We started poorly against the very inexperienced Scots team - they had a five-bid auction to a cold 6♦ slam, while our pair followed a complicated route which stopped short. The Scots continued to play simple but effective bridge, losing only an overtrick here and there, so it was halfway through the match before we took the lead. After that we were able to build a lead, but we missed two more slams and won by a slightly disappointing 25 IMPs. Still, it was a morning win: it turns out the key is to select not the right line-up but the right opponents.
In the afternoon we played the very young Norwegians. They're a team to watch for the future, but in the present our guys knew what to do more often than they did, and we accumulated IMPs steadily. This time Oscar and Harry had a simple auction to an excellent 6♦ contract - they were the only U15 pair to bid it. We won the match by 38 IMPs.
Our final position in the top six would depend on how the leading teams had fared against each other. As it happened, the VPs shared out less well than they might have from our point of view, and we finished fourth, 4VPs behind the teams in second and third.
It's disappointing to miss out on the medals, but fourth is an excellent result for our recently formed team. Thanks to coach David Bakhshi, especially for his meticulous briefings on opponents' systems, and congratulations to Sarah O'Connor who assembled and trained the team, and to all six players - Daniel Winter, Jack Ronayne, Liam Sanderson, Isaac Channon, Oscar Selby and Harry Madden.
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