WINTER winners Onley Arms hosted the Swan from Little Totham in their opening Essex Invitation Summer Petanque League fixture and started with a 3-0 win despite a good performance from the visitors.
In the triples, Trevor Blows, Steve Tooley and Ian Humm won 13-9 against the Swan's Steve Read, Mick Cochrane and Darren Podger.
The pairs saw Tooley partner Graham Hill and the ex-Rayne Cock duo also had a close game against Podger and Cochrane before edging home 13-9 and the singles proved an even tighter game with Read being edged out 13-11 by Blows.
Thorley started the summer season with a comprehensive win over Bocking BH.
After a 13-4 triples defeat, Bocking's Mark Williams and Paul Griffin lost 13-6 in the pairs and Geoff Cockwell was beaten 13-2 in the singles.
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