European Triples 2025

Seb, Shane, Giles and Craig participated in the European Triples which were held in Northern Spain in July 2025.

Playing in extreme heat against world class opposition and on a tricky pitch made for very difficult conditions. On the first day, Shane managed to score 14 points in the shooting competition, which represented a record for Guernsey. Indeed, he was successful in several other shots were he scored zero for marginally moving another boule. Well done Shane!

In the Triples, the team played five qualifying games on Friday. They were neck and neck against Turkey, before losing the last few ends and losing a close match 13-5. They then played against a strong Austrian team where they had several chances but were unable to convert them.

Then came a great game against Greece which was played without primary shooter Shane. This match was very tight before Greece capitalised on a poor end and scored five points, taking them to 10-2. With the clock running down, Guernsey clawed their way back to 10-4, 10-6, 10-7 and then 10-10 with Craig placing his last boule in to take the match to a final end. Alas, the team was not able to win this last end and Greece came through 11-10.

Then came a match against Lithuania where the team were pretty tired after their previous efforts. We also had our chances in this game but failed to convert. The reality of having to fire boule to boule in pressure situations was our down fall.

Finally, Guernsey was drawn against Jersey in the first and final qualifying match. With the Jersey team also tired after a long day playing in the heat, Guernsey raced into a 9-0 lead. Seb then placed his first two boules very close but the Jersey shooter removed both with carreaux. This changed the game and on an extremely difficult pitch for placing, Jersey won the game 13-9.

On Saturday, Guernsey played Scotland in the Nations league. The trend was the same with poor firing in a boule to boule situation coupled with some excellent placing a defensive play. This game also went to a final end in a timed situation, but this time we were unable to come back. We did have our chances though and with some better shooting we would have won.

In summary, a great weekend played in tough conditions and a learning curve for the players. All of our matches were keenly fought and we and maybe should have won three of them. A special mention to Seb who was the best player throughout with some great placing and some exceptional shots to get us out of trouble on many occasions.

Liberation Jersey Open 2024

Our teams did well over the weekend in Jersey. Giles and Lee won the Doubles Plate and reached the quarter finals of the Triples with Vikki.

Seb and Del with a Jersey partner qualified second in the Triples morning phase and also performed well in the Doubles, only losing out to the top teams. Well done all!

Triples report

Giles, Lee & Vikki won 2 out 5 games in the Swiss system and ended up squeezing into the main tournament.

Seb, Del and Jersey player Brian started slowly but managed to win the first timed game 10-9. They then beat a strong UK team 13-10 and also beat a good Belgian team. Three wins meant that they then played top player Damien Hureau, which they lost after a tight start. In the final round they beat another strong Jersey team to finish with 4 out of 5 and ranked second, a great achievement.

This unfortunately meant that both Guernsey teams met in the last 16. Giles, Lee and Vikki played an amazing game to beat Brian, Seb and Del who could not match their standards from the qualifying.

Giles, Vikki and Lee then played a top French team and went 7-0 up. It was not to be though, as the French team showed their class and won the match.

Doubles report

Del and Seb lost a tight first game but then won the next two games convincingly and against two tough teams. They subsequently played two very strong teams and lost both of these matches. These two two teams ended up 2nd and 4th in main tournament.

In the last 16 they came up against a class team of Geoffroy and Eric, gave them tough game, but wasn’t enough.

Giles and Lee had a tough morning, particularly as they hadn’t played in the Singles on the previous day to gain knowledge of the pitch. In the morning they lost 2 out of 3. After lunch they gained momentum, winning two more games. This was enough to enter the Plate.

They won the first game of the last 16, coming through 13-12. They then went all the way to the final by winning 13-4 and 13-1. They capped off a great afternoon by winning the final 13-5. Well done to them!

Singles report

Seb, Del and Vikki entered the Singles. Del won 2 out of 5 which qualified her for the Plate where she lost out to Graham Lewis, who ended up winning the Plate competition. Vikki did really well, winning 4 out of 5 in the Swiss system, including a victory against a French player. She lost out to Andrew Bellamy-Burt in the last 16, but this was still a great display. Seb won 3 out of 5 in the morning, losing to former world champion Damien Hureau plus another player who reached the final. He qualified for the main tournament but then met the current Norwegian singles champion. Seb performed extremely well, but lost out in the extra end of a timed game. A great performance against top class opponents!

Carrefour Open Jersey Singles 2024

The Carrefour Open took place over the weekend of 4, 5 & 6 May 2024. Craig Allen went over for the Singles on the Monday. As most of our players are aware, this pitch is challenging with a slope and a hard surface which means that most fires which are pitched short jump over the target boule. Any rolling places also go off target most of the time.

There were five qualifying matches with the top eight players qualifying for the quarter finals. Craig had a tough first round draw but managed to beat last year’s winner from Bath following a strong start. He eventually won four of the five initial games, comfortably reaching the last eight.

In the quarter final, Craig won easily against another player from Bath. The semi final was a different story as he came across a strong player from Norfolk who had topped the group stage. At 9-2 down, things were not looking good, but Craig then pulled out a spot carreau at 9 metres and his level went up considerably, winning 12-9 as the game timed out.

In the other side of the draw, the best Jersey players knocked each other out, leaving Toby Northern as the other finalist. Toby had just won the Liberation Singles a few weeks previously and so represented a tough opponent.

Craig played exceptionally well in the final, hitting every boule in the first six ends. This included one perfect long distance carreau which resulted in a three point end and a strong psychological advantage. He also placed well and this strong play took him to a fairly rapid 11-1 lead. Toby then saved the match from a losing position by placing his last boule right on the cochonnet at over 10 metres. This was the first fire that Craig missed, but he won the next end taking him to 12-2. Toby came back with some more excellent shots to save the match with his last boule on three additional occasions, but Craig came through 13-6 to take the title.

London Open

Craig, Dan and Fred went to this event in June 2024. The weather was not good and this made for challenging conditions, particularly as the undulating pistes consisted of hard packed gravel, larger stones and weeds.

The standard was incredibly high with most teams from abroad and only the elite UK teams present. There were several former world champions in attendance.

Following quite a lot of confusion in the organisers’ tent, including the team playing a partial match against the wrong opponent 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️, Dan, Craig and Fred ended up in the quarter final of the plate, which they duly won. They then went out in the semi final at around 6pm. The opposing shooter in this match hit 100% of his fires.

In the Doubles, Craig and Dan qualified for the top tournament, courtesy of a bye in the first round 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️😂. This resulted in very strong subsequent opposition, but they did manage to win one game 13-12 before coming up against some world class opposition who handed out a thrashing in the quarter finals.

The Jersey team from Liberation performed exceptionally well and made it to the Triples final of the main tournament. They then met a Spanish team consisting of the current Singles world champion and he wasn’t even the best player in the team! The Jersey team put up a good fight but the Spanish were exceptional and won 13-4.

Eurocup

We plan to send a team of six to this event in Northern France in November subject to availability and costs.