Fencing

Like so many other clubs, the Swords Club had a most successful Tournament week, winning the Fencing Shield by one-half point from CUC. Ian Free was the outstanding VUC fencer, winning nine out of his twelve bouts. Of the people who beat Ian. two (Sharfe of OU and Matheson of CUC) were good enough to be awarded NZU Blues, and none of his nine victims (except Chan of AUC) even gave him a fright

Ray Knox, whose style of fencing is particularly useful in a Tournament, did very well to win eight of his bouts, falling victim, as might have been expected, to Sharfe of OU who lost none of his bouts, Baugham and Matheson of CUC, and Chan of AUC.

Tim Beaglehole was perhaps unlucky to [unclear: lo] to French (AUC), as was Tony [unclear: mais] to lose to Slater (OU), but otherwise these two fencers performed as well as could be expected, winning seven and six bouts respectively.

In spite of the efforts of the men's team, we finished on the first day one point behind CUC, which meant that the women's team had to wipe the floor with the other three Colleges, if we were to win the Shield. Which, of course, we did.

Jocelyn Pyne was the outstanding VUC woman, winning seven of her nine bouts, and making the NZU team.

The other two women, Beverly Hoggard and Diana Fussell, a newcomer to Tournament, fought quite adequately, winning five bouts and losing four each.

The fencing is probably the No. 1 sport for getting oneself into tangless and producing frayed tempers, as seven judges and officials are required for each bout, and it is a tribute to the organisation of Tony Kills and his very competent Presidents Mr. Drew, Mr. J. Stafford and Mr Cooper, that the bouts were fought fairly peacefully and were completed in record time.

Team results: Men; VUC beat OU 11-5, beat AUC 12-4, lost to CUC 9-7 Women: VUC beat OU 5-4, beat AUC 6-3, beat CUC 6-3.