Tenby v Milford Haven

Milford Haven 62 (0 Points) Tenby 85 (14 Points)

After the shock defeat to Whitland last week, the defending Pembrokeshire League Champions, Tenby, travelled to Milford Haven.  The Tenby sponsored Layton and Company Solicitors and Chandler Rogers Estate Agents won by 23 shots and took the maximum 14 points.

At five ends, Tenby took control of the game and led by 5 shots.  At 10 ends, the lead had increased to 21 shots further increased to 43 at 15 ends.  Tenby finished with a 100 shots to 62 shots win but as two of the Tenby ‘rinks’ were one player short, a deduction of 25% was incurred and therefore the final result was a 23 shot win.

Rink 1 saw Pat Currie take on Tony Ellyatt and what a game it turned out to be.  Down by a solitary shot at 5 ends and by two shots at 10 ends the Tenby rink dug deep into their reserves to lead by 1 at the 15^th end.  The scores drew level at 18 ends (18-18) and then the former British Isles Champion; Pat Currie saved his rink by reducing a 5 count on the 20^th end and again played a winning shot on the final end to secure the two points.  Over the years there have been many times that Pat has turned in match winning performances and although overall the match was won, it was important to secure maximum points and thanks to the skilful play of Pat, it was.

Rink 2 saw a late change of formation.  Luke Rees was impressive as ever as was former Club Champion Steve Williams.  Craig Guymer has matured extremely well in his new skipping position when deputising for Phil Carpenter and this talented trio took control of the rink to lead 10-6 at 10 ends after drawing 3-3 after 5 (ends).  A further surge saw the lead extend to 11 shots at 15 ends and an unassailable lead was built up at the 18^th end (19-7).  A final winning margin of 25-9 was reduced due to the 25% deduction for the rink playing one player short.

Andrew Muskett’s rink were pitted against Roy Thomas and like Pat Currie’s game, it proved to be a close encounter.  Behind at 5 ends by one shot, they drew level at 10 ends but a dropped 2 and 3 in consecutive ends saw them fall behind at 15 ends by 11-15.  Unlike last week against Whitland, the rink rallied and a superb scoring sequence of 2, 4, 2 and 3 saw an advantage of 22-15 by the 19^th end.  The Tenby team could now breathe a sigh of relief now that a further 2 points were secured for the rink win.  However, just to make matters interesting they dropped a 5 shot count on the 20^th end and a single on the 21^st to scrape home by one.  Joe Richards was by far the most impressive on the rink and his performance was by far his best of the season.  As I have said before, the future is very bright for Joe and in this new position which I know isn’t his preferred choice, he will gain international honours far quicker and I know that the penny may have dropped with this likeable young man to this fact.

Former Welsh Champion Peter Day took over skipping duties from Paul Diment who moved to ‘second’ and with Cameron White as lead, this ‘rink’ also played as a triple against Brian Davies.  A dropped single on the first end was followed by the trio winning 14 out of the next 16 ends.  At 5 ends a lead had been built up of 7 shots (8-1) and a run of 5, 3, 3, and 2 shots saw them move out of distance of their opponents, 21-2.  The score had increased to 29-4 and 32-5 by the 15^th and 18^th ends respectively but a lapse in concentration saw them lose the last four ends to finally secure a 32-12 win.  With the 25% deduction in place, the final rink win was 24-12. Cameron White once again proved was a valuable member of the team he is by having another wonderful match and was backed up by the cool and assure Peter Day at skip.

In conclusion, this was a tough encounter and with issues about player availability leading up to the match and more disruption five minutes before the match was going to start, resulting in Tenby playing two ‘ rinks’ one player short, this was a performance which will be looked back onto as the key result which helped win the league again.  A loss would not have been disastrous but would have heaped pressure on the team, when in all fairness would not have been merited.  Over the years, Tenby have had their backs to the wall and the tremendous team spirit does come shinning through time and time again and this match was another example.

Next weekend the team take on Haverfordwest Castle who almost beat Saundersfoot a few weeks ago.  Therefore the Welsh Champions will take nothing for granted as they bid for a further 14 points to further increase the pressure on the Whitland team.

Rink Scores:

Rink 1: N. Dickinson, J Baggott, J Webb and P Currie 21 – 20 Tony Ellyatt.

Rink 2:  Luke Rees, Steve Williams and Craig Guymer 18 – 9 Peter Collins

Rink 3:  J Richards, D Spencer, J Roberts and Andrew Muskett 22 – 21 Roy Thomas

Rink 4.  C White, Paul Diment and Peter Day 24 – 12 Brian Davies.

