NWD Finals 29th June at Whitnash Windmill Petanque Club

Sue and I were really pleased to be in the top 4 of the Southern competition, thus  qualifying for the national championships.

We knew it would be tough but were determined to have a good day. Having had a practice the day before, we knew which terrains we liked and those we didn't.

We were a little disappointed that Southern didn't have matching strips along with the other areas. However, quite a number of people commented positively on our strip!!

 

There were 41 teams and only 17 pistes so it was a nightmare to arrange. Numbers picked, we were in groups of 5. With 3 games in the morning, 3 out of the 5 teams had a bye, hence 24 teams overall were gifted a 13/7 win. Not us of course.

Our group was given 2 of the pistes on the semi rough part which was really hard to read. In our first game, against Lisa and Nat, a youngish pair from East Midlands, we started off disappointedly but clawed up to 5 points where we stopped losing 13/5. We blamed it on their shooter singing along with the streamed music!

Our 2^nd game, played on the same piste, was against Julie and Dawn, a really nice pair from Nottingham. We had a better start and Sue was putting in some great points, most unfortunately, being shot out, although a good shot of mine left us at 5 all. Our downfall was when I unintentionally moved the coche with my last boule and our opponents just slid theirs in, scoring 5 points. We scored no more points so another 13/5 loss.

Our final game was against a local pair, Val and Arora so we thought they'd know the terrain well. Luckily, they said they never played on the rough ones and we managed to get our act together. They were not shooters so some good points from Sue were left in place. We actually won this game, 12/8.

 

With only 1 win (and no byes!) we were in the bronze. We had to wait for a piste as gold and silver were given priority. Luckily, the first one available was one of the more predictable pistes and we won the toss against Pauline and Wendy from the Eastern region. Finally, we played well and won 13/1, making us bronze semi finalists.

We had an incredibly long wait for the next match as an extra game had to be played because of the odd numbers. When we did, it was straight back to the rough end. Despite some reasonable play, nothing went our way and we were thrashed 13/0.

It was a great experience and both Sue and I were glad to have had the opportunity to play at this level.