Point, point, shoot. Not a new dance stepThis is Petanque

Point, point, shoot. Not a new dance step

This is a strange tactic that should not work, but somehow, brings benefits. It works by making the opposition play their second boule early in the end. It also gives your pointer a break and chance to readjust to the situation.

Let us look at an example end.

The opposition throws the jack and their first boule is not a good one, but, around 12 inches or 30 cm from the jack. Your team point but, fail to be on. Your team point again and once again fail to be on. You have to play the next boule. This will leave the boule in hand count at 3 to you and five to them. Not good odds. So as the title of this tip suggests, you have pointed twice so you should now shoot. "But we must defend the end" I hear you cry. That maybe true however I am assuming the two pointed boule are actually on the piste somewhere near the head. Let us analyse the situation. You are in trouble on this end. Currently you could drop a six. If you shoot their boule you could only drop a five. Not good although slightly better than the position you were in before you shot. When you hit their boule you will be holding two, three with a carreau. Look again at the boule in hand. You are holding two or three on the ground. You still have three to play and they have five boule in hand but no boule in the head. The pressure has changed from you to them. Let us not fool ourselves. You are still in trouble this end and the next boule is a pressure throw from the opposition. You have built an end from very little.

A team keen on defending in this situation i.e. opposition hold one and you point with your third boule are setting up shooting practice for the opposition. You may not point in with your third boule or your fourth or your fifth. You cannot understand why. It could very well be it is a very difficult area to point to. The opposition's first point may have been a fluke. If you take it from the head they may not be able to play another boule inside your other two boule. To take it further you may have blocked their route with your two unsuccessful points.

This is a team shot. Full confidence in every member of the team is needed. The shooter needs to understand his or her pointer is trying but is being beaten by the piste. The pointer must not let the will to beat the piste stop him from asking the shooter to step in to shoot. As a matter of interest most teams play this system from habit.

This is a difficult tactic to try out but you need to have confidence in the task. If you do not wish to try it at this stage just watch a few top teams in action this year. They will generally use it at some stage in their play.