By Simone Ballett

ON Sunday 23rd May, The Monkstone Pétanque Club (Cardiff) held its annual Open Triples competition.

Despite the poor weather forecast for the day, 10 teams were ready to battle for the title.

After the morning ranking rounds, only the team from South Wales Bowls and Recreation Centre Pétanque Section (SWBRC-PS), Sully, composed of Ian Bailey, Len Field and Jean-Yves Robic had managed to win all three rounds having defeated teams from Abergavenny and Cardiff.

The afternoon session was largely played under persistent rain but this did not deter the trio from Sully cruising through the quarter-final with a 13-02 win over a Gwent team from the Wheatsheaf PC, Llanhennock.

The semi-final proved to more difficult for the SWBRC-PS players, as they were up against one of the local teams, Monkstone 1, favourite for the title.

After taking a rapid 11-0 lead, the Sully players allowed the Monkstone 1 a comeback but a narrow victory 12-11 was assured at the end of regulation time for the Sully team.

The final opponents of the SWBRC-PS team were an experienced team from Pontyclun PC, who took a 5-0 lead before the Sully team regained control of the game and drew level 5-5.

The race was on, with the Sully team winning the game 13-08 as well as the Monkstone PC Open Triples title.