Five Arches v St Katherines Brains Cup

Five Arches 124 St Katherines 53

In our final Brains Cup match we had to win by a large margin and rely on the Mariners beating St Thomas. We certainly fulfilled the first by winning by 73 shots with fine performances from the rinks of Peter, Lee and Ashley and just a narrow defeat for Tony's rink. Unfortunately St Thomas edged out the Mariners by 13 shots to secure their place in the final.

John Rees, Steve Davies, Ben Simmons, Peter Hooper 36             D Hastings 14
Ken Williams, John Hubbard, Ken Lloyd, Lee Richards 37              S Slade 9
Mike Gouldingay, Dewi McGhee, Harry Ebdon, Tony Brown 16      P Simpson 18
Dai Rees, Tony Powling, Gwyn Beynon, Ashley Hooper 35            D Mathias 12

Halfway to perfection

The Tenby First Team continued their winning ways at home to Pembroke Dock on a blustery Thursday evening last week. This was a re-arranged fixture due to Tenby facing Henleys of Monmouthshire in the first round of the Carruthers Shield on Saturday and the fixture was a perfect practice match for the forthcoming event. Pembroke Dock had only played 4 league games to Tenby’s seven, but they were the only other undefeated team in the league, so Tenby knew they should not take them lightly. Indeed over recent years Pembroke Dock has been Tenby’s bogey side, albeit mainly in the Dock rather than at Fortress Sutton Street.

In any the game started well, once the mats and kit were finally put out by Dai “it wouldn’t happen in my day” Spencer. On rink one, or Cameron White’s rink as it is becoming, Peter Day’s boys had a tussle against multiple County Champion Les Davies. Les is one of the nicest bowlers your ever likely to meet on and off the green, he’s such a gent he even bought Pat Currie a drink! On the rink he and his men enjoyed a good battle with never more than a couple of shots in it, indeed matters were all square after the 19^th end, but with Pat and Peter both adding a shot each they went into the last end two up. Again all the rink played a decent last end taking a three and winning by five in the end. It was a nice start back after injury for Pat, showing that playing away from his accustomed place of skip has not affected his bowls and whilst he may feel he could or should be skipping his attitude has been exemplary (that means good Pat!). As usually Cameron White continued to put in a good performance, Joe Richards being slightly off the mark that evening, no doubt his balance was affected by the reduction in hair following a trip to the Barbers.

With Luke Guymer still playing with his left hand it meant that Mike Jackson continued his role as third to Craig Guymer. With Dai Spencer coming over to second in that rink and Luke Rees continuing his good form this rink was in the box seat from the second end. After dropping a 2 on the first end the boys bounced back with two of their three counts of 5 on the evening and later added to this tally by picking up five 3’s. They only picked up shots on 11 of the 21 ends but such was their scoring ability that when they scored they picked up 2’s, 3’s and 5’s whereas they restricted the opposition to 1’s and 2’s, eventually winning 34-17. The Pembroke Dock boys were very complimentary to the rink afterwards saying that the whole rink had put in a great performance with Craig having one of his usual ‘special’ games.

Sadly the good form didn’t quite follow onto rink three. John Robert’s men were pitted against the canny Brian Dowling. Another one of Pembroke Docks gentlemen bowlers it’s always a pleasure to play against Brian, you know your going to have a hard game against him but he always plays with a smile on his face. That smile was sadly broader that John Roberts’ at the end of the match as Brian pipped JR by 3 shots. It just seemed to be one of those nights for JR. To be fair Luke Guymer is still bowling with his wrong hand and unfortunately it appeared that Dicko had an uncharacteristic off night – to yours truly anyway – I hope there’s not an editors comment in italics stating otherwise! The rink kept trying to the last and having picked up a five with a few ends to go they may even have got closer but time ran out and despite winning the last two ends they fell short by a few.

It was a happier tale on rink 4. Gerald “G-unit” Hewitt was drafted back into side and with swapping Ben Cloake to lead and Geraldo coming in at two there was a nice balance to the rink. Both boys gelling together well up front. Sadly however young Ben decided to play with black socks (“sorry Jon, I was hoping you wouldn’t notice!!”). So another message to his old man Nigel – well done on educating Ben into the world of rock with a foundation of Sabbath, Zeppelin and AC/DC, but try and teach him to remember his correct uniform next time, either that or give him an extra quid pocket money! In the match the back end of yours truly and D&G played well with Wigan having a cracking evening, even with weighted shots, and even though we lost the last three ends the damage had been done early doors and we were convincingly the top rink winning 31-11.  Another fine result the for the boys in blue – a perfect first half of the season, 8 out of 8 in the league, 103 out of 112 points and +300 shots difference. The business end of the season now starts, as we entertain Henleys on Saturday. Hopefully your scribe will be waxing about a good win when you read this, if not the match report may only be three words, something like “we lost – gutted”. But with the strength of the side, the balance of youth and experience and the feeling of camaraderie between the boys a trip back to Llandod may not be entirely out of the question.

Tenby ease through Round 1

The Tenby First Team entertained Henleys of Monmouthshire in the first round of the knock-out stage of the Carruthers Shield last Saturday. Sadly the weather Gods decided that we weren’t going to have it all our own way and the monsoon on Friday and into Saturday morning only served to slow up the green and play into the away team’s hands. In fairness, bearing in mind the rain that we’ve had in May and June, the fact that the green is playing as well as it is is tantamount to the hard work and dedication put in by Green-keeper and Life Member Chris Jenkins.

