Mixed Doubles

Andi and Dan have won the Mixed Doubles Tournament. They duly won their last two games, including one against third placed Giles and Joan. They ended up with an impressive 12 wins from 13.

Seb and Del were a strong second with a clear gap ahead of third. They ended with 11 wins from 13 and have the kudus of having beaten the eventual winners in their head to head match.

Summer Triples

Dan, Fred and Craig have won the Summer Triples competition. They won 8 games out of 9, losing on the last night 13-12 to Jim, Joan and Kathie.

Sean, Del and Bryan did well in their first tournament together, ending in second place and taking the league to the final game. They came through 13-12 against Andi, Lee and Vikki on the last night.

Bob, Rob and Pam have climbed the table, winning their last three scheduled games 13-12, 13-12 and 13-12.

Mark, Julian and Mandi also finished strongly, beating Giles, Seb and Shane in their last game.

The Singles start next week. Enter by Saturday.

Spring Doubles

The Spring Doubles A League has concluded and what a great tournament it has been. With teams beating each other, the result came down to the last game on the last night. Craig and Keith needed to win both games against Del and Clare. Despite going 8-0 down in the first game, they came through 13-8 and then raced into a 4-0 lead in the second game. However, Clare put Craig under extreme pressure through some relentless placing and Del also played to a high level, which included a carreau at 9.5 metres. Del and Clare took advantage of a couple of poor ends from Keith and Craig and then scored three points in the final end when leading 10-5 to win 13-5. This meant that Dan and Fred came through in first place on points difference. As they had previously beaten Craig and Keith twice, losing 13-12 in the other, this was the right result for the league. Del and Clare will be satisfied that in the end, they won games against the top two in the league. Seb and Iain finished strongly to come fourth.

In Division B, Mandi and Mathilde have already wrapped up the victory. Sean and Brian will be happy with second place in their first tournament together.

Liberation Day Doubles

Eight teams were split into two leagues of four. Everyone played three games to decide who would go through to the final.
In group A, Seb and Iain won all three of their games. In Group B, Shane and Todd also won their three games.

So these two teams battled the final which was very much a one sided affair which Seb and Iain won 13-7.

Singles 2025

The Singles tournament has now concluded. In the catch up games, Del gained a good win against Giles which kept Seb in third and stopped Giles from rising further up the table.

Craig has won the Men’s Singles and the overall league. Whilst he only lost two games, against Lee and Iain, he could have easily lost against Seb, Dan, Bob, Martyn and Clare. This is the first time that Craig has won the Singles after many years of trying.

After a well fought battle, Andi will end up second and has won the Ladies’ Singles by a wide margin. Congratulations to Andi who beat most of the men along the way. Seb ended up in third after a good finish. Del is the second placed lady.

Dave Harvey Trophy 2025

Fred and Dan have won the 2025 Dave Harvey Trophy. In a straight knock out, they won all three games. Whilst each one went on for a while, in reality, they were not overly troubled in any of them. They beat Margaret and Dave in the quarter final, Craig and Keith in the Semi final and then Seb and Iain in the final.

Donal and Pete narrowly lost their first game and continued to play well to win the Plate.

Mandi and Matilde with the First Timers’ Trophy.

Shooting Trophy 2025

Andi Cleal was the clear winner. Congratulations!

Mixed Triples

Seb, Del and Lee have been crowned Mixed Triples Champions. Congratulations to them!

Giles, Iain and Mathilde managed to secure second place by beating the league winners in the last week.

Winter Doubles 2025

Seb and Iain have won the Winter Doubles with 12 wins from 13. Congratulations to them!

Going into the last round, Seb and Iain were the favourites, but they still needed to win their last game, ideally by a decent margin. They duly dispatched Dave and Pete 13-2 after a tight start to the match. This left the door fractionally open for Craig and Dan, but they needed to win their last two games with a huge points difference. Craig and Dan came up against Mathilde and Del in their first game. Delphine played particularly well, first saving an end of three and then firing out Dan’s last boule to take four points. These two shots meant that husband Seb and Iain could not be caught. Craig and Dan therefore had to settle for second place on points difference. This is a fair result as Seb and Iain won the head to head against Craig and Dan. Giles and Lee took third spot with Shane and Todd in fourth. Mark and Julian finished strongly to end up fifth.

