Eleven teams entered the twentieth annual WBS Open Triples held at the Masterton Pétanque club. Due to the small number of entries the usual random draw followed by pools and a knockout was replaced by a single round-robin, with the top two team playing off for the title.
At the end of Saturday, the defending champions Maurice Belz, Myles Cowper and Michael Rocks led with 6 wins. Sharon Cannon, Murray Porter and Brian Smith were in second place on 5 wins, although they had already had the bye.
On Sunday, both of the top teams dropped a game before they faced off in the last round. As they had both already qualified for the final, this game was a bit academic. The 3 M’s winning 11-6.
The final was different matter entirely. Racing out to a 10-0 the 3M’s looked in complete control. Sharon, Murray and Brian fought back to 11-11 and then the scores inched forward to 12-12. The 3M’s prevailled in the final end to retain the WBS Open Triples title.
In the Plate final, Kevin Bryan, Alan Cameron and Vaughan Husband beat Marc Khull, Trevor Neilson and Barbara Nicholls 13-10.
Wanganui East’s first defence of the Jacques Cochonnet Trophy was at home to Kapiti. Down 3-0 after the first round, Kapiti won the second round 2-1 to close the gap. In the final round, Wanganui East won the Doubles 13-11 to retain the Trophy 5-4.
Wanganui East’s next defence will be at home to Silverstream.
Nicola, Claire and Pam National Women’s Triples Champions
Ten teams took part in the PNZ National Women’s Triples Championship held at the Herne Bay Pétanque club in Auckland.
In a change from last year’s format the Women’s Triples was held on a single day, the day before the National Triples. Previously, it had been a two day tournament held at Waitangi Weekend.
The day started with a four round Swiss, followed by a knockout for each group of four teams.
Nicola Brock, Pam Jenkins and Claire Matthews were the only undefeated team after the Swiss and continued through to the final where they faced the second placed team from the Swiss, Karen Stephen, Tina Targett and Christine Taylor.
After an even opening few ends, Nicola, Pam and Claire took the lead and eventually ran out 13-6 winners.
The Trophy Consolation final was won by Robyn Chalmers, Ann Clayworth and Diana Glamuzina who beat two-time defending champions Sharon Cannon, Christine Strichen and Claire Wilson.
Eighteen teams took part in the Upper Hutt Swiss Doubles at Maidstone Park. The weather, although overcast and cool, stayed fine for the duration of the tournament.
Moises Burgos and Michael Rocks retained the title with four wins and a draw from their five games.
Erica Drake and Christophe Vesse took second place on tie-break from Len Cogger and Bob Horton. Both teams finished with 4 wins.
