Fixtures for the second phase of the BWPL season are now published on this website – see Fixtures tab.

The men’s and women’s Super 5s begin at Aldershot on 20/21 January, followed by weekends at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, the new Sandwell Aquatics Centre in the West Midlands, then the Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry, for the finale on 23/24 March.

A further new venue, Eton College, features on men’s Championship 1 and 2 schedules.
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Another provisional date for your diaries – BWPL AGM, Sunday, 9 June.

It needed a cliffhanger final game of the men’s Division 2 campaign at Bristol today to complete the top five, who will all head for Championship 1 in the New Year.

Invicta faced Exeter, who were already assured of progress to Championship 1, knowing that a draw would be good enough to ensure their place. They lost 15-14 – which meant that City of Bristol and Caledonia finished fourth and fifth and Invicta joined Southampton and Hucknall in Championship 2. Watford, who defeated Bristol 11-7 in their final match and finished top of the table, and Portobello were the other top five teams.

Division 2 had been fiercely competitive throughout – a total of eight drawn matches, including the first three in today’s final session.

Caledonia will be grateful for the priceless point they collected early in the day by drawing 12-12 with Invicta. At the start of the last period, Jack Waller’s third goal put Invicta 12-9 up only for Ben Fyfe and Chris Campbell to reply with man-up strikes. Alex Harris struck the equaliser just 55 seconds from the end.
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Invicta led 4-1 early on against Exeter, but the Devon side went ahead for the first time at 9-8 at the end of the second period and retained a narrow advantage until the end. Reuben Powell scored seven of Exeter’s goals.

The line-up for the men’s Super 5s in the second half of the season was confirmed today when Sutton & Cheam defeated Sheffield 13-11 at Lancaster in their winner-takes-all battle for fifth place.

The other qualifiers are Welsh Wanderers, City of Manchester, Polytechnic and Cheltenham. Sheffield, Penguin and Lancaster drop to Championship 1, which also involves the top five from Division 2.

Sheffield scored first against Sutton but the London side never looked back after taking the lead in the first period. Four-goal Ali Wakeling (Photo: Trevor Hyde)  and Josh Luff (3) were their leading scorers.

Welsh Wanderes suffered their first defeat - 16-11 against City of Manchester. Dan Padden scored five for Manchester.
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Cheltenham and Polytechnic players took time out at Lancaster today to pay their own tribute to the late Jerry Birmingham, who played with such distinction for both clubs. Poly beat Cheltenham 14-10. An obituary can be seen below.

Penguin, runners-up in the men’s Super 5s last season, missed out on qualifying for this year’s competition when they crashed 14-7 to Welsh Wanderers in men’s Division 1 at Lancaster today.

Wanderers, on the other hand, will experience the elite competition for the first time after dropping just a single point so far – in a draw with Cheltenham – in an outstanding season. Matt Griffiths scored four in the latest win, although there were seven Welsh scorers in all, underlining the all-round strength of this fast-developing side.  

City of Manchester and champions Polytechnic both won their first games at Lancaster, also ensuring their progress to the Super 5s one again. Manchester scored nine without reply in the final period in completing a 20-6 victory over Sheffield, which included five goals each for Dan Paddon and Joe O’Regan. There were four goals apiece for Tim Rezelman and Chris Brown (Photo: Trevor Hyde) in Poly’s 15-4 success against Lancaster.

Later, Sheffield went down 9-8 to Polytechnic. It means their clash with Sutton & Cheam tomorrow will decide the fifth qualifying place for the Super 5s. Manchester eased to a second win – 16-1 against Lancaster. Seven of their goals were scored by Eleftherios Chelioudakis.

The bottom three in Division 1 this season will drop to Championship 1 in phase two, where they face the top five from Division 2. Watford will certainly be involved – they stayed top of Division 2 after hammering Caledonia 19-9 in their first game at Bristol today.

The home club, City of Bristol, boosted their chances of finishing in the leading five with two wins - 16-13 against Exeter, then 11-10 against Southampton, thanks to two late goals by Nathan Brown. Portobello defeated Hucknall 12-6, taking charge in the second period with goals by Davide Ingala (2), Ben Scott and Giovanni Giunto.