Ipswich Win The Vargas Salver
03/03/25: Ipswich won the Vargas Salver in association with Advanta Wealth at Aldenham yesterday afternoon.
The Vargas Salver is the three pair "second tier" U18 Schools' team competition; not competed for last year, it was pleasing to see four well-matched teams make it to Aldenham for an excellent afternoon's Fives in glorious sunshine.
Previous winners Aldenham and Ipswich were both present along with teams from Charterhouse and Repton. The competition was played as a round robin with each match being played across three pairs and each pair playing two sets against each of their opponents. Ipswich - with U16 Dan Ingram impressing at first pair and well-led by captain Sam Cook - ended up winning all 18 sets played to claim the trophy but they by no means had it their own way, with over half of their wins being 12-7 or closer. They always had the edge, though, and fully deserved their first success in the competition since 2022.
The other three teams were very evenly matched. Charterhouse were slightly handicapped by only having five players, meaning they conceded the points at third pair each time (although they were able to borrow a spare player from one othe other teams for each match) and they were also on the wrong end of three 12-11 defeats in the middle match against Repton. Repton impressed all day, with three girls and four boys in their squad and it was two of the girls who found themselves up against Aldenham's second pair in the final match of the day to decide second place. The Aldenham boys looked like they had it under control as they went 10-5 ahead before the Repton girls found a run of points at just the right time to get to 11-10 ahead. They couldn't convert the chance, however, and Aldenham came back to win 12-11 and level the overall score with Repton, taking second place by virtue of their 4-2 win in the head to head match.
Dale Vargas was on hand to present the trophy (and copies of "A History of Eton Fives") to the winners to finish off an extremely enjoyable afternoon, which offered proof that Fives is both alive and kicking and being played to a very high standard at schools outside of the traditional trophy winners.
Our thanks go to David Goodchild and Aldenham school for being such excellent hosts, to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship, to Dale & Krystyna Vargas for their support and to all of the players who made it such an enjoyable competition to be a part of.
1. Ipswich - 18 points
2. Aldenham - 8 points
3. Repton - 8 points
4. Charterhouse - 2 points