John Mahy Trophy 2025

Dave and Margaret Allen roll back the years to win the John Mahy Doubles Trophy.

Ten teams took part in this annual tournament which was a straight knock out. In the first round, Dave and Margaret played well and quickly dispatched Jim and Joan Ramsay. They then had to wait for some slower games in the preliminary round to complete. In these games, Andi and Donal knocked out Iain and Vikki, before claiming the scalp of Giles and Seb.

In a long and tight semi final, the Allens managed to edge past Andi and Donal, taking them to the final.

In the other side of the draw, Craig and Jo beat Shane and Keith and then beat Dan and Fred. Both games were close with narrow margins of victory.

This set up an unexpected final with Dave and Margaret starting as underdogs. They got off to a great start thanks to a sloppy couple of shots from Craig and raced into a 7-0 lead. This was subsequently extended to 10-2 and then 12-5. Dave then placed in his last boule at 10 metres which Craig could not remove, thus winning the final 13-5. Congratulations to them!

Well done to Mandi and Clare, winning both of their games, taking them to fourth place. Paul and Sean also climbed the table with two wins on the night.

Green’s Grand Prix 2024

After a great year where five players were still in contention with two tournaments to go, Seb, Craig and Giles were sitting in places 1,2 and 3 ahead of the final tournament of the year.

Giles needed to win the Vauclusienne and Craig needed to finish a couple of places above Seb to take the GGP title. Seb was in control as he was in the lead going into the final round. In the end, Craig won the last event to go alongside his wins in two Triples tournaments, meaning that he retained the Green’s Grand Prix title by a narrow margin. Seb has the consolation of winning the Singles, beating Craig in the final, as well as winning the Mixed Doubles with Del. Giles will be very happy with his Open Doubles victory to go alongside his Placing trophy.

Vauclusienne 2024

Here are the final standings in the Vauclusienne. After 14 games, Craig Allen emerged victorious in Division A. He won all of his seven games in the second round of fixtures following an indifferent first round of seven where he won four and lost three.

Going into the final night, Giles Cleal still had a chance, but he lost out to Iain Haith 13-0 in his first game. This result did not actually make a difference as Craig came through 13-4 against Seb in a high standard match including many dead ends and cochonnet movements. He then finished off the tournament in style by winning 13-0 against Lee by playing at a very high level. Dan Le Sauvage ended the tournament strongly with two wins and finished third behind Giles on points difference. Dan beat most other players twice but lost out in his games against Craig and Giles.

In Division B, Bob and Rob won their last five games to top the league. Congratulations to them! This league was also tight. Sean, Mandi and Mathilde were just behind with nine wins, as were Kathie and Jane.

Mixed Doubles 2024

Seb & Del Renaud are the winners of the Mixed Doubles competition. In a dominant performance, they only lost three ends over the entire evening. In the semi final, they beat Keith and Vikki 13-6, with Seb putting Vikki and Keith under pressure with a good first boule on multiple occasions and Del firing well. In the other semi final, Ian & Joan won a tight game against Giles and Andi, largely thanks to some excellent placing by Joan.

The final was over fairly quickly with Seb & Del both playing to a very high standard to come through 13-0. Del played particularly well taking the role of shooter. Giles and Andi had the consolation of winning the third / fourth play off.

Placing Trophy 2024

Congratulations to Giles Cleal who won the Placing Trophy for the first time!

Ladies’ Singles

Well done to Vikki Le Poidevin who has won the Ladies’ Singles. Having topped the qualifying group, Vikki was the favourite but had to overcome Margaret Allen, Andi Cleal and Linda Coutu in the final four. Vikki duly won all three games to retain her title. Andi came second, having won two games and Linda came third with one win.

