In the ladies’ competition the Sarnians won the inter-insular but the Jersey girls beat them en route to the final, finishing the overall competition on level points.
The inter-island competition was run alongside the international tournament, in which more than 100 visiting players were competing, from Portugal, Belgium (European semi-finalists) and the South-West of England, along with Channel Islands players.
Last year’s winner, Keith Brewer, retained his title after beating fellow Englishman Olly Bale 6-4, and the champion plans a return visit next year in a bid for the hat-trick.
Bale had beaten Jersey’s top player at the event, Christian Moriarty, 6-1 in the semi-final.
The final contained a bit of everything, including a massive mis-cue from Brewer and a big ‘kick’ as he tried to pot the black.
Bale, on the other hand, was a potting machine and cleared twice in the space of five minutes, much to the appreciation of the crowd.
Tracy Downie from Taunton won the ladies’ singles final 4-3 against Linda Maider, a Jersey resident who has played for Scotland.
In the A team inter-insular, Jersey’s men beat Guernsey 8-5.
Jersey raced into a 4-0 lead through Gary Cook, Chris Alexander, Ady Bougourd and Chris Melville.
John Skillett and Tristan Ozanne pulled two back for Guernsey, then Andy Richardson won to give Jersey a 5-2 session win.
Melville, Cook and David Snell then wrapped it up for the Jersey team.
The men’s B inter-island match ended in a resounding 12-2 win for Guernsey.
In the ladies’ inter-insular – the final match of the ladies’ team competition – Guernsey took the first session 4-1 through Gaudion, Corbet, Marsh and Chandler, but Jersey responded by winning the second session 3-2 with wins by Sharon Shaw, Laura Gicquel and Tracy Pereira.
In the final session Shaw pulled one back for Jersey, then Ruth Vaudin put the Guernsey girls two ahead with three to play when she beat Christelle Le Toullec.
However, then Jersey’s Gicquel and Brooks beat Gaudion and Marsh to take it to the last frame – and Corbet was the Sarnian heroine, taking the win against Jersey’s Pereira.
In the men’s international section Jersey beat Portugal 10-4 but lost to Belgium 11-3.
On the following day they beat Guernsey B 11-4 and the SW 9-5, Andy Richardson winning the all-important frame.
Guernsey A lost 10-4 to the SW team but beat Belgium 9-5, then won 10-4 against Portugal.
Then Guernsey A came through 8-6 against Taunton Select and beat Jersey B 9-5, but could only draw 7-7 with their B side.
Jersey A beat their B side 8-2 for a place in the semi-final, where they trounced Belgium 8-2 – sweet revenge for the earlier match.
For the all-CI final the atmosphere was electric, with a very large crowd cheering the teams on.
Jersey took a 4-0 lead as Cook beat Shorto, Melville beat Desperques, Richardson beat Holley and Alexander beat Le Noury.
Then Sarnian Mildner pulled one back against Ruderham, but Snell beat Ozanne and Skillett beat Bougourd for Jersey to lead 5-2.
In the next session Jersey’s lead grew to 7-2 as Ruderham and Alexander beat Shorto and Desperques – one match from victory with five to play – but the Guernsey lads went into overdrive and won all five to level.
So it was all down to the final frame, between nominated players Gary Cook for Jersey and Desperques for Guernsey.
The latter broke and should have cleared but ran out of position.
This let Cook in – but he also ran out of position.
He gave Desperques two shots – and the Guernseyman cleared them superbly to win Guernsey’s first international trophy.
The ladies’ team matches involved Jersey, Guernsey, Taunton and the South-West and the match between the two Channel Islands was very close.
Jersey won the first session 3-2 with wins from Laura Gicquel, Tracy Pereira and captain Rhi Brooks, Guernsey then won the second to level overall.
The hosts then put their collective foot on the gas and with three straight wins grabbed an 8-5 Jersey victory.
The two teams met again in the final for what was called the inter-insular – and this was when Guernsey got their revenge with an overall 8-7 victory.
