The latest petanque inter-regional match for Devon took place at the Isca Centre, Exeter, writes Chris Bigmore.

The match, played in extremely hot conditions, was against Great Western Region and the visitors proved to be too strong for Devon, running out decisive 25-15 winners.

The match was played with eight teams of triples over five rounds and things were close after round one with GWR leading 5-3.

They extended their lead to 12-4, then 17-7 after rounds two and three, before Devon took their only round of the day to bring the score back to 20-12.

GWR, needing just one game in the final round, easily secured victory, taking their final total to 25. Best home performance of the day came from the Devon Two team of Thierry Hacq, Henry Pickett and Rob Thomas, who scored four wins out of five.

Devon president Ged Barton was still pleased with the relatively new team’s excellent performance against tough opponents and said: “Great Western are to be congratulated on a thoroughly deserved win, but the final score should have been tighter and did not really reflect the close nature of many of the individual games.”

He concluded: “We did achieve one of our main aims, though, which was to gain some valuable matchplay experience ahead of the Inter Regional Championships.”

Those Inter Regional Championships are next up for Devon, taking place at Hayling Island on September 15 and 16.