Division 2 Champions

Neyland 66  Five Arches 81

Sunday saw the Five Arches visit Neyland for their last game of the season. After last week's win in Saundersfoot and St Thomas picking up 10 points from their match on Saturday, the Five Arches required 2 points to clinch the championship. However Neyland are a strong team and are traditionally  very hard to beat on their home patch.  So we travelled with some trepidation but also the with confidence that comes from winning  the last five games. The weather was on our side, a lovely sunny afternoon on which to do battle.

On rink 2, Tony's rink of Ron and John boosted by the experience of Carruthers winning Captain Dai Spencer were involved in a tight match. Trailing by 3 at the break they timed their fight back  to perfection. Picking up 5 shots on the 17th end to take the lead and consolidating this with a couple of shots on both the 19th and 20th ends they eased to a 20 shots to 16 victory. This win got the two points we required  and enabled the rest of the team to breathe a sigh of relief. Tony and his rink may have clinched the first two points but it was the Tiger and his cubs on rink 4 which really allowed us to relax. 6 shots to 1 down after 5 ends wasn't the perfect start but  they scored 13 shots in the next five ends to lead by 14 to 7 at tea and won 8 of the remaining 11 ends to secure a comfortable 25 shots to 12 victory. When Ray, Steve, John and Ben have played together they have won all their matches and once again they proved their worth.

On rink 5 Peter skipping for the first time this season and ably supported by Stuart, Harold and Gerald had another tight game. Leading by 10 shots to 4 at tea, this was reduced to 13-11 after 16 ends but another nicely timed finished ensured a healthy 19 shots to 14 victory. Therefore with the other three rinks winning, Captain Ashley and his rink of Ken, Tony and Luke had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately after a tight first half with the score 10 all after 10 ends, their concentration waivered and the Neyland rink took advantage to ease to a 24 shots to 17 victory. 

A fantastic win getting 12 points and clinching the championship. Special thanks to those who came to Neyland to support us.  Thanks also to everyone who has played for the Five Arches this year and lets look forward to next season playing in the First Division.

Ron Hurlow, John Hubbard, Dai Spencer, Tony Brown 20                B McKay 16
John Rees, Steve Davies, Ben Simmons, Ray Taylor 25                   A King 12
Stuart Askew, Harold Ebdon, Gerald Hewitt, Peter Hooper 19          G Robson 14
Ken Lloyd, Tony Powling, Luke Rees, Ashley Hooper 17                  G Nuthall 24

St Issells v Five Arches

St Issells 62  Five Arches 93

Another fine Sunday in August saw the Five Arches play their penultimate game of the season in Saundersfoot. With the title race still in the balance after St Thomas's win on Saturday we needed a victory to cement our place at the top of the table. Rink 2 saw Ray with his old pals John and Steve joined (eventually) by Gerald. The first 8 ends were a tight affair and the Five Arches quartet trailed by 6 shots to 5. They then went into overdrive picking up  a 5 and a 6 on the next 2 ends to pull out a substantial lead which they never relinquished. Finally winning  by 27 shots to 13. On rink 3, Tony was ably supported  up by Ron, John and Peter in a close fought match. Trailing by 7 shots after 4 ends, they rallied well to get within one shot by the 16th end but couldn't quite close the gap and finished losing by 19 shots to 15.

Ashley and his rink of Ken, Tony and Luke had a comfortable time on rink 4. After picking up a five in the 2nd end they pulled away to lead by 13 shots to 2 at tea. After refreshments the match continued in a similar vein with the Five Arches rink pulling away to win by 29 shots to 10 including a 7 on the 19th end and with a hotshot begging,  Ashley managed to leave his last bowl three yards short. Rink 5 saw Clive and his rink of Stuart, Harold and Ben involved in an epic battle. They led by 11 shots to 5 at tea and by 20 shots to 13 after 16 ends but the St Issells team weren’t finished and went into the final end only 1 shot adrift. Fine bowling by the St Issells front two  saw them holding 3 shots including a back toucher. A great bowl by Harry sprung the jack and  with his last bowl Clive drew within 2 feet to clinch victory by 22 shots to 20.  Another fantastic win and with the 12 points we regained top spot in the League. The next and final game is away to Neyland on Sunday we need to pick up 6 points to win the title and gain promotion to the first division.