Five Arches v Pembroke Dock Pater

Five Arches 130  Pembroke Dock Pater 38

A return to league action after our disappointing result in the cup and a return to sunny Tenby. After a sustained period of dry weather the green was running fast and true. A good win was required to keep the Five Arches in the race for the division 2 title.

Rink 2 saw Tony and his rink of Ben, Eamonn and John in imperious form, they were never behind and romped away to a 33 -10 win. Lee and his rink of Ken, Ben and Ken were once again drawn on rink 3 , the 5th time in 6 matches this season. Whatever mysteries may lurk on rink 3 were soon mastered by Lee and his team, storming to a 33-10 win including counts of 7 and 5.

Clive and his rink of Aaron, Harry and Mike continued their winning ways, they only dropped 6 ends in total and again won by 33-10. To break the pattern, Ashley and his rink of Dai, Tony and Gwyn won by 31 shots to 8, again only losing on 6 ends. In some ways a strange game with each rink winning by 23 and three of them with the same score but a very healthy win by 92 shots boosts our shot difference and the 14 points moves us to 3rd in the table.

Special thanks must go to Ken Williams and Harry Meads for stepping in at the last moment to help us out and also to highlight once again the good form shown by our youngsters, Ben Simmons, Aaron Lloyd and Ben Cloake who continue to impress with their play. Next match is against table topping Pendine down on the Carmarthenshire coast.

Eamonn Maher, Ben Simmons, John Hubbard, Tony Brown 33            S James 10

Ken Lloyd, Ken Williams, Ben Cloake, Lee Richards 33                        M Hyde 10

Aaron Lloyd, Harry Meads, Mike Gouldingay, Clive Webb 33                 J Russell 10

Dai Rees, Tony Powling, Gwyn Beynon, Ashley Hooper 31                 B Duncombe 8

Brains Five Arches v Pembroke Dock Mariners

Brains Cup - Five Arches 77 Pembroke Dock Mariners 80

The first match in the defence of the Brains cup ended in a narrow defeat away to the team we beat in last years final. The game was played on a warm spring evening and provided an exciting ending with the result in the balance until the final few bowls. In a tight game on rink 4, Ashley and his rink of Ben, Tony and Gwyn recovered from a deficit at tea to pull away to a slender lead with only two ends go, however the loss of 5 shots on these 2 ends proved crucial and the Mariners rink skipped by County Secretary Gerard eased to a hard fought 19-17 win.

Rink 3 at Pembroke Dock is well known for its peculiarities and Lee's rink of Ken, Ben and Ray were unfortunate to be drawn against a Mariners rink who their local knowledge  completely out bowled them. Although they only won 4 ends, they are a strong rink and will bounce back from this defeat. Clive and his rink of Steve, Mike and Aaron continued their run of good form.  They were always in the lead and were never troubled and eased to a 6 shot victory.

Tony with John, Cameron and Eamonn providing good support staged a fine recovery to go on to be our top rink. Five down with 8 ends to play they completely outscored their opponents in the remainder of the match to win by 9. Overall a disappointing result but a good, hard fought game. The Mariners have a tricky away game in Haverfordwest so we are still in with a chance of qualifying.

Eamonn Maher, Cameron White, John Hubbard, Tony Brown 25    G Gelderblom 16

Aaron Lloyd, Mike Gouldingay, Steve Williams, Clive Webb 24         D Halward 18

Ken Lloyd, Ben Cloake, Ray Taylor, Lee Richards 11                      G Bann 27

Ben Simmons, Tony Powling, Gwyn Beynon, Ashley Hooper 17      G Thomas 19

Tenby v Whitland

Tenby 76 (2 Points) Whitland 100 (12 Points)

The undefeated Tenby sponsored Layton and Company Solicitors and Chandler Rogers Estate Agents welcomed Whitland in this top of the table league clash.

Whitland have consistently figured in the top three over the past 4 seasons having won their only league title in 2007.  Both sides were in confident mood after both navigating through their respective Carruthers Shield Group.  After 5 ends Tenby were 6 shots in arrears after Whitland came out ‘of the blocks’ quickly.  Tenby rallied at 10 ends and led by 12 Shots.  The usual break for tea came and Tenby looked to press their advantage home but Whitland came fighting back and led at the 15^th end by 7 shots.  With their confidence up and with scent of a famous victory against the defending Welsh and Pembrokeshire Champions, they led by 12 at the eighteenth end and won comfortably by 24 at the climax.  Tenby had a solitary rink win and picked up 2 points to Whitland’s 3 rink wins and 12 points.

