In Division 1 the main interest in the week just gone was how the teams at the bottom of the table would fare. First up was a match between second placed Morriston A and bottom of the table Emperors. Defaults on boards 4 and 5 meant that the Emperors looked unlikely to get anything out of this match and so it proved when Morriston took the other 3 boards to win 5-0. This is the second League match in a row that Morriston A have won 5-0 while the result means that the Emperors will need to defeat the All Blacks this coming Tuesday if they want to avoid finishing below them.

The All Blacks, however, are obviously struggling and were obliged to put out a scratch team to play Morriston B when they met on Thursday. A comprehensive 4½-½ defeat was not, therefore, much of a surprise and only a draw by Jonathan Davies against the much higher rated Les Philpin saved the whitewash. The club has indicated that the All Blacks will be withdrawing from the League next season.

In the other match in this Division Nidum avoided a third defeat in a row when they travelled to Llanelli and overcame White Knights C by 3½-1½. The result guarantees them a third spot finish.

There were no matches in Division 2 but there were three scheduled in Division 3.

Second from bottom Morriston G hosted Upper Killay Harriers in a match moved from the Friday to the Monday. In their previous encounter the Morriston team beat the Harriers 3-2 in a match that did not have any draws. This time, however, it was the turn of the Harriers to take the spoils 3½-1½; helped to a certain extent by Morriston defaulting the bottom board (at home!). In what must be something of a record Morriston G have now fielded 19 different players in this team.

In a fight for middle of the table position Morriston F travelled to Sketty and took on De la Beche C in what was the Morriston team’s last fixture of the season. An impressive 4½-½ victory for the Morriston team bumped them above De la Beche C in the table but as the De la Beche team still have two matches in hand they may not stay there.

The other match that should have been played was the fixture between CN Tribunes and St Michael’s School. St Michael’s, however, defaulted the match giving the Tribunes a 5-0 victory. This is the third away match that St Michael’s have defaulted and it will be interesting to see whether they turn up for their final rearranged match against De la Beche B.

06/04/2019