John Rees, Steve Davies, Gerald Hewitt, Ray Taylor 27                   Roy Pring 13
Ron Hurlow, John Hubbard, Peter Hooper, Tony Brown 15               Stu Howe 19
Ken Lloyd, Tony Powling, Luke Rees, Ashley Hooper 29                   Mike Carr 10
Stuart Askew, Harold Ebdon, Ben Cloake, Clive Webb 22                 Barry Lee 20

Undermanned Tenby win thriller in Whitland

With the entire furore now over with regard to last week’s fantastic Gold Cup week at Tenby, minds can now be cast back to the day before the Open week when Tenby travelled to Whitland for another scintillating derby encounter. Tenby had the edge over the 2007 champions during their first encounter but going away to Whitland and winning is an entirely different and more difficult prospect.  Matters weren’t help by the loss of Paul Diment, Pat Currie, John Roberts and Andrew Muskett, but then to make matters worse Luke Guymer was called in to work on the Saturday and he too had to pull out. Leaving Tenby with 2 skips and three thirds short. So Tenby called upon all the youngsters in the club and roped in novice Joe Hewitt for his first competitive game of bowls in the Tenby shirt. This however still left Tenby one player short and had it not been for Luke Rees literally dragging Joe Richards out of bed at 1.15pm the side would have been two short.

So there was the side, 15 players, against one of the strongest home sides in the County. The pre-match speech was simple, as we had nothing to prove so just go and enjoy it. However what unfolded that afternoon was pure drama. On rink 4 Craig Guymer saw skipping against Glyndwr Thomas. With Neil Dickenson newly drafted into the rink he continued with his fine performances this summer and continually put the rink in a good position, he was more than ably supported by Joe Hewitt. Joe is a natural ball player and has always excelled at any sport he’s played, be it golf, rugby, football and he did not let the team down that afternoon. Indeed Craig’s rink ended up top rink defeating Glyndwr’s rink by about 20 shots.  Such a win was needed because ion rink two John Baggott was up against it against Steve Reese. John bravely offered himself up as the sacrificial lamb, volunteering to skip the three-manned rink. With Ben Simmons and Luke Rees in support the rink started well, but on a tricky surface and faced with good bowling from Steve Reese and his men, the task proved a step to far. Furthermore the county rules state that playing a man short means you lose 25% of your total score, in the end the ‘rink’ was out-gunned but the definitely went down fighting scoring vital shots on the last two ends.

Rink 3 was skipped by Peter Day. With Rip Van Winkle playing three and the youngsters of Cameron White and Aaron Lloyd at two this was always going to be a tough battle but Peter led his troops to a fine victory against Colin Wynn. Time and against the front three had the Boarders in trouble and with some fantastic bowling by ‘Sleepy’ Joe Richards they kept their lead and won well.  This leaves team Captain and deputised skip Jon Webb on rink one. With Ben Cloake and Dai Spencer playing the games of their lives this rink was involved in a real dog-fight against Dan Jenner and Phil Wynn. There was never much in the game but towards the latter part the Whitland boys were slipping away and opened a 6 shot gap. Only for the boys in blue to pull the match back so that with one end to pay the Tenby boys were only 2 shots adrift. As it happened this rink was the last off and as all the players gathered round the edge of the green the whole game was in the balance. Having worked out the maths the game stood with Tenby being in-front by ¾ of a shot. Essentially whoever won the end won not only the rink but the whole match.  The end started badly with Ben Cloake playing probably his worst 2 woods of the day out of 42, but as was the pattern of the day and as with all good front end combinations, if the lead fails the second must cover his ar… well cover his back. That was the case here and as Dai Spencer sent his second wood jack-wards it came down the bank, pulling the jack and nestling only a few inches away.

