Gallery Seven ... Day 2, continued....

More from the River Vilaine on the final day...

Above: Trying to compete with next peg Guido, Diego da Silva keeps up the bombardment of groundbait, but can not keep up with Guido's catch rate... which must have been very disconcerting for the classy Frenchman.

Left & below: Guido's accuracy with his throwing arm is legendary, even at bolo range. His concentration too, is impressive, as he adopts his familiar standing pose with the bolo rod.

Above: The view of A section looking towards the low numbers. Ukrainian angler Olexandr Kandyba is in centre screen foreground with Romanian Tiberiu Rancu looking on at next peg Guido Nullens with Diego da Silva bringing in a small fish.

Above & below: The mullet on the venue were hard fighting and many were lost in heavy weed growth. One of England's new crop of anglers, Steve Hemmingray, trys to get to grip with one such specimen.

Above: Safely in the net, this hard won fish helped Steve gain valuable points in his relatively close section. Steve had a blinding last day and nearly took the section with 9.695kg, but was eventually pipped at the post by Portuguese star Mario Baptista by just 220grams.

Left & above: Some of the slider distances fished were beyond the reach of a normal hand job, so the 'caty' came into its own, especially for the English lads who relied more on the slider than bolo rod.

Above: Italian Ferruccio Gabba couldn't improve on his 9th in section C on day one, finishing day two in the same position, same section again.

Left: Portugal's Mario Baptista came so close to winning a medal in France, finishing in overall 5th place. Perhaps he'll make amends during this year's WC in his home country.

Left & below: Given a chance by Stu Conroy's poor showing on day one, Darren Cox concentrates on securing England some valuable points on day two, under the watchful eye of joint manager Mark Addy. Darren, like Steve Hemmingray, is one of the new crop of English talent available to the two Mark's. England's dismal showing on day one was overturned with a gutsy performance, which saw them secure a bronze medal when all hope of gaining anything had seemed completely lost!

Right: D section was a hotbed of action with three anglers sitting next to each other who were in medal winning positions. Frenchman Eric Lubin had posted 2pts the previous day and had now drawn peg D3. Here he is taming a Vilaine mullet on his way to weighing 8.150kg. Unfortunately he was also beaten by pegs 1 & 2, which left him 5th in section and out of medal contention.

Below: Eric baits up for another big mullet.

Right & below: Peg D2 was Stu Conroy's peg on day one and he'd only managed 2.900kg. In hindsight it's difficult to accept that Stu could do so badly from a peg ultimately to produce over 12 kilo's on day two... and on the pole. England were aware that there were certain pegs which would produce a dominant pole attack and Belgian ace Eric Di Venti did just that to not only win the section but also take a silver individual medal behind his illustrious team mate Guido Nullens. Matchangler's David Ewing was drawn next to Eric at our EuroMeet tournament in May and was greatly impressed by this charming and versatile angler... even if they did both blank!!!