A cautious approach perhaps?
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Today (Sunday) would prove very interesting as just about everyone now knew the value of that inside line, in particular a certain Mr T. Walter, who was pegged next to Steve Gardener in D section. Tamas filled it in with sweetcorn during the pre-baiting session. We even caught Tamas having a crafty nibble of his sweetcorn feed, just to check that it was perfect. Luckily, Tamas didn't feed any chopped worm or he may have felt the need to taste that too! (see our 'Candid Camera' video coming soon)

ImageImageIf their was one concern for England, it would be for where Des Shipp had drawn. Section A needed a high or very, very, low draw to produce any decent weight. Des had pulled peg 14, which had shown itself to be very mediocre. The concern would last the whole day as Des slipped gradually further down the section.

Right: Des gets a good carassio in the last half hour. But it did little to push him further up the section and he remained in the bottom ten. He was England's only struggler on day two so to some extent his result (fortunately) was not relevant because other top teams also had 'blowouts'.


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A past World and European Champion, Umberto Ballabeni nets yet another good skimmer on his way to decisive section win. Like most of his team mates, Umberto suffered a major blowout on the first day and as a consequence the team paid the ultimate price on the podium!

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San Marino's Massimo Biordi lifts into a decent fish from A10. Unfortunately it didn't help him as he needed more of them, to push him away from 24th position.

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What can you say to Jaco Goodwin to diminish his undoubted pleasure on day one with that marvellous section win... nothing I would imagine. He was no doubt recounting that moment as he sat motionless in A section. It's a fact of fishing that one minute you're a Hero, the next a 'Zero'. He still managed to put a few decent teams behind him as he weighed in 1.170kg for a 31st place in the section. He'll be no doubt keen to repeat that 'moment' when he comes back to Holland next year. (a few more pics of SA guys to come when we put up further galleries)

Team-wise, the main threat to England in this section was San Marino's Massimo Biordi, but he ultimately finished in 24th place, gaining only 5 points on his English rival. The classy Italian, Umberto Ballebeni, was drawn right on the button and finished the day by winning the section. He would gain a massive 29 points over England for his country. The other sections would now prove crucial if Italy were to salvage their Championship dreams.

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England's Sean Ashby lifts into a good fish opposite the smelting works, which had been a hotspot all week. Sean did an invaluable job of neutralising two of the main threats in the section, San Marino and Italy. His second place finish split the two 'Italians' and kept pressure on their other teams mates to do better.

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Portugal's Antonio Marques was a live prospect for B section honours, but just fizzled out towards the end. His 10,400kg and 5pts helped his team to a creditable 9th place finish.

B section had Sean Ashby up against Sorti, nearly a rerun of the previous day's duel with William. Both anglers had drawn good pegs opposite the smelting works, Gianluigi fishing just 3 pegs away from his day one peg... could he do better this time? Sean was seven pegs away on B23. The final weigh put Sean one point in front of the Italian, the tide was stemmed in this section at least. The San Marino angler, Massimo Selva, finished ahead of Sean in first place, so they only gained one point on England here.

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Gianluigi's draws better than 'Leonardo da Vinci', as he found himself just a few pegs away from his day one peg, opposite the smelting works. Unfortunately he had England's Sean Ashby to try and get past this time and like William, Gianluigi found this Englishman equally obstructive! Nevertheless Gianluigi was by far Italy's best performer over the two days, even if he needed a guard dog to help fend-off any challengers in the section!

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Sean Ashby's catch of 11,800kg wasn't far short of taking the section away from San Marino's Massimo Selva. Sean caught late and pulled back a fair few points on the two home teams.
C section saw Will Raison draw one off end peg (C36) with the Rumanian angler Szolt Benzar on his left. Also in Will's section was the German Rene Bredereck, lying on 2.5pts and the Czech Republic's Luca Pergreffi, on 3pts. His Italian and San Marino rivals, Stefano Defendi and Andrea Riccardi could pose a threat to England's points score as they where siting in good areas at the beginning of the section so their was no way Will could keep his eyes on them! By the time the scales reached William, tension was high. The weigh in already had registered a 11,590kg for Defendi on peg 1. The German had 7,468kg with sixes and five's for the Czech and San Marino competitors, they looked out of it. The scales settled on 10,260kg for Will and he's done his job well for England, only conceeding one point to the Italian.

