First up last week was the remaining quarter-final in the Under 1800 KO competition for the Richard E Jones Trophy. It was between White Knights B and CN Senators with the stronger Knights team expected to coast to an easy victory. It was not to be, however, with Chris Daniel of White Knights commenting "A much stronger White Knights team was comprehensively outplayed by Senators, no flukes or swindles, just outplayed on the night - congratulations”. 3.5-0.5 the final score in the Senators favour and they now go forward into the semi-finals where they will play De la Beche. The other semi in this section is between the University and Morriston.

The only match in Division 1 saw White Knights B turn out again, this time against University A. The last time they met the University had a 5-0 victory but if they were expecting a stroll in the park they were sadly disappointed. Three wins and a draw across the boards saw the Knights go home the winners by 3½-1½. The win eases some embarrassment for them as it now takes them above their C team in the table.

There was also just the one match in Division 2 when University B faced second from bottom Morriston C. In a close fought encounter the match finally ended in favour of the Morriston team 3-2. The result still leaves them second from bottom but it does give them a 5 point buffer above bottom of the table Morriston D.

Division 3 turned out to be the busiest of the week with “five” matches. Tribunes travelled to Upper Killay where they scrapped a 3-2 victory over the Harriers. This result takes them closer to second place De la Beche B who, to stand any chance of challenging for the title, had to win against BF Brunel when they met at Briton Ferry on the Thursday. On paper they should have done just that as they out graded the Briton Ferry team on every board but grades do not always tell the whole story. Wins on boards 2, 3 & 4 coupled with draws on boards 1 & 5 gave the Brunel team a surprising 4-1 victory and allowed them to maintain their 100% record. It is now almost certain that Brunel will take the division title. Their only threat is Tribunes who would need to win their remaining 5 matches with scores that would take them above Brunel’s healthy game point total and in addition Brunel would need to lose or default their remaining 3 matches. No wonder the Brunel team thinks it already has one hand on the Trophy. They may be able to celebrate in earnest if Tribunes do not defeat De la Beche B when they meet on Tuesday.

On the Friday the week ended on an unusual note at the Glais venue of the Morriston club where their F team was scheduled to play Upper Killay Hawks and their E team was paired in a rearranged match against St Michael’s School. What happened was that the Hawks called off and defaulted their match and St Michaels’s somehow ended up playing both Morriston E and Morriston F even though they had turned up with just 4 players ! As it is against the rules for a player to play in more than one match at the same time we can only assume that the St Michael’s team were not doing a simultaneous but that one match finished early so they then decided to play the other one. How fast were they moving ? Morriston E won their encounter 4-1 while Morriston F won their match 3½-1½.

18/03/2018