Division 1
Doric Insurance sponsored League leaders Lions C held onto their single point lead at the top after returning to winning ways for the first time in 3 fixtures, in a week which saw the top 3 sides each post wins.
The leading Lions side emerged as 7-3 victors over a Whistlers C outfit that currently occupies 4th position in the table. Phil Ogier led the way strongly with a trio of singles wins over Lawrence Stacey, Matthew Casey and Albert Unden. The former victory over the recently selected Green Trophy player Stacey was very impressive and despite the win coming in 4 games, the result could easily have been without loss, had Stacey not won 6 consecutive points to pinch the 2nd 12-10, having trailed 10-6. Paul Hainsworth added a further 2 wins over Casey and Unden in straight games, but lost out to Stacey over 4 ends in the opening match of the evening. De Carteret was narrowly edged by Casey in 5 having led 2-1, but he made up for this by sealing the win for his side during an important straight game win over Unden. Ogier and De Carteret also combined well to battle past Stacey and Casey 11-8 in the 5th end of their doubles encounter.
Lions A kept the pressure on the leaders after motoring past Whistlers B 8-2. Ben Foss was the only undefeated player in the fixture due to his singles wins over Josh Stacey, Martin Sarre and Joseph Bourgaize. Josh, like twin Lawrence has recently been selected to compete for the Island in this seasons Green trophy encounter against Jersey, but he did not have enough on the night and Foss fought back from 2-1 down to win in 5. Stacey did make up for this narrow defeat in his other matches where he beat Dan Collenette in 4 and more impressively the returning Josh Butler in straight games. Butler and Collenette each defeated Bourgaize and Sarre to make sure of the win and the combination of Butler and Foss took the doubles over Stacey and Bourgaize in 5.
Whistlers A are also chasing the leading Lions teams and are only a few points adrift of the leaders and a single point behind the Lions A team in 2nd. They beat Lions B 7-3 this week in a fixture where Garry Dodd held on to his 100% singles record. The recently crowned 7 time CI Top 12 winner continued where he left off at the weekend and added singles wins over Luke Bichard, Ryan Bichard and reserve Liam Robilliard, dropping just the single end to Robilliard in the process. Mark Pipet was comfortable during his singles wins over both Bichard brothers, but he was defeated in straight games by Robilliard. Ryan Gilson added a crucial straight game win over Luke to secure the win and he was also on hand to partner Dodd to a doubles success over the Bichard brothers in 4 games.
Division 2
Lions D extended their lead at the top to 3 points after title rivals Lions E were held to a draw.
Despite increasing the margin at the top, the D side faced a tough test and only narrowly overcame Lions G 6-4. Jamie Ferbrache and Andy Gill were each on hand to pick up singles wins over Brian and Sue Ferbrache and the duo also ran out winners in the doubles over Brian and Andy Ferbrache in straight games. It was Ian Le Page that clinched the decisive 6th rubber when he fought past Sue 11-9 in the 4th end of a close encounter. None of the league leaders were able to topple Andy on the night, as the G side's player put in a superb trio of performances that saw him defeat Gill in straight games, Le Page in 4 games and Jamie over the full 5 sets.
Division 4
