Last years runners-up and one of the favourites for this years competition Southampton are out of the Club Pairs after finishing last in their second round tie at Swinton (24). The hosts—represented by Magomed Saitov (16) and Mario Mueller (8)—topped the standings alongside Grangemouth (24), in what has to be said was by far the most competitive of the two ties, it featuring five of the six top flight sides left in the competition. Halesowen (26) the odd one out, their pairing of Darren Corbett (15) and Andy Daniel (11) dominating the qualifier at Wolverton (19), scoring four 5-1’s on their way to a six point victory over Coleshill (20). Bullbridge (19) and Wolverton finished a further point back and both will join the top two in next weeks final in Liden, as will SL22 and 24 winners Eastbourne (20), who finished third in the Swinton qualifier.

Three 5-1’s in the final five heats earned Southampton three out of a possible four points from their Division One Cup first round meeting at Auckland. The hat trick of Goran Seslar (16+2)/Sergey Guerk, (15+2) maximums turning a six point deficit into a 44-46 victory for the Saints, who are now clear favourites to progress to their fourth successive semi-final in the competition.

Stone Cross’s impressive start to their division two campaign came to an end with a shock home 44-46 defeat to Kingsgate. The Crusaders had followed up their back-to-back wins in the opening week with a draw at Sawley, where a couple of 5-1’s involving second string Derek Chandler (8+1) and a last heat 4-2 won by Dusan Hobler (15+1) had seen them level things in a meeting they had trailed in by eight. However the Kings proved to be tough opposition and Stuart Smith’s decider to drop his trump card at reserve Jonathan McKechnie perhaps backfired a little, they conceding a 4-2 and the lead to the Kings in heat 14, a race he would have featured in. Dejan Jermanis (5+1) became the fifth different visitor to win a race in that, his fellow second string Anton Smyshlyaev (12) had already won two and went on to finish second in a meeting winning 3-3 for the visitors in the last. Elsewhere Sawley recovered from their dropped point to Stone Cross at home to win at Coleshill, 43-47, Tarmo Zelinski (15) scoring his first maximum since his late pre-season switch to the Grenadiers from Rugby in the victory. In division three Burrett Road are the new leaders thanks to their 42-48 win at Lenton and later 16 point home win over Wednesfield.