St Paul’s School, Barnes and Alleyn’s School, Dulwich
Saturday, 26th April 2025
Tom Maconie reports: The Old Paulines retained The Wood Cup after a long day of fives played across two venues in London: Alleyn’s and St Paul’s School.
A variety of factors, a transatlantic flight and a sauna booking among them, meant that the games between eight teams were split between the two venues to try and get all games completed in one day. Was it a logistical masterstroke or a rookie tournament organiser mistake? Perhaps the jury is still out on that!
In the early rounds at St Paul’s both Old Paulines 1 and the Executioners were in imperious form, dropping only 17 and 32 points across eight sets against West of England 3 and Old Paulines 2 respectively. Meanwhile, in South East London, the West of England 1 and Edward Alleyn Club had good wins over Derby Moor and West of England 2 after a slightly delayed start.
Into the semi-finals, where the Executioners probably left themselves a bit too much to do after the singles against a strong Old Paulines first team. The OPs pushed their advantage in the doubles to make it through to the final. Over at Alleyn’s, the West of England 1 team emerged victorious against the Edward Alleyn Club after some hard-hitting doubles (“heavy metal fives”) saw them 47 points clear with the singles still to play. With a maximum of 44 points on offer per team in the singles the EAC graciously conceded and West of England 1, after a few hurried phone calls to discuss travel options, hit the South Circular to drive to St Paul’s and play the final. They were followed by Derby Moor, who recorded a good win over West of England 2 to reach the plate final.
In the final, the Old Paulines 1 produced an excellent performance against a tiring West of England 1 team who, despite taking a 6-point advantage from the singles into the doubles, couldn’t match the intensity and consistency of the Old Paulines’ doubles play.
In the plate final, Derby Moor scored a convincing win against Old Paulines 2 by getting 45 points ahead after the doubles, which were played first, making the singles a dead rubber.
A huge thanks to both Alleyn’s and St Paul’s for letting us use their facilities and to Hamish Buchanan, Chris Blakeley, Tom Watkinson, and Charlie Brooks for their invaluable advice and support leading up to and on the day.
Teams in Singles order
Derby Moor Fives: Lewis Keates, Anthony Goodwin, Val Fikhter, Richard Christie
Edward Alleyn Club: Gwydion Wiseman, Yarin Negyal, Inigo Ackland, Edward Carr
Executioners: Penn Chai, Christian Blackaby, Toby Chan, Wyman Chan
Old Paulines 1: Charlie Brooks, Theo Parker, Freddie Hammond Giles, Josh Ferro
Old Paulines 2: Teddy Monro-Davies, Sam Roberts, Ben Roberts, Ben Pymont
West of England Club 1: Tom Watkinson, Cameron Low, Archie McCreath, Tom Maconie
West of England Club 2: Dwight Murdoc, Theo Vernacchio, Jeremy Hughes, Kevin Brice
West of England Club 3: Nick Geere, Ed Grant, Robert Mason, Peter Dickinson
Scores
Quarter-finals: Old Paulines 1 beat West of England 3 by 104-17 (Singles 44-6; Doubles 60-11); Executioners beat Old Paulines 2 by 104-32 (Singles 44-8; Doubles 60-24); West of England 1 beat Derby Moor 97-36 (Singles 37-15; Doubles 60-21); Edward Alleyn Club beat West of England 2 by 98-44 (Singles 37-21; Doubles 61-23)
Semi-finals: Old Paulines 1 beat Executioners 114-78 (Singles 33-17; Doubles 81-61); West of England 1 bt Edward Alleyn Club 88-41 (Doubles only)
Final: Old Paulines 1 beat West of England 1 by 100-81 (Singles 28-34; Doubles 72-47)
Plate
Semi-finals: Derby Moor Fives beat West of England 2 by 128-74 (Singles 38-24; Doubles 90-50); Old Paulines 2 bt West of England 3 by 120-76 (Singles 40-30; Doubles 80-46)
Final: Derby Moor Fives bt Old Paulines 2 by 60-15 (Doubles only)
The Tom Wood trophy
Old Paulines champions once more
Silver for the West of England Club 1st IV
The organiser with his WoE team
Plate winners from Derby and Manchester
Proud Derby Moor at St Paul’s
Edward Alleyn Club versus West of England 2 at Alleyn’s
Sam Roberts at full stretch
The Wood Cup final scoresheet
The Plate final scoresheet