Men’s Singles

Congratulations to Seb Renaud who has won the Men’s Singles competition. He brushed past Brandon Ogier and Bob Cave in the quarter and semi finals before meeting Craig Allen in the final. Craig had beaten Fred Wallnofer and Giles Cleal on the way to the final. Giles had previously knocked out Shane Brehaut.

The final was very tight with Seb taking a 7-1 lead largely due to some consistency placing, before Craig scored two consecutive ends of theee, one of which was a three carreaux end. Seb then pulled ahead 10-9 with a three of his own before Craig scored another three to take it to 12-10. Craig was in control at 12-10 holding game on two occasions but Seb saved the end twice and Craig was not able to capitalise on his chance to win. This took the score to 12-11. Seb duly scored two in the next end to win 13-12, with all six of his throws in the last two ends being of a high quality.

Dave Harvey Trophy 26 August 2024.

Seb Renaud and Iain Haith were the convincing winners of the Dave Harvey Trophy. In a straight knock out format, they beat Geoff De La Rue and Mick Le Cheminant 13-8 before thrashing Craig Allen and Daniel Le Sauvage 13-2. In the final they were also in control from the start and won fairly comfortably against Keith Priaulx and Shane Brehaut 13-6. Seb placed consistently all day and Iain hit out the important boules. Well done to them!

In the Plate, Geoff and Mick beat Clare Mapley and Brian Renouf to end a good day in the sunshine. ☀️

Shooting Trophy

Congratulations to Shane who retained his Shooting Trophy. Please note that the Placing Trophy will take place later in the year.

Dave Harvey Trophy on Bank Holiday Monday

Summer Triples ☀️

Keith, Shane and Craig are the Summer Triples champions, winning 12 of their 14 games. Whilst they deserved the victory having won 4 from 4 against the teams in second and third, the final night was far from smooth. In a league where subs needed to be used on several occasions to cover for illness and vacations, the final night saw Giles, Lee and sub Fred lose both games, effectively handing the league to Keith, Shane and Craig. Seb, Vikki and Iain finished strongly and ended third on points difference.

Well done to Jim, Jo and Kathie who beat the winners 13-12 in their last match!

Spring Doubles 2024

Division A

Shane & Keith have won the Summer Doubles A Division. Congratulations to them!

Going into the last week, they had finished their games which left Craig & Mathilde in control of their own destiny, but needing two wins. Seb & Iain also had a great chance but knew that they would need a healthy points difference as well as winning both games.

In a tight game, Seb & Iain came through 13-11 against Craig & Mathilde following a four point haul in the last end. This knocked out Craig & Mathilde and also was not ideal for Seb & Iain due to the low margin of victory.

In their final game, Seb & Iain needed to win by a 9 points margin but came across a stubborn opponent in Vikki & Mark. This game went on until the twilight with Seb & Iain finally coming through with another 13-11 victory.

These results meant that Shane & Keith crept through on points difference, with Seb & Iain in second. Craig & Mathilde finished third, one game behind. Well done to Mathilde for her performance throughout the league!

In Division B, Dan and Heather lost their last four games. This opened the door for Bob and Pam and they duly took this opportunity, ending up with 10 wins. Congratulations to them!

Liberation Day Doubles 2024

Congratulations to Lee and Bob who won the Liberation Day Doubles. They came through a very competitive league, winning four from five. They did not manage to win their last game though, as a resurgent Seb and Vikki beat them. Lee and Bob edged out Shane and Todd on points difference.

Congratulations also to Jim and Joan Ramsay who beat Geoff De La Rue and Mick Le Cheminant in the final of the Red Division. Geoff and Mick performed well throughout the day and topped the qualifying group. However, Jim and Joan were too strong for them in the final.

Mixed Triples 2024

Here are the results of the Mixed Triples league. Craig, Andi and Dan have won the league by beating Keith, Shane and Jane 13-3 in the last round in what became an unofficial final between the top two. Craig put Shane under pressure through some fairly consistent placing, Dan blew hot and cold, but Andi stole the show playing a near perfect match, saving a few ends with her last boule and placing well at the end to maximise the score.

