CA of Ireland v SCA 2013
25-26 May, Carrickmines
The SCA narrowly failed to retain the Appleton Trophy in this year's match in Ireland, as the home side achieved a 13-12 victory.
Eight players flew from Edinburgh to Dublin on the day before the match, but only six of them were in the SCA team: Campbell Morrison (handicap -0.5), Bill Spalding (2), Fergus McInnes (3), Robert Inder (4.5), Janice Duguid (7) and Hamish Duguid (9). Jane Morrison was accompanying Campbell, but playing for the opposite side; and Vivien Wightman came along with Robert as a supporter and to stay on for a couple of days' holiday after the match.
The Irish team comprised Ronán Rogerson (0), Nathaniel Healy (0), Jane Morrison (1), Evan Newell (0), Alan Looney (8) and Joe McGowan (9), with Benjamin Reeves-Smyth substituting for Evan on Sunday afternoon.
Saturday went well for the visitors, who won two out of three doubles games in the morning and then shared the wins equally with their hosts in both rounds of singles to make it 8-7 for the day. The singles consisted of all the mismatched games between opponents in the same half of the team ranking, i.e. 1 v 2 and 3, 4 v 5 and 6 etc. There were two very close games in the first singles round: Ronán played some excellent shots after having his forward ball pegged out to beat Fergus by one point on time, and Campbell prevailed over Nathaniel by the same margin. The only game in that round to be completed within the 2.5-hour time limit was the most widely mismatched one, in which Evan beat Janice +19. Most of the games in the following round reached a peg-out (with scores ranging from Ronán's +4 against Bill to Evan's +25 against Hamish), but it was still well into the evening when the players left Carrickmines and headed for Sandyford for a superb Chinese dinner.
Sunday morning's doubles, with the same partnerships as on Saturday but permuted opponents, strengthened the Scots' position again and brought the score to 10-8. There was some discussion over lunch about the number of games to be played in the afternoon, and the time limits to be applied, with the conclusion that the top players (Ronán and Campbell) would play two games, with 2-hour time limits, and the rest would just play their opposite numbers once with a time limit of 3 hours. Ronán and Campbell shared the honours in their games, but the results at the next four positions all went to the Irish, and Hamish could only limit their overall winning margin by coming out ahead on time against Joe.
Sunday's results featured two triple peels: one by Nathaniel against Bill (his first since 2010 according to the rankings database), and one by Benjamin against Robert (his first ever).
The match was played in a friendly spirit in first-rate conditions - with beautiful fast lawns, thanks to the efforts and skill of groundsman Simon Williams, and warm and sunny weather - and we are very grateful to the CA of Ireland and the Carrickmines Club for their hospitality. We look forward to welcoming an Irish team to Scotland in 2014.
Fergus McInnes
Results
(CA of Ireland names first)
Ronán Rogerson & Joe McGowan beat Bill Spalding & Janice Duguid +19
Nathaniel Healy & Alan Looney lost to Fergus McInnes & Robert Inder -12T (10-22)
Jane Morrison & Evan Newell lost to Campbell Morrison & Hamish Duguid -2T (20-22)
Ronán Rogerson beat Fergus McInnes +1T (22-21)
Nathaniel Healy lost to Campbell Morrison -1T (18-19)
Jane Morrison lost to Bill Spalding -5T (16-21)
Evan Newell beat Janice Duguid +19
Alan Looney beat Hamish Duguid +3T (14-11)
Joe McGowan lost to Robert Inder -5T (15-20)
Ronán Rogerson beat Bill Spalding +4
Nathaniel Healy beat Fergus McInnes +19
Jane Morrison lost to Campbell Morrison -22
Evan Newell beat Hamish Duguid +25
Joe McGowan lost to Janice Duguid -17
Alan Looney lost to Robert Inder -7T (9-16)
Ronán Rogerson & Joe McGowan lost to Fergus McInnes & Robert Inder -12
Nathaniel Healy & Alan Looney lost to Campbell Morrison & Hamish Duguid -22
Jane Morrison & Evan Newell beat Bill Spalding & Janice Duguid +2T (18-16)
Ronán Rogerson beat Campbell Morrison +25
Ronán Rogerson lost to Campbell Morrison -26
Nathaniel Healy beat Bill Spalding +15tp
Jane Morrison beat Fergus McInnes +11
Benjamin Reeves-Smyth beat Robert Inder +14tp
Alan Looney beat Janice Duguid +10T (21-11)
Joe McGowan lost to Hamish Duguid -2T (17-19)
Match score: CAI 13, SCA 12