Braintree & District Winter League 2009


The Braintree & District Petanque League caters for clubs in the North East of the region. There are 2 leagues, Summer commencing during April played on Wednesday evenings and Winter commencing in October played on Sundays.




BDPL 28/2/10
Rayne Swan 2 moved back to the top of the Daniel Robinson and Sons Braintree and District Petanque League after just a week away. Closest rivals Rayne Swan 1 and Feering Bell, sitting in first and second place respectively, were due to play each other, but the game was called off. Swan 2 took full advantage to move above them with a 3-0 win over Feering Sun, bringing the Sun’s recent winning streak to an abrupt end. Lorne Gibson, Dennis Smith and Beryl Gibson defied the wet and cold to convincingly defeat Russell Bingham, Dick Youngs and Tom Winter 13-0 in the opening triples. Smith and B. Gibson followed this up with a 13-7 doubles win over Bingham and Youngs. Despite the piste becoming more like a bog as the game wore on, the singles was a close affair with Tom Winter putting up a good display for the Sun and only just losing out to L. Gibson, 13-10.

In driving rain, the Onley Arms and Rayne Swan 3 teams did well to produce some great boules. The Swan triple of Colin Sams, Josh Newman and Andy Stead took an early lead. With Daniel and Trevor Blows shooting well, and Tracey Austin putting pressure on the Swan, the home side took eleven shots from three ends to open a 12-3 lead. The Swan responded but could not prevent the home side winning 13-5. In the doubles, Austin and Daniel Blows carried on their good form and took only six ends to beat Stead and Sams 13-2. The longest game of the morning was the singles that took fifteen ends to find a winner. The new Junior sensation, Josh Newman, took on Trevor Blows and won the first end. Blows responded with two and the next six ends were so close that only six points were scored, leaving Blows 6-3 up. Blows opened up a 10-3 lead but five points from Newman, with some excellent pointing, brought it back to 10-8. The experienced Blows then ground out three points to take the game 13-8, but Newman is definitely one to watch in the future. So 3-0 to the Onley Arms and they continue to keep the pressure on the top teams in the league.