Rugby School
Saturday, 11th October 2025
Stop Press Executioner Terry McElvaney won his second Challenger event at the expense of Derby Moor’s Anthony Goodwin. Rugby schoolboy Vincent Barnes won the Plate against Nick Geere. The Bowl for quarter-final losers went to Dwight Schultz.
Chris Blakeley reports: We had a busy day of Fives at Rugby with a strong entry of 14 players, including 3 school coaches, and 5 schoolboy players (3 from Rugby, and one each from Winchester and UCS) and 8 ranked players, who were seeded in the first round, with the top two seeds (Terry McElvaney and Emrys Thursfield) receiving a bye.
The first round (one game to 15) produced only one surprise, with the experienced Nick Geere going down to the Arthur James-Duff from Winchester. What was expected was a very tight set between Giles Munn, currently not ranked after a prolonged absence from the courts, and Dwight (Murdoc) Schultz. This proved to be the case, and although Giles came out the winner 15-11, it had been agreed beforehand that whoever lost that match would go into the Bowl, not the Plate, and that the organiser would play in the Plate! The quarter-finals produced relatively straightforward wins for the expected top 4 seeds. In the semi-finals, Terry McElvaney proved too powerful for Theo Vernacchio, but there was a titanic battle for the other final place, with the first two sets being very tightly fought, Emrys winning the first 11-8 and Anthony, seemingly on the verge of defeat, just squeaking the second 12-10. At which point we began to wonder whether there would be time for a break before the final, but the last set went quickly to Anthony 11-1 as Emrys ran out of steam.
The final was a repeat of last year’s, with the same result. Despite only having about a 25-minute break between the semi and the final (we all had to be out by 6pm) Anthony showed great resilience in an entertaining match with Terry, who ran out the winner 11-6, 11-7.
Due to a twisted ankle for one local schoolboy player and later afternoon commitments of another, the Plate didn’t complete all its matches, but it was clear from the results that the best player was Rugby’s Vinny Barnes with three good wins, and in the Bowl similarly we were denied the rematch between Dwight and Giles when the latter developed a muscle strain, but, as with the Plate, it was clear that Dwight was the deserved winner of the medal.
My thanks to Ben Lane and Rugby School for hosting us (and providing refreshments) and to those players who made long journeys from the SW and from Winchester to compete.
Scores
1st round: B Lane bt C Rollo 15-4; G Munn bt D Schultz 15-11; T Vernacchio bt A Laver 15-2; An Goodwin bt V Barnes 15-4; A James-Duff bt N Geere 15-5; JP Cheng bt J Noble 15-0
Quarter-finals: T McElvaney bt Lane 15-1; Vernacchio bt Munn 15-6; Goodwin bt James-Duff 15-3; E Thursfield bt Cheng 15-7
Semi-finals: McElvaney bt Vernacchio 11-3, 11-3; Goodwin bt Thursfield 8-11, 12-10, 11-1
Final: McElvaney bt Goodwin 11-6, 11-7
Plate Barnes bt Geere 15-13
Bowl: Schultz
Terry McElvaney wins his second Challenger
The final ends with Terry the winner
Finalists Anthony and Terry
Dwight Schultz wins the Bowl
Goodwin and Thursfield meet in the semi-finals
The end of a tough 3-gamer for Anthony and Emrys