Fencing: near miss against Newcastle

After a turbulent first term plagued by multiple cancelled sessions and fixture changes, it was finally time for the Men’s 1st fencing team to play against Newcastle at home.

After losing the match away against Newcastle in November the team were focussed on trying to win this time and keep 2nd place in the league. However York had a depleted team due to some members being unable to attend and another member with a potentially broken toe. Tension between the teams was high as the fencers began their warm up in the rather cold tent. After a small debate about the order of weapons the teams agreed and the fencing commenced.

Sabre was up first and as it is known to be Newcastle’s strongest and York’s weakest weapon there were not any great hopes of York gaining an early lead. York’s vice captain Tom Jones got off to a strong start, conceding only one hit. But the next few fights proved why sabre is Newcastle’s strongest weapon. With a broken blade for Nathan Gibson in the 2nd fight things were really proving tough for the York team. Gibson gave a good 4th fight but Newcastle remained in the lead. Jones made a little headway in closing the gap but Harry Whitwell unfortunately failed to score any points against the anchor from Newcastle. Even in the final fight, with both team’s strongest fencers against each other, Jones only managed to score one point. Sabre went to Newcastle with a final score of 45-27 but everything was still to play for and with their strongest weapons still to come the York team remained upbeat.

Next up was Foil and Whitwell gave York a strong start, conceding just one point. Team captain Tom Skingle struggled in the second fight but kept hold of the lead for York. New addition to the team Ewan Chipping proved why he was chosen and increased York's lead with a score of 15-9 in the 3rd fight. The 4th fight again proved tough for Skingle as Newcastle gained 11 points to overtake York. Whitwell restored faith for the York supporters as York retook the lead and Chipping furthered this by extending York's advantage over Newcastle to 7 points. The final fights for each of the team went in York’s favour and Whitwell finished off with a final score of 45-31 to York.

With only epee remaining and York behind in terms of total points both teams knew that this would be the deciding weapon. York were confident they could win but Newcastle brought on another team member. The start for the York team was not as strong as they would have hoped as Newcastle took the lead 5-2 in the first fight. However some excellent wrist hits from York’s Phil Sellars put York back in the lead. Whitwell and Sellars then continued to keep York in the lead and even timed out on the 4th fight. Skingle then proved he has some excellent fencing skill in the 5th fight as he put York up to a score of 25-21. In the next two fights Sellars and Whitwell kept the lead and York looked as if they could steal the match. With just the final fight to go nerves were sky high for both teams. York needed just five points to win the epee and secure the match while Newcastle needed at least six to win. The anchor epee fencer for Newcastle proved to be very tough opponent for York’s Tom Skingle. Both teams’ supporters were cheering their fencers on but unfortunately for York, Newcastle stole the match from them with a final epee score of 45-43.

The final score for the match was 121-116 to Newcastle, which is a rather disappointing result for the York fencers, who are now placed 4th in the league with two fixtures to go. All fingers are crossed for this Wednesday when the men’s team will be fencing away in Sheffield while the women’s team have their final fixture of the Premier league season at home against Durham. The Men’s first team will also face one final opponent, Keele, next Saturday in the hope they can regain a place at the top of the league.

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