Round 1 Pennant Wrap
The WR Engineering Pennant commenced this weekend past with a few faces missing, and some ‘new look’ teams. In the Men’s Grade 1, missing from WC when they took on Queanbeyan were 2018 pennant winning skips Todd Trewarne and James Reynolds both of whom have returned to their former home clubs. Nonetheless, the depth of high end players, plus the pick up of Ben Bourne from the central coast, suggests the Creek will be a force again this year. They took two rinks from the unchanged-from-2018 Queanbeyan team, with Ashlin’s rink winning by a mammoth 21 shots. The McLean/Chesher rink went to McLean by one shot whereas Dagwell took Queanbeyan’s only points. Final score WC 62, Qbn 56 (2-1). Over in the North, Belconnen, with the addition of former City player David Lalor, posted a draw against a largely unchanged Yass team. Yass’s Fitzgerald and Howard had good rink wins, with Belco’s Peter Watts being the difference between and draw and a bunch of sad faces! Final score Belc 68, Yass 68 (1-2). On the synthetic surface at Canberra, there were several new faces in the CBC team: Fawthrop formerly from Qbn, joined Cliff Gilbert, Charles Smith and Reg Jackson from City. Tuggeranong took the major points, though, largely thanks to the performance of (relative) newcomer Shane Ordelman and his rink. Tuggeranong’s Southwell and Canberra’s “Two-Dads” had a draw, but word on the street is that a schmick last bowl from Southwell saved several shots to take the draw. In the other rink, Gilbert (,C) had a one shot win over Perrin (T). Final Score Can 54, Tugg 61 (1.5 – 1.5). In the final match of the grade, Norths travelled to Queanbeyan to play QRSLM. The Norths team was certainly ‘new look’ with the addition of David Hill, Robert Kelly, Tony Barry and Geoff Brewis from City, and Nathan Savino formerly of QRSLM. Despite this, they struggled against the Diggers’ ‘big guns’. Craven’s rink was solid all match, ending up winners by a clear 17 shots. Early prediction – it will take something special to beat that team! Turner’s rink also outplayed his opposition posting a 10 shot win. Hill (CN) saved face for the visitors with a 4 shot win giving them 2 points. Youngster Brock Edwards pulled on the QRSLM uniform for the first time, playing against T Barry, some 60 years his senior! Final Score QRSLM 71, CN 48 (2-1).
In Grade 2. WC powered home over Tuggeranong with decent wins across all rinks. Final score Tugg 44, WC 77 (0-3). It was a much closer affair at Norths when they hosted the Belconnen 2’s, with rink points shared. The Maggs (B) v Schipp (CN) rink had a draw, Barnsley (CN) had a two shot win, but (shades of last year?) Bice’s (B) rink earned them the big board points. Final score CN 56, Belc 61 (1.5-1.5). QRSLM 2’s were at home to Queanbeyan, duplicating the grade 1 dominance. The QRSLM team, boosted by the three former Bungendore Edwards’s, and a bunch of familiar names from 2018, won all three rinks; Neil Craven’s rink being the best performed rink on the day. Final score QRSLM 73, Qbn 53 (3-0).
In Grade 3, WC posted the club’s only loss of the round going down by not much to Tuggeranong. Maloney (WC) won his rink by one shot, as did Batchelor (T) leaving Naughton’s rink win the decider. Final score WC 57, Tugg 65 (1-2). Yass hosted Canberra and had two good rink wins (B Bush & J Rath) in a high scoring match. Allan Morgan was Canberra’s only winning skip. Final score Yass 74, Can 60 (2-1). It was Yowani v Goulburn in both the 3’s and 5’s in a scheduling co-incidence, with boasting rights going to Goulburn in both cases. Two rinks were close (one each) with one Goulburn rink (Ensby) dominating. Final score Yow 65, Gbn 77 (1-2).
In Grade 4, there are again some questions over rink scores but I believe the following could be true!: Tuggeranong defeated Belconnen by 6 shots overall but there were a couple of big rink wins – to Ron Kropp (T) and Stephen Young (B). Final score Tugg 58, Belc 52 (2-1) Weston Creek had a big 3 rink win over Norths with Mick Thornton’s rink being the best performed with a 20 shot win. Final score WC 83, CN 55 (3-0) In their third home game of the round, QRSLM felt the might of the lads from Queanbeyan going down on all rinks. Best performed rink was David Van Reesch’s with a 13 shot win. It was good to see Jim Macfarlane back on the green, too! And in case you are wondering whether you are too old to play, 92 year old Harold Whitby held his own for QRSLM – well done, harold! Final score QRSLM 45, Qbn 68 (0-3)
In Grade 5, again, I believe the following are correct though we are still confirming some rink scores…. Goulburn had their second win of the round against Yowani. Jouko Karjalainen’s rink (G) was the best performed on the day, the other two rink results were shared one apiece. Final score Gbn 58, Yow 46 (2-1). Belconnen gave Yass a bit of a dust up on one rink (Ken McDonald) +26, with the other two rinks much closer, and shared one apiece. Final score Belc 69, Yass 48 (2-1) Bungendore started off their season aiming to regain that flag with a three rink win over Tuggeranong. Rink scores still to be corrected online but all were close. Final score Tugg 52, Bung 58 (0-3). Last but not least, QRSLM almost got to the ton scoring 94 shots all up when they defeated Norths. President Mick White (QRSL) had a rink win of +43 shots, whereas Noel Gallagher’s rink win (CN) enabled Norths to take two points. Final score QRSLM 94, CN 50 (3-0). Queanbeyan had the bye.
In the Women’s Grade results, QRSLM1 & 2 played North/Yass and Norths respectively, both at QRSLM. QRSLM 1 had big wins on both rinks (Moore & Gillespie), whereas Norths did the same in their match with good wins to Merritt and McGown. Here’s hoping the Yass ladies have overcome illnesses, injuries and other commitments for their next match! Final scores QRSLM1 61, Norths/Yass 31 (2-0). QRSLM2 29 Norths 45 (0-2) Tuggeranong and Belconnen shared the rink points with Tuggeranong winning on the major board by 5 shots. Our own Jenny Clout, who, might I say loves her job (grovel, grovel!!) was the best performed on the day! Final score Tugg 36, Belc 31 (1-1). At the Creek it was another close one with Canberra sneaking over the line by 4 shots all up. Final score WC 36, Can 40 (0-2) Queanbeyan had the bye.
One last comment: Apologies for the lateness of this report, and if there are errors! There were a large number of dodgy entries this week so remember that BOTH Clubs enter teams beforehand; The HOME team is responsible for entering the results. The AWAY team is responsible for aligning the rinks and confirming the scores. If you notice an error, take it up with your club first!
