The week just gone saw Division 1 get off to a flying start with one predictable result and one surprise.

In the White Knights A v B match on Monday the B team were outclassed on every board. It was no surprise, therefore, that the A team romped home with a 5-0 win and go straight to their familiar position at the head of the table. On the same night Morriston A faced their B team in a match that should also, theoretically, have gone the A team’s way. Unfortunately for the A’s the three bottom boards of the B team thought otherwise and their 3 wins gave the B team victory 3-2. On this form Morriston look unlikely to be in contention for the championship especially since Ian Jones is now playing for Nidum and Thomas van Veelen may not be playing for them.

On the Tuesday the Emperors hosted White Knights C at their new venue, the Bryncoch Rugby Club. The teams were evenly matched and on paper the result could have gone either way. It was the Knights night, however, and they went home after achieving a 1½-3½ victory.

On the Thursday Nidum travelled to Sketty to play newly promoted De la Beche A unsure of exactly who or what they would be facing. De la Beche are presumably hoping for an influx of University players but this early in the season already seem to be struggling. With three of last season’s strongest players missing and in spite of two new additions (Huw Jones and Francisco Javier Marin Marin) they still defaulted a board and went down ½-4½.

Division 2 was somewhat quieter with only 4 teams in action. Morriston E made the journey to Llanelli to Play White Knights D and probably wished they hadn’t bothered. Although the Knights defaulted a board their wins on the other 4 gave them a very comfortable 4-1 victory. The following night UK Merlins visited Briton Ferry where they were matched against Giants. A bottom board default gave the Giants a head start and although the Merlins got draws on 3 of the other boards a win by Roger Jenkins gave the Giants a 3½-1½ victory. The match featured Ian Jones’ first game for the Briton Ferry / Nidum club but it was one he will probably want to forget as he was held to a draw by Ben Mora who is graded nearly 400 points below him.

There were 4 matches scheduled in Division 3 with the first up being that between UK Harriers and newly demoted BF Brunel. A board 2 default gave Harriers a 1 point start but it was quickly nullified and Brunel emerged the winners 1½-3½. The following night an interclub tussle between De la Beche E and D teams took place with the stronger D easily winning. Helped in part by an E team default on board 4. On Friday St Michael’s School were at home to CN Tribunes and were heavily defeated 1-4, with the Tribunes helped along with St Michael’s defaulting on board 2. Also on Friday Morriston G were at home to Morriston F. The home team defaulted two boards while the away team defaulted one The result went to Morriston F 4-0

It was the first week of the season and already there have been 8 defaults. It can only be hoped that clubs have yet to get into their stride and that it is not a sign of worse things to come.

The Year Book is in the process of being distributed but note that there are two amendments. Nidum meeting on a Thursday not a Tuesday; White Knights B meet on a Tuesday and White Knights D on a Thursday and not vice-versa. The fixture list shows the correct home nights.

16/09/2019