This morning saw the second of our three team matches, the Protea Match; considered the most prestigious match held annually in South Africa. GB Teams have competed in various international ‘test matches’ in South Africa from the first overseas tour to visit in 1921 but the first time a GB team competed in the Protea Match, as it is now named, was in 1998. This was GB’s 16th appearance in the Protea match, with the hope to repeat last year’s victory over the South Africans on their home soil. Unlike last year, the Protea Match has been changed to the format of 10 shots to count at 300, 600, 800 and 900m with each team having 4 targets, with 4 shooters per target.
After blow offs to prepare, the team were ready nearly 90 minutes before match start. This gave some the chance to relive their youth, or should I say build some team spirit by blasting out motivational tunes from the vans. The jury remains out on whether Lucky was enjoying Parag’s Gary Barlow impression.
The match started at 09:00 with a countdown from General Mac. The General De Wet range decided to gift a match day present of totally different winds from the rest of the week. At 300m a strong headwind thankfully remained fairly straight, needing up to a minute depending on the mirage. We had taken off mirage bands to avoid them acting like wind socks. Due to the steady wind, we cracked through all 16 shooters and GB were first off the range and back at 600m whilst others finished. Scores were reasonable, with the headwinds causing a few buffets but the team finished 8 off (so averaging 49½ points a person) – a solid start but we’d been hoping for even better. Given the steady winds we had been expecting the other teams to drop fewer points, but our score was competitive with South Africa and Australia dropping 14 and 20 points respectively.
At 600m, conditions started to get more interesting, with more waits as the coaches wisely decided to wait through unusual or gusty conditions. Whilst this means the shooters are on the point for longer, the risk of shooting through can be very expensive in points. With the cooler temperatures at this stage, waiting was the right decision. As a result, the team had a very solid distance; again dropping only 8 points across 16 shooters. Australia were top at 600m with only 6 points off.
Back to 800m for the final shoot before lunch. The wind was trickier again, with periods of stop and start, especially in the middle. The stops were deemed so long by one shooter that they woke themselves up with a snore after dozing off! It was again a great decision by the coaching team as magpies were spotted on neighbouring targets as we waited it out. Not needing to rush, but no longer having any time to dawdle we restarted and the 2 minute warning was given as we finished, so perfectly judged waits! Overall, another 8 points off – amazing work from the coaching team. It has to be said that our match ammo is working really well so special thanks to those who worked that up.
At 13:15 we stopped for lunch to rehydrate and refuel. We were quite thankful not to be shooting as a gust came through big enough to take out both GB marquees. With some restructuring, and better use of the guy ropes we re-established our 900m base.
At 14:15 we restarted; and the wind was tricky. Many waits, rests, sighters out of turn, and an eye on the time were all needed. The coaching team worked like a well oiled machine, and only a few points were dropped as the winds changed. We were very happy with the team performance; 20 points off, leaving us 44 points off for the day, having racked up 331 vee bulls along the way. As the results started to trickle in it was clear that we had won the match by a handsome margin.
Final results were GB in first with 3156.331v, South Africa second with 3124.295v and Australia third with 3110.279v. Spirits were high, as was the use of hand sanitiser post the team handshakes.
We returned to the hotel for a well deserved rest and a celebratory drink at the bar. With tomorrow’s State President Third Stage, and the SABU Open Top 20 shoot off, it won’t be too late a night!