Giles, Lee and Vikki finished strongly and ended up second on points difference.

Winter Doubles 2024.

Iain and Todd have won Division A, with Todd being a debut winner. Their victory is well deserved as they beat all of the teams in the top half. Congratulations to them! In Division B, Mark and Linda have won their league with 7 from 7. A comprehensive victory. Congratulations!

John Mahy Trophy 2024

Seb and Brandon were the worthy winners of the John Mahy knockout trophy. With eight teams and a straight elimination format, they had a tough draw. They beat Craig and Dan in the quarter finals, followed by Giles and Andi in the semis. In the final, they beat Lee and Ian. Well done to Seb and Brandon!

Vauclusienne 2023

In Division A, Brandon has been crowned champion with 8 wins from 9. Craig ended up on second place with Seb and Del finishing strongly with two wins in the final week to claim third.In the final week, Brandon had three incredibly close games and could have easily lost the competition. He managed to come through 13-12 against Donal and also prevailed by the same score against Giles. He lost his other game 13-12 against Andi and Vikki. Playing until 11pm: small margins indeed! Andi and Vikki have the bragging rights of beating the top two players in what was another very close league. Lee also came close in fourth and only lost 11-13 to Brandon and 12-13 to Craig. His chances were ended by losing to Seb and Del and also to Fred on the last night. In Division B, Mark & Julian just pipped Dan & Heather on points difference. Both teams ended up with 7 wins from 9. Ultimately this league came down to the head to head between the top two teams in the very first week where Mark & Julian were convincing winners. They will need to play in the A Division next time!

Men’s and Ladies’ Doubles 2023

The Men’s and Ladies’ doubles has just finished. The final league tables are shown below. Giles and Brandon have won the men’s doubles. Congratulations to them! A special mention goes to Rob and Alan. They came second, beating several good teams and only losing out to Giles and Brandon by three points difference.

In the Ladies’ doubles, Andi and Pat came through with an impressive 11 wins from 12. They beat Margaret and Vikki in the last week to take home the title. Congratulations to them!

Flexible Trophy 2023

Bob Cave was the clear winner of the 2023 Flexible Trophy.

Triples 2023.

In Division A, Lee, Shane and Iain have performed strongly and are the worthy winners. They have won nine out of ten, sealing their victory by beating Giles, Andi and Dan in the final round. Second place has been taken by Sean, Mandi and Del. Congratulations to them for this result in a tough league!

In Division B, Bob, Rob and Pam managed to reach 9 wins from 12, pipping to the post New, Pan and Ken who ended up with 8 wins. This league was close with each team winning at least 6 games.

Mixed Doubles 2023

Pat and Fred are the 2023 Mixed Doubles Champions! After losing two matches narrowly in the penultimate week, Pat and Fred were not the favourites going into the last week. However, they recorded a good win against Andi and Giles in their last match, coming back from 10-4 down. This left Pat and Fred on 12 wins in first place but with no more matches to play. Jo and Craig started the evening on 11 wins with two games to play and so in an excellent position, but they were well beaten by Linda and Lee, which meant that they could no longer overtake Pat and Fred. Equally, Andi and Giles also had 11 wins with two matches to play. They then lost 13-3 to Joan and Rob in their next game. This meant that Pat and Fred could not be caught and therefore they won the league by a clear margin. Congratulations to them! In their final match, Jo and Craig played Andi and Giles in what could have been a first/second play off. In the end, this was a second/third play off with Andi and Giles winning convincingly. Overall, the league was very close with not much separating first from ninth over the fifteen rounds and no team dominating.

Shooting Competition 2023

Shane Brehaut won the shooting competition with a convincing display, finishing well ahead of Craig Allen in second and Andi Cleal in third. Andi won the women’s title with her third place overall. Congratulations to Shane!

Placing Competition 2023

Seb Renaud won the placing competition with a comfortable gap over Shane Brehaut and Iain Haith. This result also takes Seb to the top if the Green’s Grand Prix standings. Evita won the junior trophy. Congratulations to Seb and Evita!

