| Cardiff | vs. | Aberystwyth Mens 1st |
| 135 | 99 |
After waiting for Maddox to wake up and get on the bus we set off (rather late) for the second leg of the Men's 1A League Welsh derby.
Unfortunately the Aber team was severely short on numbers due to course commitments so we were forced to adapt accordingly.
We fenced the weapons in a slightly unusual order, the sabreurs stepping up first. We appeared outclassed from the start and it soon became apparent that our winning streak in sabre was about to be broken. Maddox, Billy and Killion did manage to fence the majority of the bouts on their own terms but Cardiff were able to adapt and penetrate with well-timed counter attacks. Killion was left with a lot of work to do in the final bout and it was to prove too much. Cardiff won sabre 45-38.
Next up was epee and our steady progress in the weapon throughout the season appeared to continue. Marc began by fencing the Cardiff closer, a Belgian international with a frustrating left handed pommel style, and fresh from his strong performance against Plymouth he pulled out a 5-2 victory. Marc's patience and ability to act upon advice deserves a special mention yet again. Pete and Maddox also began strongly, but unfortunately the loss of seven hits in Maddox's final bout would prove decisive.
Cardiff took epee 45-40.
Our foil squad was to suffer most from missing fencers. Maddox was brought in to fill the gap and did, where possible, fulfil his role of being awkward and forceful on piste. Cardiff's Miguel Pinto and James Thorneycroft were, however, not easily pressurised and fenced on their own terms. Marc and Pete tried to pick off points where possible but victory in the weapon quickly moved out of reach. Cardiff won foil 45-21.
A big thank you to Cardiff for their hospitality and well done to Maddox for fencing all three weapons.
Man of the Match - Marc (For consistency and patience)
Donkey of the Day - Maddox (For poor time keeping, forgetting his breeches and pulling a muscle through failure to warm up!)
Pete Bond
| Aberystwyth Men's 1st | vs. | Plymouth |
| 134 | 107 |
Man of the match - Marc
After a night of excessive alcohol consumption with the Plymouth team in all of the finest licensed premises in town we met to defend the many past Aber victories.
Though in foil we were individually inconsistent we were collectively successful. Ben had us off to a good start which Captain Pete was unfortunately unable to follow. However, after gaining 10 points difference over his next two bouts, Pete was clearly back on form. Dan began well, and although there was a brief waiver in the middle, he came back to finish his foil strongly. Ben was continuing to fence well but did find the opponents closer to be a little awkward, but the earlier collective efforts enabled us to hold a 44-34 victory in foil.
The sabreurs were clearly the ones suffering the most from an excess of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll...though Token was more likely suffering from a lack of the first.
The spanner in the works was the Plymouth captain who was too quick for everyone on the day. However, Killion and Maddox were able to sap points out of other areas in order to keep us in the game. Token was a little off-form on the day, but this allowed Billy to come in and take a plus 8 indicator in one bout. A tense last fight saw Killion just holding on to our lead, allowing us to retain our clean sheet in the weapon. We took sabre 45-43.
Epee was cause for much rejoicing as we were able to win the weapon for the first time this season! Pete, Dan and Marc were patient, powerful and precise with their attacks and counters and this lead to some storming shots. A special mention must be given for Marc's fantastic consistency in epee, managing to keep his head throughout. It was simple task for Pete to see out the weapon and the match, doing so in style with a beautiful foot hit to close epee 45-30.
An excellent effort and a well deserved win.
Pete Bond
| Exeter | vs. | Aberystwyth Men's 1st |
| 133 | 101 |
After an eventful five hour journey, involving two rather soft front tyres
on the minibus and two gallons of Token's vomit off the minibus, we
arrived at Exeter Uni.
We started the match with sabre, and although everyone was a little tired
from the journey we were able to keep our 100 percent victory in the
weapon and take a three point lead. Killion, Tom Maddox and Token all
fenced well and we were happy with the start.
