Caerleon 39 Tenby 136

The Tenby Club started their defence of the Welsh Club Championship last Saturday with a trip to Caerleon.  The Layton and Company Solicitors and Chandler Rogers Estate Agents sponsored team cam through the match in emphatic style winning by a huge margin of 97 shots.

In what could have been the worst draw possible in playing a Monmouthshire Team away, in the first round, the victory was never in doubt.  By the 5^th end, the Tenby team had a lead of 25 shots and 5 ends later held a lead of 46 shots.  The game as a contest was well over by the 15^th end, in which Tenby had a lead of 57.  The 18^th end the team was 83 shots ahead and finished with a 97 shot winning margin.

Philip Carpenter returned for the Carruthers having been ‘rested’ for league matches and held a narrow lead at 5 ends of a single shot.  The lead had increased to 8 shots by the 10^th end (14-6) and this increased to 9 shots by the 15^th end thanks to a five shot count on the 11^th end.  A finish of a 3 and 4 shots on the 20^th and  21^st end saw the rink record a 18 shot winning margin.

Pat Currie’s rink, with Luke Guymer in great form, raced off to a 7-1 lead at 5 ends and 15-3 at 10 ends.  The 12 shot lead was maintained at 15 ends and a run between the 17^th and 19^th ends in which they scored 4, 7 and 3 shots saw a final winning margin of 33-8.

Paul Diment’s rink started slowly but the second half of the game saw multiple counts consisting of three 4 shot counts, a five and a six to record a 38-11 shot win.  Gerald Hewitt was sensational and was a major factor in the rinks huge win.

Andrew Muskett, with Ben Simmons, making his Tenby debut was always in control.  14-2 up at 5 ends, the onslaught continued to record a winning margin of 27 shots (35-8).

As mentioned, Ben, played his first competitive match for Tenby having impressed with the Tenby Five Arches this season, and the young man did not look out of place in the star studded Tenby line up (!)

What a way to start the defence of the title.  With all other clubs over Wales showing interest in how Tenby would perform after last years heroic’s, there can be no doubt that Tenby once again mean business.  Next up is Morriston United from Swansea.  This will be a much sterner test for Tenby as their green is the exact opposite to Tenby’s slick surface and a major contributor in their success over the years.  The Tenby team lost to them in the quarter finals 10 years ago but defeated them easily a few years back, although that game was held at Tenby.   In spite of their green, the Tenby team are much more experienced than their Swansea opponents and over the past few years have proved that they are by no means a home team side and perform equally well on foreign greens.

The other Pembrokeshire representatives, Whitland, were surprisingly defeated at home by the Mid Glamorgan outfit, Ferndale, who although having lost a number of players to Aberdare Harlequins and Treodyrhiw, still managed a 7 shot win against the current Pembrokeshire league leaders.

Tomorrow, Tenby travel to Neyland in a Pembrokeshire League Division One match.

Tenby Scores:

Luke Rees; Cameron White; Craig Guymer and Phil Carpenter 30 – 12 Caerleon

Neil Dickinson; John Baggott; Luke Guymer and Pat Currie 33 – 8 Caerleon

Gerald Hewitt; Mike Jackson; Peter Day and Paul Diment 38 – 11 Caerleon

David Spencer; Ben Simmons; John Roberts and Andrew Muskett 35 – 8 Caerleon

Pembrokeshire County Competitions

At the time of this report, the Tenby Club were also well represented in the County Competitions and had the opportunity to have all Tenby finalists in the Open Singles; Pairs; Triples and also representation in the Under 25’s, Under 18’s, Singles and Rinks.

Luke Guymer and Craig Guymer were in the pairs against Saundersfoot with former Welsh Pairs Champion Pat Currie and Jonathan Webb in the other semi, against Whitland.  Gerald Hewitt, Arron Lloyd and Joe Richards have already made it through to the Triples semi final and they will play either Peter Day (Former Welsh Triples Finalist), Andrew Muskett (former Welsh Triples winner) and Paul Diment or a Whitland Triple.  The rinks have Mike Jackson, John Baggott, John Roberts and Phil Carpenter playing against Fishguard and in the singles, Peter Day takes on John Roberts, with the winner playing either Phil Carpenter (defending champion) or Nigel Davies of Whitland.  In the under 18’s, Luke Rees is cementing what has already been a great season for him and the under 25’s have Junior Internationals Craig and Luke Guymer.  Full final representation will be provided in next week’s report.