The rematch. We were still outgunned, but I was hoping for a closer match than when they beat us the first time. We got off to a great start on Board 1:
Harry judged well to go to 3S and Aidan to 4S. This contract is making, as declarer can draw trumps and just lose a Heart and a Diamond. But East-West also judged well and sacrificed in 5H. This was doubled and off two for +300.
On the other table North opened 1NT and Kevin bid an immediate 3H, winning the auction. We briefly lead the match 10-0.
After that we bid games that weren't there, Scotland bid games that were and they quickly put 50 IMPs on us. There were three hands which require careful technical declarer play (e.g. 'loser on loser') that we weren't quite up to - not surprising given the limited time we'd been playing.
This was an exciting board on which everyone did well:
The Scotland West opened 5C, with East and everyone else making a disciplined pass. Over to Aidan for the opening lead. He kicked off with his Ace of Diamonds, the right lead against this sort of contract in order to 'have a look at dummy'. Dummy is now high in Hearts and Diamonds so the only hope is a Spade. Aidan lead the Queen, covered by the King and Ace, and Harry returned a Spade for one off.
It sounds straightforward but it would have been easy to misdefend. In two of our matches and one in the Junior Camrose 5C was allowed to make.
On the other table Michael had the West hand. As Paul Gipson said "I doubt Michael has ever seen such a hand, but his choice of opening bid augurs well for his bridge future". Unfortunately for the present, the Scotland defence were also up to it and the board was flat in 5C-1.
In the last few boards we won a few IMPs back , with some spirited bidding from both sides - exactly as it should be in a Junior International. I have been impressed with the judgement skill of all the teams so far, and although we lost heavily at least we boosted the other Scotland team
Our 23-74 IMP loss translated to just 1 Victory Point. Current standings:
After six matches we have won two of them, and avoided any 20-0 defeats!
Tomorrow it's England, Wales, Ireland then Northern Ireland again.
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