Third Annual Petanque Competition for the Amity Cup.
Les Quennevais School v College Germain, Coutances
Wednesday 16th June 2010
The Jersey Petanque Club and the Jersey Petanque Association together hosted the third annual international petanque competition between Year 9 of Les Quennevais School and students from College Germain in Coutances at the club terrains at Les Quennevais.
Both teams are novice boulistes, but players from the two schools showed a determination to master the skills of placing and firing and the competition was keenly contested from start to finish. The Jersey team won Round One by 3 games to 1, only to lapse and allow the French to win Round Two by the same margin. Coutances then consolidated their advantage by winning Round Three again by 3 games to 1 and looked to be easing their way to outright victory.
However, Round 4 saw a reversal of fortunes and Les Quennevais seized the opportunity to level out the match by winning by 3 games to 1. Thus, with all square after the main competition, it was the task of the best Jersey team of Aaron Watts, Fraser Barlow and Matthew Kaye to challenge the best French team, Gregoire Fautrat, Matthias LeFranc and Jean-Baptiste Lecuyer to a play-off for the Amity Cup.
The Jersey team was steady in its placing of the boules, but the French were superior in the skill of firing out their opponents boules, and they soon had a commanding lead. Just when it seemed that all was lost , Jersey came back strongly and soon gained ground with a steady series of winning ends, culminating with 3 points on one end to bring them to 9 against 12. However, the French responded just in time to clinch overall victory for France with the final and winning point on the next end.
The Amity Cup was presented to the team from College Germain by Joan Le Mercier, President of the Jersey Petanque Club. Medals for the best teams from both schools were presented by Ken Le Brun, chairman of the Jersey Petanque Association. For the third successive year the Amity Cup will be held by College Germain, but the standard of play by students from Les Quennevais School suggest that it won’t be long before they win it for Jersey. Plans for a return match in Coutances next year are already being considered.