We had kidnapped Simon Williams from the clutches of the 2nd team to fill
an unexpected gap in the 1st team foil squad. His efforts, along with
those of Dan and Captain Pete, were noble but unequal to the talents of
the Exeter foilists.
The points lost in foil were all but impossible to regain, and although
Tom, Dan and Pete pushed for a dramatic come back in epee (and it was
probably our strongest performance this season in the weapon), we lost
epee 45-36.
Final score: Aberystwyth Men's 1sts 101 - Exeter 133
Pete Bond
| Aberystwyth Men's 1st | vs. | Cardiff |
| 121 | 128 |
A large home crowd gathered to support the Aber boys during the Welsh
titan clash in the dance hall. Fresh from their 135-107 victory over
Exeter, the Cardiff team were always going to be strong favourites in this match.
Ben Vermiere's outstanding foil performance however, combined with a
superbly composed effort from Dan McNabb and a confident use of time from Captain Pete Bond, led Aberystwyth to victory over their experienced opponents in the first weapon. Aberystwyth took foil 45-42.
In sabre there was an initial tussle for the lead, Killion McKenzie
getting the boys off to a strong start before the Cardiff closer promptly snatched the advantage from Adam Tew. However, later bouts were to make up for this and although Tom Maddox had an uncharacteristic waver in his second fight, substitute Billy Mitchell snatched back the lead with a 6-2 victory, leaving the two remaining bouts to be soundly closed by Tom and Killion. In all, a valiant effort from Aber's sabreurs stretched the team's lead to seven points, with Aberystwyth winning the second weapon 45-41.
Alas, our downfall was yet again to be epee and unfortunately this time our lead would be just too small a cushion to protect us from the
oppositions' well-drilled swordsmen. After dropping the lead Marc Walford,
Pete and Dan were forced to fence outside their comfort zones, having to use a more offensive approach than usual with few opportunities to execute their more typical counter-attack or riposte regimes. Although the gap would fluctuate we struggled to restrain the other side from advancing their lead, eventually Cardiff won epee 45-31.
The final score: Aberystwyth Men's 1st 121 - Cardiff 128
Man of the match: Ben Vermiere
Pete Bond
| Plymouth | vs. | Aberystwyth Mens 1st |
| 112 | 115 |
Much grumbling and yawning ensued from our extremely rude awakening, an early start that had us leaving Aber by 6am on the long journey down to Plymouth. Expectations were high as previous 1st teams had retained a 5 year undefeated record against the south-west coast institution, a profile which debutant captain Pete Bond did not want to see destroyed.
6 minibus hours, 2 drivers and seven McDonald's breakfasts later we arrived in Plymouth and scouted out the venue. There was a brief meet and greet with the opposition before we began with foil.
Marc and Dan's early defensive consistency allowed us to edge a lead, and although the off-form captain was unable to mirror these strong performances the team retained an advantage. Pete's unexpected 1-4 defeat caused the gap to decrease but when Dan launched a fantastically belligerent offensive against a very competent Plymouth foilist, it was only a case of holding time to seal the weapon.
Aberystwyth took foil 43-34.
Sabre was a similarly successful affair, despite the slow start our dominance in the weapon was soon made clear. 1st team veteran Tom Maddox made up for an early lapse of concentration by hammering his final two opponents. Billy Mitchell's BUCS debut showed real promise and highlighted his ability to learn quickly from mistakes, refusing to get caught twice in the same place and identifying weaknesses in his opponents. Killion began consistent and strong but alas a little uninspiring, until of course it came to closing the match wherein his game raised to dizzying heights, Plymouth's strongest sabreur proving no match for McKenzie.
Aberystwyth took sabre 45/33.
The final weapon would prove less of a cause for celebration, expectedly so as Plymouth were about to unleash a top 30 ranking epeeist. The team did what needed to be done however, with valiant efforts from Tom, Pete and Charlie Barratt allowing the team to get the necessary points to win the match!
Aberystwyth lost epee 27-45.
