The Studs and WHOREFC quickly established themselves as arch rivals during last season's superleague, an ongoing war of words fuelled by captains Spencer Chapman and Will Skjott culminating in the narrowest of victories (a 3-3 draw won on points) for Chapman's Studs in last year's grand final. Since then there have been two more 3-3 draws between the two sides, and with a place in the final up for grabs this fixture was all about who would cope best under intense pressure.

On paper the two sides were evenly matched once again, and in the first rotation Seb Cooley and Nick Bunyan drew first blood for WHOREFC in a 15-6 win over Nick Shaw and Jeremy Hindle, while Laurie Brock and Spencer Chapman pulled the Studs back level, beating Ed Hewins and Simon Warren Thomas 15-7.

The second rotation saw some big performances - Bunyan especially was rock solid in defence against Shaw and Chapman, while partner Hewins won the big points time and again to pull WHOREFC clear 2-1 with a 15-11 victory. The Studs had to win the other game to pull level, and again they managed it, Brock and Hindle defeating Cooley and Warren-Thomas 15-11. Match score so far 2-2 (42-43 to WHOREFC).

The pressure going into the third rotation was tangible but every player coped well from the outset - the standard of play extremely high and the rallies seemingly endless on both courts. Shaw and Brock reached 14-8 before the pressure caught up with them, both players visbily choking when presented with gold-plated opportunities to close out the game. Finally they managed to cross the line, after holding back a late charge from Cooley and Hewins to win 15-13. A priceless and impressive win.

Meanwhile Hindle and Chapman found themselves level pegging the entire match against Bunyan and Warren Thomas - 5-5, 7-7, 10-10... in the closing stages, the Studs pair won a couple of crucial points in quick succession, setting up an opportunity to clinch a place in the grand final which they duly took, winning the game 15-12 and the overall match 4-2 (77-73).

An ecstatic Chapman commented afterwards "the boys were immense, they have been immense all season. This competition just gets harder and harder, to come through to the final is incredible"

Meanwhile, in the other semifinal, Gangsters took on Fivercide...

The Gangsters, led this year by Ant Theodossi, have been quality in the tournament thus far, but they were to meet one of the form teams, Phil Lyndon's Fivercide, with Dave Mew leading the line as number 1, backed up by Dave Smith, Carl Rennie and Alex Nice.

The first game set the tone for the fixture, with Theodossi and Andrew Joyce teaming up to scrape past a fighting Mew and Rennie 15-12, while on the other court Ryan Perrie and Alex Rattan of the Gangsters made it 2-0, beating Smith and Nice to 7.

Fivercide knew they needed to win points from the second rotation, but despite two very close matches (15-13, 15-11), they couldn't get any points on the board, and Gangsters secured their place in the final, while going on to win the final two matches to 7 and 10.

Although the match result was 6-0, the overall points tally was 90-60, reflecting the challenge set by the Fivercide team. Fivercide will now face WHOREFC in the 3rd/4th playoff on Monday 15th August, at the same time as the final between Studs and Gangsters.

In the individual awards, Jeremy Hindle is just three points clear (273-270) of Ryan Perrie, with the men facing each other on opposing teams at the grand final. Perrie has secured the hotstreak award with a massive 18 wins in a row so far, while Cooley and Pete Cohen remained tied on 18 shots in the hole for the Golden Glove. All very much to play for, so come along on Monday 15th at Westway to lend your support and take in the spectacle.

Full stats here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AgRf8L138jyJdGx0dTlFVVlUYko2Qk5VM3d3eHdfS2c&single=true&gid=3&output=html