The 2012 Masters was hosted this year by Inverleith Petanque Club which will also be the venue for the 2013 Home Nations.  Inverleith’s variety of surfaces meant that the teams would experience playing competitively under a range of conditions; smooth pistes with small stones, bumpy pistes with larger stones and ‘The Hill’.

The top ranked Men’s players would be given the right to form a team to represent Scotland at the 2013 Men’s European Championships.  The top four teams will be invited to represent Scotland at the 2013 Celtic Challenge in Wales. The top eights teams will be invited to represent Scotland at the 2013 Home Nations.

The 12 teams which qualified from the Grand Prix Series earlier in the year arrived at 9am on Saturday, a bright but very breezy morning.  The order of play and playing areas were predetermined, with each team being allocated a random number which would determine the order of play.

At the close of play on the first day it was clear that The Sex Pisteols were in the mood to retain their title (which they had won in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011), with a perfect 6 wins.  Importantly this included wins against other fancied teams including Pretty Vacant and a convincing win against Grand Prix Series winners Deuchars IPA.  With a number of teams ending Saturday on 4 wins, they would all hope that The Pisteols would slip up on Sunday.

Play resumed on Sunday morning with the Pisteols continuing their fine form in games 7 and 8, but had a blip when they lost game 9 to the steely Acorns 13-12.  Their winning ways were restored swiftly after however and they won games 10 and 11 to finish the competition on 10 wins and retain the title.  Deuchars IPA were 2^nd with 8 wins and Pretty Vacant and Champignons were 3^rd and 4^th respectively with 7 wins each.

Inverleith proved to be wonderful hosts, with delicious morning rolls on both days and chilli and a cold buffet for lunches.  Many thanks go to the volunteers behind the scenes for all their hard work, led by Christine Thomson and Mari Snell.

Congratulations to all who qualified for the International Squad for 2013.  Many thanks to the SPA Competition Committee (Shirley, John and Douglas) for their efficient management of the competition.