There was now the small matter of that individual placing. William had amassed a total of three points and combined weight of 23,530kg. Realistically, there remained just one angler who could take the gold medal from William... San Marino's Jacopo Angelini. He was also on one point, but he had drawn on E section's peg 27, not a good area. France's Diego da Silva had only recorded 1,5kg the previous day. Things looked good for William but you can never be totally certain of anything in angling until the final count! There was also Italy's Iacopo Falsini on 2pts (D8) and Ireland's Willy Wheeler (D1)... but England's Stevie Gardener (D6) was riding shotgun for William here! Poland's Kamil Dzikiewicz (E4) was also siting with 2pts after the first day. All three anglers had lower weights recorded from day one, so they would have to pull something miraculous out of the hat to get past William's 23kg+ on a tied 3 points... which as we now know, did not happen!

Having scored 3 points on day one, Steve's concern, as always, was to ensure England's success. He'd drawn well in section D on peg 6, along with Ireland's Willy Wheeler on peg 1 and Hungary's charismatic Tamas Walter next door on peg 5. What could England's finest technician produce to keep the Italians in their place! Iacopo Falsini is a dangerous competitor at the best of times and he was only two from his English adversary on peg 8.

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Italy's Stefano Defendi's poor showing on day one was put firmly behind him on the final day. He was one of only two Italian's to seal a section win, on a day they needed at least four! Although they won the day, the 41pts scored must have been well below their expectations, when you consider England's 22pts the previous day. The Italians were however the big winners of the week for the effort and organising that they put into these Championships.

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Will Raison punches the air in victory after his sensational win in Italy. It acheived a dream he's harboured ever since his entry into the England setup. It was always, 'not if he'd win gold, but when'! It's now become a reality, and what price would you give for him to duplicate it again... SOON.
The focus of attention rested on both D and E sections, which now came into the limelight with several powerful finishes and duels in prospect. The main one in D section was between England, Hungary and Italy. Early signs were that the Italian Falsini was going to match England's Steve Gardener fish for fish, but a lost fish soon put paid to any aspirations that that the Italian may have been harbouring and as a consequence he started ringing the changes, which seemed to cause a noticeable loss of concentration. Many anglers lost fish, including the Welshman Andrew 'Spud' Murphy, in between Italy and England. Steve was behind early to Tamas Walter, who had set off at a blistering pace with two fish inside the first 10 minutes (see video to come). Steve, however, has a very wise head on his shoulders and concentrated on building his swim, knowing full well that a solid approach would reap the rewards later on. He was right, and produced a vintage performance to secure the section with 8.020kg, consigning Ireland's medal hope, Willy Wheeler, to second place with 7.850kg. With Steve and Willy now tying on 4pts each, it looked as though they could be filling the minor medal placings, if section E didn't spring any surprises.

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Hungary's Tamas Walter nets an early fish from D section to steal a march on his next door neighbour, England's Steve Gardener. Match Fishing editor Dave Harrell completely misses the action as he relaxes behind Steve, obviously waiting for the 'pussy' to arrive!

The pressure from Hungary and Italy completely fizzled out with Tamas and Iacopo finishing in 6th and 21st positions respectively. To add insult to injury, Falsini found himself on the receiving end of a hammering not only from Steve, but also from 'Spud', and looked extremely disappointed at the end. Italy's hopes now seemed to have evaporated into thin air. It looked to be a two horse race, with England well in front and tiny San Marino left to carry all 'Tifosi' hopes! E section would eventually seal the final result.

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Steve Gardener has seen it all before, he knows the value of a patienct build-up. Although Tamas hit him with two quick fish, Steve came back with a bang. A super 2kg (pussy) catfish which probably got everyone's hackles up!
The middle of the section again turned in some 'sour' weights, but it was poor Martin van Gastel from South Africa, who held everyone up, with his return of 250 grams and 37 points from peg 31. That summed up South Africa's weekend... one moment you're on top of the world, the next you're propping it up (pardon the pun!)!

