Tuesday, September 25, 2012

World Petanque News from PATONKAZ

I will endeavour to keep you informed here, if you do not have a FB account.


uby Vakauta5:10pm Oct 7
new zealand beat luxemburg 13-0 yesterday. this morning they wil play cambodia.


Ruby Vakauta11:40am Oct 6

gr8day of petanque today. the boyz did abfabsaluudle. us supporterz threw n shot every boule with them. they were fantastic ta wotch. won 3out of 5. awsum. shall w8 n c how tomoro goez. GO KIWI'S!!


Tom here from CHCH:
New Zealand winning from the Netherlands is big,  really BIG.
Here is how it went on the Dutch petanque forum:

"nederland -nieuw zeeland 8-8"

"noel tom en joey spelen" reference to who are playing

"Nederland - nieuw zeeland 10. -8. Deze moet gewonnen worden."
Deze moet gewonnen worden means: We must win this one.

"k krijg net 8-12 door waarschijnlijk laatste mene"

"8 - 12 sorry"

"nederland- nieuw zeeland 8-13"

"K%# met peren!" I know what this means, but there is no way I am going to translate this for you.

"Nederland verloren 13 - 8."


Sarah Jane Wright9:42am Oct 6
Taken from PNZ website
Today began well with a stunning 13 - 3 demolition of Laos in the first game. Everyone on fire and performing at their highest level. It wasn't that Laos were a poor team ( they later beat Australia 13 - 0 ), it was just that New Zealand dictated play from the get go and executed their pointing and shooting superbly.

Next up was Tunisia ( a country that has previously won the world championships ). They arrived 8 minutes late and were in line to be penalised by 4 points ( 1 for the first five minutes and 1 for each minute after that ). They claimed not to have heard the announcement and 'in the spirit of the game' they were 'excused' without penalty.

It was nip and tuck for the first two ends before Tunisia gained a 3 point advantage. However they pointed poorly on the next end and we pointed very well on a tough terrain to score 5 points ... it was now 6 - 4 to New Zealand. In contrast the next end was a shoot-out with 2 carreaus to both teams and Tunisia picking up 5 points to go into the lead 9 - 6 having substituted their shooter.

The Tunisians then pointed poorly on the next two ends and New Zealand made no mistake, taking 4 points and then 3 points to secure a great win at 13 - 9.

After two good wins, the games were only going to get tougher and we drew Italy on the number 1 piste, and playing next to France and Spain. We started well picking up 2 points but the Italians hit back with 3, and then another 3 to lead 6 - 2 having made 6 carreaus. With the Italians ahead at 9 - 3, David came on for Christian. On that end the Italians managed to hold with their last boule but left Georgio with an opportunity to shoot for 4 or carreau for 5. It was a beautifully delivered 10m shot striking the target boule but not clean enough to push it far enough and the Italians won the end. A missed opportunity by the narrowest of margins. Another carreau by the Italians on the next end won the game. A 13 - 3 victory that didn't really reflect the game.

At this point we went to lunch which had been split into two sittings with 24 teams eating while 24 played, and vice versa. Lunch over and a chance to get out of the stifling heat of the arena and into the fresh air. The team had a practice session while waiting to hear who their next opponents were.

It was Portugal. Here was a game we felt we could win but things didn't go to plan. It began with a lucky ( for the Portugese ) miss hit on the cochonnet by their shooter which moved it far back to their boules and resulted in a 5 point gain to them. We pulled back to be just 4 - 6 down but the Portugese had a knack of getting things just ( only just ) right at crucial moments, and they kept their score ticking over until New Zealand hit back with a 3 point end to go 7 - 10. On the next end Andre was desperately unlucky when he shot at the holding boule at the side of the cochonnet, and succeeded only in hitting it 'on the head' and it simply bounced up and down. Despite a wonderful covering point by Christian, the Portugese pointer got a fortunate bounce that bumped our boule out and gave them 2 holding boules. Their meilleur finished off the job and the kiwis went down 13 - 7.

The team was disappointed not to have been more effective in a game where all the luck went the other way. A game that got away. The team is resting and showering back at the hotel and return to the Palais de Sport for dinner at 8pm and their final qualifying game at 9.30pm. Despite the set-back against Portugal the team is confident they have the desire and ammunition to win a third game today.


Ruby Vakauta4:55am Oct 5

WOW wot a day. We met up with charles n jean parley. As wel as paul oconnor n stella. We had lunch and then insyd ta wotch shooting. Boy were we loud wen dre came out. He got 29 pointz. Best score for nz thus far. YAAAY DRE!!.


Ruby Vakauta6:31am Oct 4

The team registered today n met up with Lorraine. They got ta hav a look at the stadium. Dre was blown away. Tomorrow the team move to the hotel, us galz wil stay here. The boyz r excited, as r thier supporterz. The team got an awsome email fm Allan Fletcher. It was recieved with great inspiration and laughs. The boyz r now sending one bak in reply,ta wish him luk for the national singles. Thanx Al. The boyz r in gud spiritz and anxious ta get the show on the road. Xxx


Ruby Vakauta3:59pm Sep 29
Itz 6.00am n christian gone to airport ta get David n John. Joanne already here but has not seen david in a week. We will go hav brekfast as team for first tym. Looking forward to it.

Ruby Vakauta1:43pm Sep 27

Sat in a park 2day whilst it poured wiv rain. BUT ..... I look to my left n i can see the tip of the Eiffel Tower. Look to my ryt n therez the Louvre Museum n to my ryt peeple r playin petanque. Whoa....


26/09/12
Ruby Vakauta4:11am Sep 26

boyz hav gone to throw a few boule, i on the other hand am tooo cold to go with them. brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!. caught a glimpse of the eiffel tower on our way bak fm the airport, after piking up dre. wow.

25/09/12
Georgio Vakauta9:02pm Sep 25
Hi there Pipp's

Well we both have just arrived in Paris with Ruby?? weather wise it's cold and grey sky in PAris....buggger that?

We both tired as you know it hours flight, Christian was there to pick us up on time, and now writting this to you at Christian mate dominique appartment having just relax and at 2.25pm today we going to go and pick Andre up at Airport.

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Being a Webmaster is hard and difficult work.

As you can see from the quote at the end of this post, being a webmaster is hard and difficult work.

Looking at Goodbye and thanks to a Webmaster from 2007 we can see that things have not changed. On the plus side we now have "social media" such as Facebook with our own home grown PATONKAZ. The problem with FB is that one needs to have an account - it also seems to be largely an Auckland group. Nevertheless, this FB site is a great effort and I am flabbergasted that no NZ Website has made a link to it (not even the APA website!). By the way, I make links to all - I just like sharing. When we look at the link pages of any of the NZ petanque websites we see links to far flung petanque websites around the world, but not to our home grown PATONKAZ site - Why????

"....However like many of you I lead a busy life and I simply don't have time to 'seek out' news items from around the country. So 'please' do email me with your news and photographs so that the National Website is always interesting and relevant. If you are the Contact for your club, please share this with your members.

Many thanks. John Targett Website Manager"