The club’s usual Wednesday night sessions are back up and running after our Christmas break. We resumed on Wednesday Jan 15th and will be playing every Wednesday evening from 7 to 9.30pm for the rest of this term.
Do come and join us!
Three club members made the trip to Marlborough for the annual President’s Cup tournament last weekend – and two came agonisingly close to winning silverware.
The three were Ben Hale, Helena Tunks and Dick Warner, and all but one survived tough first-round matches to reach the quarter-finals. That one was Dick, who was beaten by Helena and partner Ollie Arnold – who went on to join Ben in the next round.
Sadly, that was as far as Helena would get, but Dick was able to gain some satisfaction, going on to reach the final of the Mate’s Plate. He and partner Jamie Graham came close in the first game, but in the end lost out to Louise Mathias and Robin Perry – both with several national championships to their names, and the same pair who had ended Helena’s interest in the main competition.
That left Ben to fly the Executioners’ flag – and he did it with some distinction. They overcame the bogey pair of Louise and Robin, beating them in three games in the semis, winning a nail-biting second game 16-15 before clinching the match with a 15-1 win in the third.
However, the final proved to be a match too far, with the official report saying they were ‘exhausted’ by this stage. Mind you, there’s no disgrace in losing to a pair that combined the court craft and local knowledge of Marlborough master-in-charge Tom Kiggell with the youthful energy of Alleyn’s schoolboy Stuart Scott.
That concludes the club’s Fives action for this year, and we’ll retire to toast our (near) successes in 2020.
Our hosts, St Paul’s School, have just confirmed the dates of our Xmas break…
The school’s term ends this coming Friday December 13th, so the club’s final session of this year will be on Weds 11th.
Then, as next term starts on Thursday 9th, the first Executioners Fives session of 2020 will be Wednesday 15th Jan.
Then, as next term starts on Thursday 9th, the first Executioners Fives session of 2020 will be Wednesday 15th Jan.
There is a slight chance that we can play on the 8th, but we’re awaiting confirmation of that from the Sports Centre Manager.
Helena Tunks and Ibby Lee did the club proud by winning silver medals in the recent Ladies Under 23s Championships. Playing on the club’s ‘home’ courts at St Paul’s School, the pair did very well to reach the final, where they were beaten by the defending champions – Louise Mathias and Martha Nugent.
Given that Louise and Martha were also the finalists in the singles championship at the same event, it’s clearly no shame to lose to them. And perhaps the Executioners pair can go one better next year, when Louise will no longer qualify for this age category!
The club played its first match of the season last week – albeit as an ‘RFA’ team and with two of our club regulars playing for the opposition, one as a ringer.
That meant that, even if the other team did win, it would represent a sort-of win for the Executioners, especially as the Old Bradfieldian team was led by ex-Executioner Jez Sinton.
It was an immensely enjoyable match played in the very best of spirits. And, as it turned out, it was a close match, with the OBs running out winners by just 12 points.
The key to that was a dominant performance by the OB first pair, James Birch and Ed Ronan. Although there were lots of close, long and hard-fought rallies in their games, it was all too often they that came up with the winners or forced a mistake from the Executioners. And, while we won three of the four games against the OBs second pair, it wasn’t enough to make up for the margin of the losses to the top pair.
RESULTS
OB1 – Birch & Ronan. OB2 – Sinton & Cranstoun
RFA1 – Cook & Pringle. RFA 2 – Chai & Platts
OB1. bt RFA1. 11 – 5, 11 – 3
OB1. bt RFA2. 11 – 3, 11 – 3
OB2. lost to RFA2. 11 – 9, 7 – 11
OB2. lost to RFA1. 2 – 11, 4 – 11
OB Total 68 (winners)
RFA Total 56
Fellow Half Blues Andy Pringle and Laurence Cook returned to Cambridge at the weekend to represent the RFA in a match against the current students. And, very successful they were, too!
Both won their singles matches and then paired up in the doubles – and continued their perfect record. In total, and despite some rather confusing swapping of team members, the RFA ran out as comfortable winners in the annual fixture by 119 points to 75.
The Executioners confirmed themselves as the go-to guys for home-less teams – especially when there’s a slap-up meal afterwards. No less than five club regualrs – Ben Hale, Guy Matthews, Laurence Cook, Edd Horder and Dick Warner – took part in the Jesters Club’s annual Strawson Memorial match agains the Rugby Fives Association on Tuesday October.
The match was organised by Dick with his usual flair, meaning that no one was ever really sure who was playing for which side – and the result of the match was (as usual) declared as a tie. However, we imagine that debate over the actual scores continued long into the night during the post-match meal at the Queen’s Club.
You can read a full account of the evening’s events on the RFA website.
