-sided (albeit not always in the same direction). Overall, it was good to see that no-one left without winning at least one game.

Congratulations to Mark Harris and Lionel Chazal — State Champions, unbeaten, and clearly in a class of their own. Their only serious challenge came in the semi-final — but by the end Richard and Marty were left maybe wishing they were back in their happy hunting ground at Port Noarlunga. As for the final, the less said about that the better.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (25 November 2012)

(To view the ‘South Australian Pétanque League Championships Archive’ click here)    

Runners-Up: Deb Rodda & Anthony Pietsch
Semi-Finalists: Phil Pollard & Alaine Rousse
Martin Verdonk & Richard Voskamp
Consolante
1st: Jonathan Rousse & Lynda Rousse
2nd: Axel Monneron & Peter O’Shea

Ladies Doubles Champions
(Best placed Ladies team)
Glenis Head & Margaret Monneron

“You gotta be in it to win it” was the message of the day, as the three clubs who fielded their usual complement of teams all gained ground on their nearest rivals (who did not). Prospect were the biggest winners, taking first and fourth on the day and moving into first position in the season standings. They now hold a three point lead over Club d’Adelaide. Still in third place, but falling further behind, Eastern Suburbs now have their work cut out if they are to pull off a come-from-behind premiership win like they did last season.

The other big movers were Gawler. Having one team in the final and a second team also in the points proved too much for Adelaide Hills (whose solitary team finished fifth), and Gawler have moved ahead into fourth place overall. Port Noarlunga, meanwhile, are now clear in sixth place as FAB pay the price for their no-show.

Congratulations to Richard, Martin and Alan, who seem to have taken a shine to this venue, following on from their State Triples victory a couple of months ago.

Congratulations also to Luke, Rob and Cameron. They are the first Gawler team to make a League final and came oh-so-close to winning it. For Cameron, a very auspicious League debut. The boys (including Harvey, who couldn’t make it this time) have been displaying some good form of late and continue to improve. We all wish them well as they approach their upcoming debut on the national stage.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (28 October 2012)

The usual three-horse race for championship points is now looking more like a two-way battle between Club d’Adelaide, who strengthened their position at the top of the table, and Prospect, who moved into second spot overall. These clubs monopolized the top placings on the day. In contrast, a depleted Eastern Suburbs contingent did not get a team into the top ten. In the season standings, they are now closer to fourth than they are to second.

Of the rest, Adelaide Hills put in a strong performance after a slow start to the season, moving up to their customary fourth position. Gawler again scored points, and are now a clear fifth, while FAB did not and now sit equal with Port Noarlunga in the cellar.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (23 September 2012)

The semi-finals were contested by four teams that were all undefeated up until that point. Ultimately, it was the Prospect trio of Richard, Marty and Alan that prevailed. In  fading light, they triumphed in an epic final against Lionel, Mark and Louis who were also in fine form.

Thanks to all who participated and to the Port Noarlunga club for hosting the event.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (26 August 2012)

(To view the ‘South Australian Pétanque League Championships Archive’ click here)    

Runners-Up: Lionel Chazal, Mark Harris & Louis Oltarczy
Semi-Finalists: Brett Williams, Guy Detot & Adrian Clements
Rada Pierre, Dominique Pierre & Tony Stojsic
Consolante:
1st: Ernie Palmer, Lynda Rousse & Jonathan Rousse
2nd: Greg Anderson, Brian Tuckfield & Anthony Pietsch

Conviviale:
1st: Debbie Blazey, Allen Blazey & Helen Galloway
2nd: Raymond Beaumont, Vince Cherifi & Bill Pilmore

At the end of the day, the usual division between the three ‘heavyweight’ clubs and the rest was clearly evident in the results. Club d’Adelaide teams finished first and fifth to snare top spot in the points table, just ahead of Eastern Suburbs who scored from second and fourth placings, and Prospect rounded out the top of the table taking third and sixth. Of the rest, Gawler have a three point advantage over FAB and Adelaide Hills, while Port Noarlunga were the only club without a team in the points.

Anthony Pietsch, Tournament Director, (29 July 2012)

Format and Match Structure  (last revised Oct 2011)