Rink 1 saw the rink of Andrew Muskett take on Stephen Reese and the Tenby quartet were behind at 5 ends by 4 shots (5-9), Closing the gap by 2 shots by the 10^th (end) saw encouraging signs that they were beginning to take control but a dropped 3 shots the following end saw the momentum swing back to the Whitland four.  This was short lived however as Tenby took 4 shots to close within 1.  Surely now the rally would come?  Unfortunately another 3 dropped shots the following end followed by dropping a 1 and then 2 shots, saw Whitland increase their lead to 7 shots.  A single to Tenby followed by Whitland winning the next 4 ends saw Whitland running out comfortable winners 15-28.

Craig Guymer’s ‘Young Guns’ rink played against Alan Whitehouse.  0-13 down after 6 ends, it all looked bleak.  But the rink is made of stern stuff, and rallied superbly to take a 4 and a 3 the next two ends.  3 dropped singles on the next ends saw Whitland pull slowly away but then a 4 and a 2 brought the game 13-16.  The following ends saw the Tenby four play brilliantly and were consistently holding 4’s and above, end after end until Alan Whitehouse play ‘all or nothing’ shots and got maximum results each time.  Luke Rees was once again outstanding and was backed up by Cameron White.  Luke and Craig were also superb and together, this rink showed great composure and no little skill to recover from an awful start and with a little more fortune would have won the rink.

Paul Diment’s rink was always in control against a Whitland four with Colin Wynn at skip.  Going into a 7-2 lead at five ends, the Tenby rink took two singles followed by 2 ‘fours’ to race into a 17-2.  The lead increased by 18 shots but then four dropped ends of a single, three, two and a further single saw then only leading by 20-9 at the 15^th end.  With the team game slipping, it was time to take chances which unfortunately did not come off and a dropped 4 and 3 on the 19^th and 20^th ends gave a feeling of satisfaction for the Whitland four as they went down by only 6 shots at the end (23-17).  In a normal situation this ‘rink’, who totally outplayed their opposition, would have won by 20 shots.  The rink did have to push a lot harder and had to make things happen than play on their tried and tested tactic of waiting for things to happen due to Whitland taking control of the overall match.  Once again, Credit to Gerald Hewitt who was superb again.  I am running out of superlatives for Mike Jackson as once again his performance was of the highest level.  Peter Day once again produced his usual high standard and as previously mentioned the score line flattered the Whitland Four.

Pat Currie, took on the Whitland Captain, Glyn Thomas, and once again blew their opponent away which has been the ‘norm’ for this talented rink – taking a 13-2 lead into the 9^th end.  The some reason, the ‘rink’, after tea, could not contain their opponents and lost the rest of the match 8-27.  This was due to a damaging run from ends 13 to 17 which saw them lose a 3, 6 and a 7.  The final result was 21-29 to the Whitland four.

After a perfect start to the season this result was not expected, especially at home.  The Tenby team have always been gracious in victory but also in defeat and I must thank my players for their reaction after the game.  Obviously disappointed in the result, it is fair to say that the best team won on the day.

Tenby have been so successful over the years that a defeat is always difficult to take and also trying to find reasons for the defeat.  Whilst other teams may over react the Tenby Captain has, since as long as I have been playing, never panicked into making changes.  The players under my tenure as team captain are the best in Pembrokeshire.  I am not going to list the accolades that players have won, but they are by a distance the best in Pembrokeshire.  The team will bounce back from this defeat and I have no doubt that when we look at our achievements at the end of the season, this was a defeat which helped us rather than hindered us in our objective of defending both the Pembrokeshire and Welsh Title.

Next week see’s an un-changed side, with no positional changes take on a Milford Haven side who not only have been struggling for performances but even a team.  Only two weeks ago they pulled out of a tie against Tenby but strangely fielded a full strength second team the day after to play Five Arches.  As the Carruthers Shield is a club competition it is obvious that the Milford selectors had enough players to choose from.  However, as the match is to be played at Milford, I would edge my bets that the game will be on.

Rink Scores:

Rink 1:  J. Richards, D Spencer, J Roberts and A. Muskett 15 – 28 S Reese

Rink 2:  L. Rees, C White, L. Guymer and C Guymer 17 – 26 A Whitehouse

Rink 3: G Hewitt, M Jackson, P Day and Paul Diment 23 - 17 C Wynn

Rink 4.  N Dickinson, J Baggott, J Webb and P Currie 21 – 29 G Thomas

Score Breakdown

5 ends, Tenby 19-25 Whitland

10 ends, Tenby 47-35 Whitland

15 ends, Tenby 60-67 Whitland

18 ends, Tenby 71-83 Whitland

21 ends, Tenby 76-100 Whitland