National Schools RT Doubles Championships 2017 Junior
U16 - RADLEY
Group A Group B
Wellington 1 Portsmouth GS
Radley 1 Canford 1
Radley 3 Radley 2
Canford 2 Wellington 2
Eton
Play-offs
- Eton bt Wellington 2 6/3
- Radley 2 bt Radley 3 6/0
Semi-finals
- Wellington 1 bt Canford 1 6/2
- Radley 1 bt Portsmouth GS 6/5
Final
- Radley 1 bt Wellington 1 6/5
Radley 1 (Ed Crowston & Max Wetton) bt Wellington 1 (Freddie Bristowe and Rags Kanwar) 6/5
With entries from Radley, Wellington, Canford, Portsmouth GS and Eton, this event was as closely contested as any this year, with some outstanding players, notably Freddie Bristowe of Wellington besides Ed Crowston of Radley and Huw Thomas of Portsmouth.
Indeed, Bristowe and Rags Kanwar sailed through their group with few problems though dropping 2/3 games to both Radley 3 and Radley 1 (who did claim second spot).
Portsmouth GS had to work rather harder in the other group with narrow wins 6/5 over both Radley 2 and Canford 1. Canford 1 just then pipped Radley 2 6/4 for the vital 2nd spot and the semi-final.
Wellington 1 repeated their dominant form in beating a fine Canford pair in the semi-final 6/2 while Radley 1 pulled out a surprise in hauling back a 2/5 deficit to beat Portsmouth. The final, however, produced an even bigger surprise as Radley (from 2-4 and 4-5 down) managed a 6/5 win at the death. Knowledgeable spectators assure me that Ed Crowston had a spell of play that to dream about as Radley found ways to negate Bristowe’s attack and to target other areas. As a competition overall, however, it can hardly have been more exciting.
U14 - WELLINGTON
Group A Group B
Radley 1 Wellington
Canford 2 Canford 1
Radley 3 Radley 2
Eton Mayville
Play-offs
- Radley 2 bt Radley 3 6/4
- Eton bt Radley 2
Semi-finals
- Radley 1 bt Mayville 6/3
- Canford 1 bt Canford 2
Final
- Radley 1 bt Canford 1 8/7
Radley 1 (Max Jardine-Brown & Archie O’Donnell) bt Canford 1 8/7
Tightly contested round-robin groups in which only Canford 1 emerged with a 100% record characterised this event. Radley 1, Canford 2 and Eton all sustained a loss, while Radley 3 were a little unlucky to lose all three, taking Eton to 6/5.
Mayville, from Hayling, gained second spot behind Canford 1 in the other group, but lost a tight game to Radley 1 in the semi-final. Canford 1 just saw off their second pair in the other semi.
Canford 1, clearly a promising pair, looked set for victory at 6-1 up in an 8-game set in the final before Radley appeared to add some extra pace into their game and, despite falling 6/7 behind came home 8/7.
U13 – ORATORY
Group A Group B Group C
Westbourne 1 Westbourne 2 Westbourne 3
Oratory 2 Moulsford 2 Perrott Hill
Oratory Prep Oratory 1 Moulsford 1
Knock out
Group 3
- Oratory 2 bt Moulsford 1 6/3
- Moulsford 1 bt Moulsford 2 6/1
- Moulsford 2 bt Oratory 2 6/5
Group 2
- Oratory Prep bt Oratory 1 6/4
- Oratoty Prep bt Westbourne 3 6/4
- Oratory 1 bt Westbourne 3 6/5
Group 1
- Perrott Hill bt Westbourne 1 6/5
- Perrott Hill bt Westbourne 2 6/2
- Westbourne 1 bt Westbourne 2 6/2
Champions Perrott Hill; Runners Up Westbourne 1
Perrott Hill bt Westbourne 1 6/5
This event was held once again at the Oratory School.
We had 9 pairs representing Moulsford, Westbourne, Perrott Hill, The Oratory School (St Phillips House) and The Oratory Prep.
The crowd of supporters were in for a treat! The quality of play from such young players was a surprise to most.
All but two matches were very close and the rests were amazing. Every single player was competitive and we had some awesome team spirit and support.
We had three round robin boxes, each with three teams .
The first was won by Westbourne 1 followed closely by Oratory Prep and the Oratory (SPH) 2 teams
The second group was also won by Westbourne 2 closely followed by the Oratory 1 (SPH) and Moulsford 2
The third group was taken by Perrott Hill who won the tournament beating Westbourne 3 and Moulsford 1 .
The teams were then put into another set of round robin matches depending on their positions from the previous rounds.
This led to another set of wonderful matches.
But in the end only Perrott Hill, Westbourne 1 and 2 were in a position to win the title
The Final was between Westbourne 1 and Perrott Hill. This went to 6/5 in favour of Perrott Hill. This result was not a forgone conclusion as Westbourne were leading but Perrott Hill managed to cling to a victory.
Congratulations to all the players for entering and for giving us a glorious day of Tennis.
Thank you to the Oratory School for Hosting this fabulous event , the spectators for giving up their whole day to watch and not forgetting Mick Dean for the tournament coordination.
Last but not least, The T&RA for supporting the next generation of players and Neptune Investment for their continued Sponsorship of the game of Real Tennis.