So how did we all do in the Spring Fours?
(#24) Ash - Mike Ash, Alex Gipson, Paul Gipson & Alan Goodman
We started in a triangle with David Ewart's team, who beat us narrowly in the Premier League, and Tommy Brass' team of England juniors. The match with Ewart was very tight again but we ended up losing by fourteen imps as both of us proved too strong for the juniors. So we lost a life.
On Saturday afternoon we played Gitte Hecht-Johansen and eventually prevailed by nine imps. A match that we should have won comfortably but they played well in the first sixteen boards and it needed a better second-half performance to get through.
On Sunday morning we played the young White House team from the Netherlands. They played very solidly and ground out a thirty imp lead over the first twenty-four boards. Our attempts to generate some imps in the final set were successful, but they went in the wrong column. Well beaten and out of the main event. Our opponents have made it to the semifinal today.
Sunday evening we played in a triad qualifying one team for the Punch Bowl quarter-finals. We beat the juniors comfortably but lost to Miller and presumed we were out as they had been twelve imps up on the juniors at the half. However the juniors scored thirty imps against them in the second six boards and so we won the group on net imps.
We beat Hart comfortably in the quarter-final but then lost to Hackett in the semifinal.
Slightly better results than last year but overall I think we all felt that we should have played better over the weekend. However it remains the best weekend in the British calendar.
(#20) Sanders - John Murdoch, Sam Punch, Tim Rees & Derek Sanders
This team started well by winning their triad, beating Teltscher and some more English juniors. They struggled against Rosen on Saturday afternoon but went further than us in the main event when they beat Harris on Sunday morning.
Sunday evening they went out to Ewart, losing imps steadily and, not unlike us, the final score was made worse attempting to reduce the deficit.
Losing in the main event on Sunday afternoon means that you cannot compete in the consolation event, the Punch Bowl, but there is still the toughest Swiss teams of the UK year on Monday if you are not bridged out. Sanders and co were not and finished a close second, well clear of third, in the Hamilton Cup, just 6 VPs behind Catherine Seale and her Bulgarian squad.
(#13) Teltscher- Willie Coyle, John Matheson, Victor Silverstone, Bernard Teltscher, Kitty Teltscher & Tom Townsend
Willie and John's team started slowing, losing a life to Sanders in the triad. Then they scraped by Nelson by one imp on Saturday afternoon before beating Hackett more comfortably on Sunday morning.
Then they beat a very good Norwegian team on Sunday afternoon. Monday morning and they beat the Irish, English and Swiss Mossop team by 15 imps. On Monday evening they despatched Rosen, previous winners, overturning a half-time deficit and will play Liggins on BBO vugraph on Tuesday morning.
A tremendous performance from a team containing three of Scotland's Seniors team for the European Championships next month. Losing a life in the triad and then going unbeaten for two and a half days is a really tough way to do well in this event!
Cooper - Jenny Cooper, Moira McGregor, Robert McPaul & Laura Porro
Jenny's team had a very tough triad, with European champions and Croatian internationals. However they started very well and were almost leading the group at the half on Friday evening. However on Saturday morning the experienced teams pulled away but it was still a creditable performance.
Unfortunately they drew the Scottish Kane team in the once-defeated pool. Not ideal when you travel to a major tournament and have to play your next-door neighbours. The Kane team proved too steady and they exited the main event.
When you exit the main event early you still have a tough schedule with a complete round-robin to play on Sunday with only two teams from eight qualifying. After a couple of close defeats not much seemed to go right but they did enough against the Smith team to prevent them qualifying, just to show that they were still playing right to the end.
They finished just below average in the Swiss on Monday. Not the first time that these players have had a tough weekend in Stratford, but hopefully they will be able to maintain their Friday form next time.
Kane - Danny Kane, Helen Kane, Stephen Male & Mike McGinley
First time I've seen this team at Stratford and they faced a tough triad containing the holders. Unsurprisingly they did not beat them but finished second to earn a better draw in the next round. As I've mentioned they despatched Jenny's team with little fuss.
Then they had to play a team with three of the winning Dutch Bermuda Bowl team (Louk Verhees,
Simon de Wijs and Ricco van Prooijen). They remained in contention for twenty-four boards but struggled in the final quarter trying to make up the difference.
Slightly unfortunately their triad for the Punch Bowl qualifier including the holders of the main event again, who had been dumped out of the main event very quickly. They still proved too tough and the team qualified for the Swiss on Monday, where they finished in mid-table.
Morrison - Frazer Morgan, Phil Morrison, Phil Stephens & Alex Wilkinson
The Scottish juniors and ex-juniors faced the Camrose and Gold Cup winning Hinden team in the triad and only lost by four imps. Having played so well they nearly undid the good work but narrowly beat the O'Connor team. They then beat Sarah's boyfriend, Mike Bell, to earn themselves a short at the Dutch world champions. From what I heard they proved just too solid.
As the Sanders team discovered, the disadvantage of losing on Sunday evening is that you cannot play in the Punch Bowl, but a good performance from the team and hopefully we'll see them at more tournaments. They finished just below average in the Swiss.
Smith - Roy Bennett, Jim Hay, Adrian Orlowski & Harry Smith
Just to show what can happen in the triads, the team finished bottom but beat the number six seed, Janet de Botton's team. A great performance against an all-star team.
Unfortunately they were then drawn against the Ventin team. Ventin had flown in from Argentina, with his partner, and two Swedish professional players waiting, but had forgot to actually tell the EBU that they were coming. This left them in the competition but not seeded. However it was a close match and they only lost by thirteen imps.
Into Sunday and the round-robin. The team started slowly and looked out of contention when I looked at the scores, but a strong finish saw them miss out on a Punch Bowl quarter-final by a single vp as they finished third in the group.
However they regrouped for Monday and finished in a highly creditable third place in the Swiss.
St Clair - Anthony Bates, Robert Clow, Dee Harley & Anna St Clair
Anna's team also had a thirty-two board match against the Dutch and got duly splattered in a match they thoroughly enjoyed. They comfortably beat the other team in the triad but did not find their opponents in the next round so easy as they lost to Teshome by 38 imps.
On Sunday in the other round-robin group they also started slowly but could not emulate the second half of the Smith team and finished down the table. They finished one place above Jenny's team in the Swiss.