All that now remained was E section. Would it produce a dramatic conclusion to a superb weekend? Just one thing stood in the way of Englands glorious 'double'... San Marino's Jacopo Angelini. He held the key to both team and individual medal honours, but he needed a major 'blowout' from  Alan Scotthorne. With Italy seemingly consigned to the minor placings, San Marino was the only team who could snatch gold from England and Will Raison. If Jacopo was to win the section and Alan Scotthorne was finish down in 30th place, then we would have been celebrating a San Marino 'double'. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your place of birth, Jacopo could do no better than finish in 33rd position, from a draw which had produced a 32nd in section the day before, he'd done his best. Alan Scotthorne did what only a 5x World Champ can do, produce a solid middle section finish (19th/4.100kg) from a peg which produced a 36th (500gr) place the day before!

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It was, at the end, quite tight at the top and although Steve Gardener's 8.020kg was enough to take the section and draw level with his nearest points rival, Irelands Willy Wheeler (right), he still fell short of Willy's total weight by 230gr, which cost him the silver medal position. (Our thanks the Match Fishing magazine for Steve's picture and our Hungarian MA Plus member, Henike Moscari)

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It was a nerve racking time after all the weigh-ins. Would England fend off strong pressure from both the Italian and San Marino sides. Would anyone come out of the pack and snatch gold away from Will? The answer was NO. Drennan Team England had done more than enough to reach the pinnacle of angling success, World Team Champions. William too, was relieved and jubilant to finally acheive what every aspiring match angler seeks, the title of World Individual Champion.

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San Marino have just heard the final placings and are a bit pleased! They have put one over their larger next door neighbours and taken a prized team silver medal. They came so close to upsetting England's march on gold, but in the end earned a well deserved podium place after their hard work. Like the Italian squad, their anglers fish the major Italian leagues and were very familiar with the Spinadesco's little secret!
The result was now history. England had secured team gold along with an individual gold for Will Raison. The silver and bronze individuals positions had already been worked out by Finton Lawler, the Irish team’s runner and captain in the aftermath of Bobby Smithers’ sad death. He had been like a kid in a sweet shop during the weigh in on D section. Following the scales, Finton was kept busy doing the maths all the way through the weigh-in, to establish whether his man Willy had done any good. Having established that Willy and Steve had tied on 4pts, Finton's maths put Willy in the silver slot by a 'whisker'... 230 grams!

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The moment of glory, England flanked by San Marino and Italy, accept the accolades of the crowds as they lift the Champions trophy aloft. Their margin of victory was astounding when you consider who's 'turf' they were fishing on! The 29pts gap was not just an easy win, it was an emphatic one, this team must surely go down in history as one of the finest ever to grace a championship venue.

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A stunning site, three superb anglers receive just rewards for an outstanding tournament. Ireland's Willy Wheeler must have had his past captain Bobby Smithers jumping for glee at the pearly gates! Steve Gardener yet again shows everyone the value of experience and consistency being the greatest team angler in history with NINE team golds! Will Raison finally broke the 'ice' and demolished the world's best, as only he can.

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What value would one place for this type of national/local coverage of angling in the UK. The regional newspaper around Cremona, La Provincia, was available on both weekend and weekdays. It carried extensive reports of the championships in both its Sunday and Monday editions and was a credit to the way the Italian press viewed this important world event, if only our own nationals would adopt a similar stance.

ImageImageRight: What can be said about these two guys that has not already been printed. They complement England's set up in a way other nations can only eny and dream of copying. They have a relaxed yet professional attitude, which permeates throughout the squad and brings such stability that its hard to imagine England without them... a master stroke by Dick Clegg OBE! They typify all the spirit which pervades throughout the English camp... arise Sir's Mark & Mark!

England (both team and individuals) have now firmly established their position as the greatest gold medallists in the history of the Championships (28 in total).