With Dan Jenner narrowly missing twice and Gerald Hewitt not quite managing to add to the count the game was still in the balance. Webbie bowled first and just ran through the head out of the count and Phil Wynn was just short. With a bowl left Webbie changed his hand, bowled a howler and got no-where near!! So it was all on the last bowl of Phil Wynn, unsure which hand to play he opted for the bank side that he had played well all day, and as he sent his bowl down the green the line looked good and the weigh immaculate, indeed as it approached the jack the bowl was being screamed on by an expectant fans of the ‘Green Army’, but it wasn’t meant to be, the bowl only got back to the centre line and as Dai Spencer had trailed the jack away from centre his bowl still counted as shot and Tenby won a dramatic victory by 1.75 shots!!!  During the after match speeches Captain Dan of Whitland was magnanimous in defeat, stating how proud he was of the effort of his own boys following a succession of recent defeats. But there could be no prouder Captain than me! To go to Whitland with so many quality players missing, to play with one player short and one player who was a virtual novice and to still steal victory just showed what a tremendous effort the Tenby players put in, how much strength in depth there is in the club and also what desire to win there is within the team, simply a fantastic effort.  Tenby are still on course for a perfect season, but with a tricky tie away to Haverfordwest on Saturday and again with some key members missing, the team will do well to make this another well fought victory.

Havelocked out of the Carruthers

The dream is sadly over for another year as Tenby were knocked out of the Carruthers Shield at the last 16 stage by Havelock Park from Llanelli.  Having beaten Milford away on the Wednesday night the green looked a similar surface and so it was. With this in mind the Tenby boys, buoyed by the sun finally sneaking out to play were full of confidence as they stepped on the green. When all finally did get on the green!

Rink one saw the Guymer twins facing Robbie Byrne. This was a tough encounter during the early stages, some good play by both Luke's keeping the Tenby side in the game. In the second half however the boys rallied and built up a comfortable lead. In fact going into the last end 9 shots up and holding 2 the boys looked like securing a decent win. More importantly as the fact that as the Carruthers is a ‘shots only’ competition as opposed to points for rinks, the two slender shots they were holding would have brought the Tenby team back to all-square. But with his last wood Robbie Byrne somehow managed to send his bowl down the tightest line of the afternoon and the bowl seemed to hold its line to the jack and pull it through for 4 shots, a turn around of six shots at such a crucial stage.

Rink two saw John Roberts taking on former Texaco pair’s winner Ritchie Hughes. This too was a tight affair. End after end Paul Diment or john would make shot only to see Ritchie spoil the party with some tremendous bowls. The game itself was a tight affair with there never being more than 3 or 4 shots in it either way. Sadly however in the last two ends, as the rink was the last on the green they dropped a three and a four in the last two ends. The score line however did not give a true reflection of the game. Tenby lost by 10 in the end by as I say, when chasing the game in the last two ends, dropping a three and a four is sometimes inevitable.

Sadly the damage was done on rink three on Saturday afternoon. A combination of short bowls, a loss of concentration in the middle half and sublime skipping by Howard Griffiths of Havelock was enough to send Peter Day and his men back to changing rooms having lost only their second game of the season. The rink didn’t get off to a great start, the front end still in the corner shop when the speeches finished, and a further 6 ends past before all the combined food offerings were digested, by which stage Peter was 9-0 down. However a rally brought them back into the game but sadly that 9-11 shot difference that built up over the first few ends remained in place for the rest of the afternoon. Try and the boys might, everything they threw at the Havelock rink was swiped away with a better more telling bowl by the opposition who all played well to a man. Sadly a few ends in the middle when there was a collective minor loss of concentration didn’t help and Peter found himself counts down on consecutive ends. Again the boys dug deep, Pat and Joseph really coming to the fore with touchers galore, only to see the opposition take the game from them. Every time we seemed to be close we’d miss, but with them it was always a hit! So after a valiant effort from that rink the deficit that was there at the start remained at the end.

Rink four saw the Captains face each other as Wigan’s warriors took on the family rink of Gwynn and Mark Williams. Again a tremendous display of leading was provided by Dai Spencer. Since reverting back to his usual position of lead Dai’s been on his best form since he led Tenby to the Carruthers in 2009. Ably support by Gerald and with some telling bowls by Webbie and Wigan this rink was always in front from the off. They could never however shake off the Havelock rink and every time a precious lead was built up a sloppy end followed and a three or four was dropped. In the second half there was more of the same with the Tenby boys pushing hard but a superb effort by the Havelock captain and skip who produced some fine shots to keep his team in the game and stop the rink from potentially winning the game for the team. In the end a decent final last end by the Havelock front end and that four on the twins rink lead to the side chasing the game a little with ends running out. A dropped 2 on the last end didn’t help the team score and it was scant consolation that the rink won by two.

So all told a decent effort by the boys in what can be seen as a re-building year. The youngsters will have gained huge experience from the campaign and the whole side will come back better and stronger next year.