So out we trotted on a grime and gloomy Saturday afternoon in June hoping to see if the accolades of the previous two seasons could be repeated. Well the short answer is yes, so far so good. However it may be easier to start with rink two this week. Due to Paul Diment pulling out of the side once again Luke ‘South-paw’ Guymer was again drafted into the side at second with John Baggott stepping up to third. After two successive defeats this rink probably felt as if they needed to produce the goods, such being the nature of the sport and the old saying “only as good as your last game”. However all four put in a fine display. Dicko back to his usual boring best, Luke getting to grips with his wrong hand (!) and JB in inspired form. John Roberts marshalled his troops well and played to his usual fine standard, just easing himself into touch for his Welsh Series in Edinburgh this weekend. All the best JR.

Rink three saw another of our budding players of the season, Cameron White, get off to a flyer. He continued his good form throughout the game as was, as always backed up by Joe Richards. Joe may have looked like he’d had a night on the tiles, but luckily for him he didn’t play like he’d had one, well in parts as least. Behind were the ‘experienced’ (which is always a euphemism for old) Pat Currie and his former pupil Peter Day. This were a bit nervy in the first few ends trailing 5-0 but then two 5’s in succession and a count a few ends later set the tone of the afternoon. Mention must be made of the Henleys skip against Peter who drew shot or second bowl when shots down on many ends that afternoon, thus saving his side a heavy defeat.

It was a similar story on Wigan’s rink, who were again stuck out on the graveyard of rink four for the third game in succession. Must get that draw rigged next home game. Again we went behind early doors, only to come back into the game and then strongly surge ahead. Ben Cloake adapting well to his repositioning on lead, and Gerald Hewitt providing steadiness at second. Both boys played well all afternoon and set up the back end boys time and time again. As with the match against Pembroke Dock two nights earlier the back end of Webbie and Wigan combined well drawing shots and turning over heads. As with the rink next door however the Tenby boys could only watch in vain as time and again the Henleys skip produced some wonder bowls to cut down shots or to draw shot himself, again helping his team avoid a heavy defeat. Thankfully though we still managed to retain our top rink status from Thursday (I think).

Sadly this brings us back to the ‘show rink’, rink one. Luke Rees, Dai Spencer, Elizabeth Taylor’s stalker and Craig Guymer. This was a close game with never more than a few shots in it. Sadly dropping a one on the 20^th end left the boys needing three on the last to win, sadly a shot too far. Now, the jury’s out about how this defeat came to pass. The boys on the rink came off absolutely despondent moaning about luck, wicks and all sorts. To be fair from rink 4 it seemed like all the boys were playing well, so maybe luck did choose not to smile on them that afternoon. However there does seem to be a common denominator in Dai Spencer. Since leaving Muskey’s rink we’ve been top rink in the last two games.  Maybe Dai’s not only inherited the D&G mantle but also he’s a bit of a Jonah too! Time will tell, but one things for certain, the boys fought hard to the end and did their very best, not letting things get to them too much and as a Captain you can ask for nothing more. That said it didn’t stop me for fining them for losing.

Having heard the results filter through on Saturday evening, the next match will again be at home against Skewen who beat former winners Old Llandorians. Tenby will be hoping that Fortress Sutton Street remains unbowed or beaten come 9^th July as looking back through the WBA web-site Tenby have not been beaten at home in the Carruthers since at least 2004, maybe longer. When the results came through on Saturday there was a muffled cheers to find that multiple winners Pontrhydyfen lost away to Havelock Park, as the likelihood was an away trip to their village in the Neath Valley. Before that happens though lads, let’s make sure we get past the next round first – one game at a time. 

Finally, huge thanks to Christine White and Lynn Deli for putting on the food and tea, Dave and Dewi McGee and as always to our gorgeous WAG’s.

Five Arches v Neyland

Five Arches 79   Neyland 73

Back to League action on a blustery day in Tenby. It seems a long time since we played at home so after a series of away games so we were looking forward to welcoming Neyland to Tenby's hallowed turf. Rink 2 saw the returning Ray with John, Peter and Clive fight hard in a tight match. Leading 9 shots to 7 at tea and by 17 shots to 16 with 2 ends to go, the match was in the balance. However a fine finish by the Neyland foursome allowed them to ease to 21 shots  to 17  victory. At tea all the rinks were close across the board so it was important that one pulled away to provide some breathing space. Ashley reunited with Dai, Tony and Gwyn provided this. Although a couple of shots adrift at tea they finished strongly and eventually finished with a 28 shots to 17 victory. 

Lee and his team of Stuart, John and Ken have been our most consistent rink this season and once again delivered the goods. In a closely fought game where every shot was vital they secured a 17 shots to 16 victory. Tony ably supported by Mike, Steve and Harry, who was playing his first game for the Five Arches this season, could never quite open a big enough gap on their Neyland opponents. Every time they had a lead of three of four shots it was pegged back so the match went to the final end all square but the Neyland quartet rallied and claimed a two shot victory. A great result in a hard fought game. We are now halfway through the season, having  lost the first match but won the other six we still  remain in contention at the top of the table. The next game  is away to Pembroke Dock Mariners who remain the only unbeaten team in the league so we can expect a tough encounter but the momentum is with us and hopefully we can come away with another good result.

John Rees, Peter Hooper, Clive Webb, Ray Taylor 17                       B Barrett 21
Dai Rees, Tony Powling, Gwyn Beynon, Ashley Hooper 28            G Ross 17
Stuart Askew, John Hubbard, Ken Lloyd, Lee Richards 17               R Evans 16
Mike Gouldingay, Steve Davies, Harry Ebdon, Tony Brown 17      B McKay 19