The final score: Aberystwyth Men's 1st 115 - Plymouth 112
Man of the match - Dan McNabb
Pete Bond
Constitutional change to the position of Social Secretary
13/05/09
Last week in the AGM, it was decided by a majority vote that the holder of the Social Secretary position would be referred to as "Jar Jar Binks" on all socials.
To reflect this change, the website will replace the title "Social Secretary" with the title "Jar Jar Binks". It should be noted that, in normal cases the title of the role remains "Social Secretary" and "Jar Jar Binks" is to be used as a substitute for the name of the person holding the position.
This change will appear in the amended club constitution.
13/05/09
Last week in the AGM, it was decided by a majority vote that the holder of the Social Secretary position would be referred to as "Jar Jar Binks" on all socials.
To reflect this change, the website will replace the title "Social Secretary" with the title "Jar Jar Binks". It should be noted that, in normal cases the title of the role remains "Social Secretary" and "Jar Jar Binks" is to be used as a substitute for the name of the person holding the position.
This change will appear in the amended club constitution.
| Aberystwyth Novices | vs. | University of West England |
| 135 | 106 |
A Tale of Great Expectations
The fresh young Aberystwyth novice team had their first opportunity to
prove themselves in this encounter, as UWE fielded a rather numerous team
in Aber's own dance hall.
High anticipation swiftly became great success, as Aber managed to win
each weapon comfortably to run out with a 29 point advantage, with all
members of this newly-formulated team proving assets to the effort. The
whole team completed the day with an admirable level of high spirits,
regardless of their opponents occasional inordinate height, or the fact
that some employed the devious and largely unrecognised tactic of fencing
with their left hands.
The only question now remaining is that of the Novice Team's future, with
the current next target in sight being the Aberystwyth Men's seconds. Can
this prove a new source of glory for these young dreamers, or will it be a
bridge too far?
Man of the Match: Timothy Southern
For a confident and consistent performance throughout both Foil and Sabre
Tom Bates
| London | vs. | Aberystwyth Women's 1st |
| 135 | 76 |
Second CUP match
Away, knocked out, 76-135. Away team: Kasia, Ruth and me. Driver: Eric. Passenger: Tim.
An interesting journey when we weren’t sleeping. Saw lot’s of countryside stuff and then lots of city stuff. Made a point of pointing out road signs to London for Tim (he claims not to have ever seen one). We also ate sweets and more wholesome goodies (such as crisps) while admiring Ruth’s lunchbox. Anyway when we were dropped off in London as Eric disappeared to visit his parents we followed a map and wondered around a bit until we went passed the wrong sports centre. So I hunted down some very helpful lady in a technology building who told me it was just around the corner. It was. Hurray!
We had fun fencing while Tim went to the hugest Waterstones he had ever seen. Everyone from Aber was surprised as we all did quite well in the first weapon – sabre. Kasia can be woman of the match as she scored lots of points in sabre and made me feel very proud.
After the match we went for a drink with the London lot and discovered their captain would be entering the Merseyside open like Kasia and would be at the same dance comp. as Ruth at the weekend. She bought us a drink while we gossiped and ordered food and then one of the lads (who’d also had a match) joined in our student vs. IT box competition. Overall the IT box won.
By this time it was quite late so we phoned Eric and headed to the prearranged pick-up point. Anyway we waited and waited but no Eric. So we sang cristmas songs, taught kasia playground clapping games and tried to work out the purpose of the building next to us. No one knew. Still no Eric. Got a text or two explaining he was on his way but by this time we were hungry again so we broke into our remaining food supplies. So we waited some more and Tim got lost in the underground station opposite. Ruth didn’t. Eventually Eric turned up. Apparently taking a wrong turning in the middle of London rush hour is not conductive to good time keeping. Oh well. I’m sure our antics entertained lots of people as they drove by.
So the jist of my match report is we had an interesting day when everyone became 3 weapon all stars, Tim discovered London and Eric got lost. Enjoy.
Phillipa Powell