2026 HOME NATIONS Championships in Stirling Scotland.
Over the weekend of 8 and 9 August, a selected team of 26 players took part in the 2026 Home Nations championship in the beautiful setting of Stirling Wolves petanque club. Each nation had seeded their teams after qualifying and Geoffroy Buffetrille, Laurent Pellaton and Neil Selby were Jersey 1 with James Rondel, John Lane, and Matthew Pinel Jersey 2.
The four nations teams were piped to the terrains where the Lord Lieutenant and Stirling’s Provost, welcomed everyone and threw the first boules.
Jersey’s eight triples first took on Scotland, and this resulted in four games each. Jersey took one game to 0, another to 1 but they also lost to 11 and 12.
Round 2 against the Welsh team saw Jersey win all but one game, but then it was time for the first games against the reigning champions, England. This was a narrow win with England taking three wins to Jersey’s five.
Back to Scotland, after lunch and Jersey won this time 6-2, and beat Wales 5-3 before losing to England 2-6.
So, at the end of day one England had a small lead of four wins, having taken more wins against Scotland and Wales. Scotland were just two games less than Jersey with Wales sitting in fourth place.
Outstanding teams were Jersey 3 (Alan Oliveira, Andrew Bellamy-Burt, and Callum Stewart) and Jersey 8 (Katrina and Trevor Holden and Brian Harris) both teams winning five of their six games. Coming close too were both Jersey 6 (Cassie Stewart-le Gallais, Jake Romeril, James Gennoe, and Ross Payne) and who won 4 games and lost another to 12.
Day two starting in rain, so slightly altered surfaces. Jersey unfortunately lost to Scotland 3-5, before beating Wales 6-2. Once again, Jersey held England to a draw- Jersey’s team five (Jean Stewart, Jeremy Gregg, and Ross Churchill) winning to 1.
In the final rounds once again, Scotland held Jersey to a draw, but Jersey beat Wales 6-2.
With England now eight games ahead of Jersey and with a superior points difference, it was a big challenge facing Jersey. All the players were at the top of their game and some excellent pointing and firing was on display. The England team proved they were indeed the best, but the round was drawn. Jersey 7 (Christine Eccles, Gary Cowburn, Wendy Ritzema, and Keith White) played a superb game to beat their opposite number 13-0.
Jersey’s team 4 (Alan Lahiffe, Matt Scholefield, and Stephen Leatham) had a very tough first day taking on each of the other nations number one and two teams and could not find a win. However, they came back fighting on day two winning five games, only losing the final one to England.
So, England retained the trophy, with 64 ins, Jersey had 56, Scotland 49 and Wales 23.
The Jersey seeding proved itself as Jersey 1 were top performers, with 9 wins, Jersey 2 won 8. Teams three, five, six and seven all won 7 games and team eight won 6.
With several Jersey players competing at this level for the first time, every player contributed to the team’s success.
Thanks are due to Dawn Buckley who was team manager with the task of ensuring all teams were in the right place and collecting all the scores.
The whole championship was played out in a very friendly, sporting manner and a great weekend was enjoyed by all.
The JPA would like to thank their sponsors, Integritas and Snap and Jersey Sport for their support.