Singles 2023

Lee Holberry is the 2023 singles champion. The top four from each league played off on Wednesday in what was essentially a straight knock out. After topping his league with an undefeated run, Shane Brehaut was rather unfortunate to come across Lee in the quarter final. After a tight game, Lee came through 13-10, thus preventing Shane from winning the competition. A very harsh result for Shane! All of the quarter finals were close with Seb Renaud edging out Vikki Le Poidevin 13-12. Iain Haith beat Giles Cleal 13 -7 and Craig Allen beat Bob Cave 13-10. In the semi finals, Lee came through 13-7 against Iain and Craig edged out Seb 13-11. This meant that the final was between Craig and Lee. The match was perfectly poised at 7-7, but Craig had a bad end followed by another end which he lost from a strong position. This resulted in Lee taking a 12-7 lead which he duly closed out on the final end with a perfect first shot. Congratulations to Lee! Seb ended up third with Iain fourth.

Vikki won the women’s singles as the highest placed women in the leagues. Congratulations to Vikki! This competition was good practice for the forthcoming inter insular where singles form a vital part.

Liberation Day Doubles 2023

Twelve teams contested the Liberation Day Doubles tournament. With the trophy having first been awarded way back in 1986, there is a lot of history in this event. Each team played four games in the group stage, with two games before lunch and two games after lunch, starting at 1pm. This process was hotly contested and took quite some time to complete. In the end, four teams qualified for the semi finals. Giles and Andi Cleal topped the table with four wins, closely followed by Craig and Margaret Allen who also had four wins. Dan Le Sauvage and Fred Wallnofer came third, with Keith Priaulx and Shane Brehaut in fourth, each with three wins and a good points difference. After a tough draw, Seb Renaud and Dave Bartam were knocked out with two wins.Referring the the long history of this tournament, Fred and Dan were the defending champions, Keith and Shane had previously won in 2016, Fred won when it was a singles event in 2009, Shane won back in 2002 with another partner and Craig won way back in 1992 with Alan Best whilst still at school!Semi Final one was between the Cleals and Shane and Keith. Andi and Giles duly won 13-8, having beaten Shane and Keith for the second time. In the other semi final, the Allens took on Fred and Dan. In a tight match where the coche moved several times, Craig and Margaret came though 13-11.The final therefore was very late going into the early evening. The contest was fitting between the Cleals and the Allens as both teams had won all five of their games. Craig and Margaret got off to a strong start and despite a valiant fight back, with Giles saving an end with a five point swing at one point, Craig and Margaret came through 13-6. There were a few occasions where the Cleals had several boules left at the end but were unable to capitalise with the Allens having closed the end down. In the third/fourth play off, Fred and Dan won 13-9 to take third place.

Winter Mixed Triples 2023

The Mixed Triples has now concluded. In the end, it was a shoot out between the top two teams: Dave, Margaret and Craig versus Fred, Andi and Keith. With both teams winning their first matches, the league ended up as a head to head. Crucially, Dave, Margaret and Craig had the advantage of a superior points difference, meaning that they could afford to lose, as long as they reached 7 points. Fred, Andi and Keith needed to win 13-6 or better.After a tight start, Fred, Andi and Keith raced away to a 9-2 lead and they were clearly the better team. Andi pulled off the shot of the match with a last boule carreau, resulting in a four point swing.After a very poor end at 9-2 down, Craig put his last boule on the coche, leaving Keith with a shot to kill the coche and win 13-2 and therefore the league. Keith duly hit the boule but only flicked it. The next four boules resulted in only one point and so the lead was extended, but only to 10-2.There were more chances for Fred, Andi and Keith at 10-4 with Andi having a shot for the match with a five point swing shot, but Dave, Margaret and Craig managed to creep up from four to six and finally to the all important seven points on the following end.Fred, Andi and Keith ultimately won the match 13-9 in a well deserved victory, having been the better team throughout. Dave, Margaret and Craig ended up winning the league with the same number of wins and by just 6 points difference.A special mention to Jimmy, Barry and Jane who came third and had a great tournament. As they almost beat Dave, Margaret and Craig in their match, they were very close to winning the league.

