Fencing Quarter Final results

Sabre was up first and York got off to a strong start. A broken blade for York’s Adrian Speakman in the 2nd fight delayed things slightly but Harry Whitwell reapplied pressure to the Aberdeen team. The 4th fight saw Speakman easily beat his opponent with an individual score of 5-2 and take the lead for York to five points, with a score of 20-15. Team vice captain Tom Jones struggled a little in the next fight but Whitwell extended the lead to eight points and a superb sabre performance from Speakman, in which he gained another 5 points conceding none, and putting the score at 35-22. Harry Whitwell and Tom Jones finished off the weapon with some strong fencing and put York ahead by 18 points heading in to the foil and a score of 45-27.

Foil proved to be a little more of a challenge for the York team with Harry Whitwell struggling against Scott Chalmers from Aberdeen. Captain Tom Skingle edged forward a little but it wasn’t enough to catch up as Aberdeen gained point after point. Ewan Chipping struggled in the 3rd fight putting the score at a disappointing seven points to Aberdeen’s 15. Some star foil from Harry Whitwell more than doubled York’s score and for a while the team kept the momentum but it wasn’t enough and with one fight to go York were more than 15 points behind. The final fight caused further frustration for York when some controversial refereeing from Aberdeen’s Chalmers saw Whitwell struggle to gain points against the Aberdeen anchor and the foil ended 45-30 in Aberdeen’s favour.

Everything was very much still to play for in the final weapon on epee with York needing a rather high score of 43 to secure victory and guarantee that all too valuable place in the semi final next week. Epee didn’t quite get off to the start York had hoped for. Phil Sellars struggled against the anchor for Aberdeen leaving York seven points behind. Tom Skingle closed the gap but it wasn’t enough to match Aberdeen’s strength. Steven Bainbridge, subbed on for Sellars, fought exceptionally well but York were still five points behind. Whitwell showed why he is such a regular on the team and came from behind to put the score at a nail biting 24-25, meaning York still had the chance of victory. Tom Skingle fought his hardest to keep Aberdeen's lead to just two points. Bainbridge kept pressuring his opponent and even scored a point by retreating off the back of the piste. The 7th fight timed out with a score of 30 points to both teams and there was everything to play for in the next fight that wouldn’t end until a score of 40 was reached by one of the teams. Tom Skingle became the invincible epeeist in the penultimate fight, gaining ten points and putting York in the lead at 40-36. It was all down to the last fight and the team's hopes rested on the shoulders of Harry Whitwell to take the last three points needed. In a very tense final fight, Whitwell fenced with every ounce of skill he could muster and, after losing a couple of hits, got the winning hit. The fight ended the epee on a final score of 45-42 to York.

With a well deserved final match score of 120-114 the York team progress to the semi finals of the Trophy. It is without doubt that if it weren't for the very strong performance from the sabre team of Adrian Speakman, Harry Whitwell and Tom Jones victory for the York team would have been much harder to secure. As a result of gaining the highest indicator (+7) in the sabre and ultimately in the whole match the award of man of the match, for what will hopefully not be the team's last victory, should be awarded to Adrian Speakman. Special mentions should go to Tom Skingle and Harry Whitwell for very strong epee performances.

In the backs of all of the team's minds as they prepare for next week's semi final is the prospect of heading to Sheffield on Friday of week 10 for the finals. But the captains won’t be taking anything for granted in the next week ensuring intensive training sessions for all the team members between now and next Wednesday including a match for Varsity scheduled for Sunday. The team are hopeful they will be able to do enough to beat their opponents, Birmingham, next week but it will certainly be a very tough and undoubtedly very tense match for all involved.

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