EFA Trophy: Town & Gown Go Through

26/11/24: The 2024/25 EFA Trophy in association with Advanta Wealth got underway on Sunday, with one group played while the other fell victim to the weather.

Unfortunately, the sudden rise in temperature over the weekend rendered the courts at Highgate unplayable; thankfully Emily Scoones was on hand to get up early and do a court inspection in time to get the message to those due to be travelling in. The Highgate group will be played at a later date.

The Eton courts survived, however, allowing a return for EFA competition for the first time since the court renovation and the opening of the new Constantinidi Fives Centre. The building work next to the courts means space is at a premium and will limit what we are able to hold at Eton, but it was great to be back and once the building work is complete, it will be a fantastic facility.

The late withdrawal of the Lancing/Cantabs team meant that five teams battled it out for the two qualifying spots; Oxford supplied three of them, with North Oxford joined by two teams from Oxford University, an excellent effort from the Dark Blues. They were up against the constantly improving Newbury team and the Charterhouse-based Brigands, welcome new entrants to the competition this year.

A round robin league format was used with each team playing the others in two game matches at each pair, with a point awarded for each game won. Although North Oxford and Oxford University made it through to the final round unbeaten,  they certainly did not have things their own way, with the other three teams all posing a threat and playing some excellent Fives. The matches between the Peppers, Newbury and the Brigands were all closely fought, with Newbury just coming through in the end to take third place.

With both Town & Gown qualified, the final match was a shoot out for first and second place. The University side were strong all the way down, with Beau Swallow and Oxford Brookes student Gwydion Wiseman at first pair, captain Joel Robb & Edwin Gosnell at second and Nick Choustikov & Jonah Poulard at third pair. North Oxford had a side with a 50/50 gender split, Karen Hird, Charlotta Cooley and Harry Asquith joining Fred Prickett, Archie Cameron-Blackie and Stephen Thatcher and in the end the University had a bit too much firepower, winning five of the six games, although Karen & Fred finished in style with an excellent 12-11 second game win against Beau & Gwydion in possibly the best match of the day.

Our thanks go to Eton for hosting the day, to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship, to Emily Scoones for her selfless early morning heroics and to all those who put together the teams and played on the day. We look forward to the second group being completed later in the season followed by the usual Finals Day.

EFA Trophy 2024/25

Group A (Highgate) to be played at a later date

Group B (Eton)

1. Oxford University 23 points (B.Swallow, G.Wiseman, J.Robb, E.Gosnell, N.Choustikov, J.Poulard)

2. North Oxford 19 points (F.Prickett, A.Cameron-Blackie, K.Hird, S.Thatcher, C.Cooley, H.Asquith)

3. Newbury 8 points (W.Thomas, P.Holland, J.Hopkins, O.Avery, C.McCormack, D.Pemberton)

=4. Brigands 5 points (A.Constantine, M.Davis, T.Leach, B.Marshall-Rice, M.Powell, J-B.Garway-Templeman, R.Smart)

=4. Oxford University Peppers 5 points (T.Farmer, A.Deshmukh, S.Chapman, W.Bishop, C.Schroeder, G.Oldknow)

Round 1

Oxford University beat Brigands 6-0 (12-8, 12-4; 12-1, 12-2; 12-1, 12-3)

North Oxford beat Newbury 6-0 (12-8, 12-5; 12-1, 12-1; 12-2, 12-3)

Round 2

Oxford University beat Newbury 6-0 (12-4, 12-2; 12-3, 12-5; 12-0, 12-4)

Oxford University Peppers drew with Brigands 3-3 (12-7, 12-8; 12-11, 11-12; 1-12, 3-12)

Round 3

Newbury beat Brigands 4-2 (12-4, 8-12; 12-7, 12-7; 5-12, 12-8)

North Oxford beat Oxford University Peppers 6-0 (12-5, 12-7; 12-1, 12-2; 12-3, 12-5)

Round 4

Oxford University beat Oxford University Peppers 6-0 (12-4, 12-5; 12-2, 12-8; 12-0, 12-0)

North Oxford beat Brigands 6-0 (12-3, 12-2; 12-7, 12-8; 12-2, 12-1)

Round 5

Oxford University beat North Oxford 5-1 (12-7, 11-12; 12-3, 12-2; 12-10, 12-7)

Newbury beat Oxford University Peppers 4-2 (11-12, 10-12; 7-12*, 4-12*; 12-6, 12-8)

*ineligible player