Guernsey Open September 2022

Set over two days, the Doubles were on Saturday 10 September and the Triples were on Sunday 11 September. Here is the report:

Major honours shared between Guernsey and Jersey at the 2022 Guernsey Pétanque Open

Thirty-two doubles teams and twenty triples teams from the UK, Jersey and Guernsey contested the annual Guernsey Pétanque Open which returned last weekend after a two year covid enforced break. The major honours over the weekend were shared with a Jersey team winning the Doubles and a Guernsey team winning the Triples over two days of hard fought matches.

In the Doubles, after the morning qualifying groups, eight teams remained in the main tournament, led by three teams from Jersey and three teams from Pétanque Events in the UK. Not to be outdone, two local teams also made the last eight: Andi Cleal with Hana Atkinson in one division and Craig Allen with Rob Tulie in the other division. Cleal and Atkinson played well throughout the day, but did not manage to post additional victories in a tough pool, headed by the eventual winners Frank & Bean. They missed out by the narrowest of margins 13-12 against a Pétanque Events team and had their chances to win. Frank & Bean (Geoffroy Buffetrille and Matt Buesnel) won all of their matches and therefore topped their group ahead of Pétanque Events 3.

Allen and Tulie fared better, narrowly beating a strong Jersey team Callum Stuart and Andrew Bellamy-Burt in their first afternoon match before succumbing 13-11 to another experienced Pétanque Events team, despite having led throughout most of the match. Whilst the Guernsey team still had an outside chance of topping the group going into the final match, they were well beaten by a strong Jersey team Matt Pinel and Laurent Pellaton in the final round, losing 13-8, but received the consolation prize of being the top local team in the Doubles. With Pinel and Pellaton also having beaten their Jersey team mates Stuart and Bellamy-Burt, they remained undefeated in the afternoon and topped their group.

The final was therefore contested by two Jersey teams, with Geoffroy Buffetrille and Matt Buesnel beating their local rivals Matt Pinel and Laurent Pellaton 13-6 in The Network Insurance final which went on until the early evening. It was clear that these were the best two teams over the day and their standard was markedly ahead of the teams from the UK and Guernsey. With several of the top local players missing the Doubles due to prior commitments,  they will have to work hard to compete with this Jersey based contingent in future competitions.

The Plate was another all Jersey affair. In the end, it was won by All By Myself, (Neil Selby and James Gennoe) beating Country Boys (Michael Cotillard and Darren Le Brun) in the final. Guernsey took the Consolage One with Fred Wallnofer and Dave Bartram making up for a poor morning with some good play in the afternoon. Consolage 2 was won by Pétanque Events 7 (James Kirkbride and Peter Le Cheminant) which was a mixed UK and Guernsey team.

The Triples on Sunday was a different affair, with two Guernsey teams performing well from the outset. Having missed the Doubles due to a prior commitment, Shane Brehaut was keen to make his mark and he was joined by two of his long standing partners, Ian Haith and Lee Holberry. The strongest local trio on paper duly delivered, winning their first three matches to take them to the semi-final.  Another local team performed equally as well with Vikki le Poidevin, Jim Ramsay and Joan Ramsay also winning their first three matches. In the semi-finals, Brehaut, Haith and Holberry defeated a very experienced Pétanque Events female team, but Le Poidevin, Ramsay and Ramsay succumbed to a strong Jersey trio whose team members had also performed well on the previous day.

This led to a Guernsey vs Jersey showpiece final with the best two teams on the day up against each other in a game of high standards.  After another fairly late finish, the Guernsey team ended up victorious, winning 13-7 after some consistently good play from Haith and Holberry in particular. In doing so, they took home the Doyle Motors trophy, meaning that Guernsey and Jersey shared the two major prizes over the weekend.