The season restarted the way it began with a replay of interclub matches with more or less predictable results in Division 1. Morriston A whitewashed their B team, White Knights A beat their B team club mates 4-1 and BF Nidum kept themselves in the running with a 4½-½ victory over BF Brunel. The restart, however, caught out the De la Beche A captain who left it too late to organise a team for their match against CN Emperors. A 5-0 walkover win for Emperors v De la Beche A and a penalty point for De la Beche. There will not be many punters backing De la Beche A to remain in Division 1 next season. The wins by the top teams means that the status quo at the top is unchanged while the Emperors win shunts them up three places into fourth.

After the beginning of the season Morriston D unexpectedly lost to their E team and were in no mood to see a repeat performance. A 4½-½ win for the D team and no second round embarrassment. However at Upper Killay the Hawks surprisingly defeated the Harriers 3-2 helped by a board 5 default, while for the second time in a row White Knights E were victorious over their D team. The 3½-1½ score was even an improvement over their previous 3-2 win.

In the only match that was not between teams from the same club CN Tribunes travelled to Sketty to take on De la Beche B. A 4-1 win for Tribunes keeps them slap bang in the middle of the table with a 50% match point total, but interestingly a 61% game points total.

In the final interclub match between BF Giants and BF Bluebell the nominally lower ranked Giants somehow out graded the Bluebell team on every board. However, in spite of this interesting team selection the Bluebell team emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins (3-2) thanks to wins on the bottom two boards. They remain top of Division 2 and are two points clear of their nearest rivals, White Knights E. Should White Knights E overtake Bluebell and get promoted it would raise an interesting question. Would they continue to be White Knights fourth ranked team while their third ranked team languished in Division 2 ? Or would it be argued that although they did not finish top the third ranked team should be promoted? One for the lawyers !

09/01/2016