The first matches in this year's Camrose Trophy, the home internationals, were on 9-11 January in Edinburgh. Wales was represented by Patrick Jourdain & Tony Ratcliff, Mike Tedd & John Salisbury, Paul Denning (standing in for Tim Rees who was taken ill at the last minute) & Gary Jones. We won all 5 matches, and narrowly led the table, with strong Ireland and England teams on their heels. The second weekend in March was to come. Detailed results etc at www.camrosebridge.com.
The selectors announced an unchanged team for March. But Tim Rees was still unable to play so the Welsh team was Patrick Jourdain & Tony Ratcliff, Mike Tedd & John Salisbury, and Patrick Shields & Filip Kurbalija with NPC Paul Denning.
The weekend of 6-8 March saw the second of the two weekends of this year's Camrose home internationals in Belfast. Wales led the table after the first weekend. We trounced Ireland 19-1 in the first match and Northern Ireland 19-1 in the second, to establish a clear lead. Then a nasty 3-17 loss to England was followed by another 19-1 over the NIBU team. So Wales led by 12 VPs going into the last match against Scotland. With Ireland beating Northern Ireland 18-2, Wales could afford a 6-14 loss and would still win the Camrose. Sadly we lost 4-16 and so came second overall, just 1.76 VPs behind Ireland and 3.34 VP ahead of England. Just 13 more Imps would have been enough! More about the weekend. Detailed results etc here
Trophys are awarded for the matches between each pair of countries.
Wales won the Cyfeillion Beiriste Trophy for the match between the Republic of Ireland and Wales, the Causeway Trophy for the match between Wales and Northern Ireland and the Patrick Jourdain Trophy for the match between Wales and Scotland.
The Welsh team shortly after the disappointing end of play
Most of the team, being awarded the Cyfeillion Beiriste Trophy
Patrick Shields has been writing his excellent results from afar (with help from Mike Tedd). Here they are, match by match:
1st weekend: Match One Match Two Match Three Match Four Match Five
2nd weekend: Match One (revised 31/3), Match Two, Match 3, Match 4, Match 5