Where Do You Want the Boule to Finish?

We were 7–1 down in a doubles competition last year, against Samuel Lamare of ES Livarot. A European champion, and a friend, which helped not at all.

They were shooting everything we put out. I had barely thrown a shot all game, because they never left me anything worth shooting at.

I told my partner to point to the side. He said no. He was going behind the jack.

When he put the boule there, they chose to point instead of shooting. That gave me something to shoot at, and we started to get back into the game. We came back to 11-all, then lost it in the last end on the finest of margins. I have rarely enjoyed a defeat more.

I’d suggested a different shot. My partner had seen something I hadn’t, and it changed the way both teams played.

That game stayed with me. We spend a lot of time practising how to get close to the jack. It’s worth spending some of that time thinking about which side of it we want to finish.

What would you play against it?

When I first watched good games in France, some of the pointing looked careless to me. Boules off to the side, or sitting behind the jack when I expected them to finish in front. After watching for longer, I began to see that some of those positions were quite deliberate.

A boule can take the point and still leave the opposition a shot they’re very happy to play. That was happening to us against Samuel. We kept giving them boules they wanted to shoot.

Putting one behind didn’t make it impossible to beat. They could point closer from in front, and they could still shoot it. But in that game it changed their choice, which gave us a chance to play differently too.

Before choosing where to leave a point, have a look at what the opposition has been doing. Are they shooting almost everything? Are they happier pointing? How many boules do they have left, and what can you reasonably ask your own point to do on this terrain?

You won’t always know what they’ll choose. You can still think about what you would play against the boule you’re about to leave.

In front, to the side or behind

A boule in front can be very useful if it sits on the route their pointer wants to use. They may have to change the landing spot, play with more height or find another line. On some terrains that’s quite a lot to ask.

Against a team that’s shooting well, the same position may give them a shot they already feel comfortable with. If your point takes the shot and finishes close to the jack, there’s also a chance that contact during their shot moves the jack. Whether that helps you depends on where the other boules are.

A point to the side can leave more space between the holding boule and the jack. Moving it sideways doesn’t by itself make the boule harder to hit. It changes what’s nearby and what a contact might do to the end.

Behind gives you another possibility. If their point catches the jack and carries it back, your boule may become better placed. They may also simply beat you from in front and leave the jack exactly where it was.

The difficulty for me is judging the length. When I get it wrong, the boule can run well beyond where I wanted it and contribute very little. The extra distance I was trying to play becomes too much.

So I wouldn’t choose behind simply because it worked in that match. I’d want a reason for it in the end in front of me, and enough confidence in the shot to put the boule where I meant.

Try both in practice

Put the jack at a distance you’re comfortable with. Choose a small finishing area in front of it and another behind it, with the same amount of room and the same distance from the jack. Make them places you would actually want a boule to stop in a game.

You can mark the edges for the exercise, provided the marks don’t change how the boule runs. Keep the jack and circle in the same place while you compare the two.

Play six boules trying to finish in the front area, then six trying to finish in the area behind. Clear the boules between sets so the first six don’t change the problem for the second.

The front set gives you a comparison. You may already be comfortable finishing there. The second set shows what happens when you deliberately ask for a little more length. Do you reach the area you’ve chosen, or does the boule keep going?

Count how many finish inside each area. Notice where the others stop as well. A boule just outside the area and one well beyond it tell you different things about how you’re judging the length.

This is why I want you to choose a target before throwing. If the target is simply somewhere behind the jack, almost any long boule can look like a success.

Write down the distance, terrain, size of the areas and your two counts in the Pétanque Performance Journal. Repeat the exercise over a few sessions. You can swap which area you play to first, so behind doesn’t always get the benefit of six warm-up throws.

There isn’t a pass mark after six boules. What matters is whether you can keep finding the area you chose, and how far away you tend to finish when you miss it.

As it becomes more familiar, try it in a practice game when you can see a reason for that position. Week 4: Play is about that next step: finding out whether the shot is still available when you’ve got an end to read and a decision to make.

Before the next point

I still think about my partner saying he was going behind. He had looked at what was happening in that game and wanted to give them something different.

You don’t need to make every point complicated. Often the straightforward boule is the right one. But if the opposition keeps dealing comfortably with what you’re leaving, it’s worth considering another position.

Before your next point, decide where you want it to stop. Then ask what you’d play against it.