It was a big weekend for the Tuross Men’s Pennant teams with games on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday the scheduled matches were played while on Sunday matches postponed due to the rain were played. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bad couple of days for the Tuross teams!
On Saturday the grade 5 side hosted Malua Bay while the grade 7 side made the long haul to Braidwood. In Tuross Malua Bay had a convincing 70 shots to 41 shots victory. The one shining light for the locals was a tight 17 – 15 win to Peter Davies’ team. They led all the way but had to hold off a very strong finish to record the win.
After starting well both Jim Howden’s and John Fahey’s teams were swamped. Howden was 6 all after 9 ends but only won 2 more ends in losing 30 - 9. Fahey was well in the game at 10 – 13 down after 10 ends before the visitors dominated the second half of the game to win 26 – 15.
It is pleasing to report that the playing conditions in Braidwood were the best they have been for many years. It is a great credit to this small club that they have been able to improve the quality of their green to a standard comparable to most clubs in the district. So the Tuross boys could not blame the green for their convincing loss. Braidwood won 9 – 1 amassing 71 shots to 47.
Ronnie Richardson side started slowly before playing themselves into the game at 11 all after 10 ends then 15 all after 13 ends. The lead changed a couple of times before Tuross scored 3 shots on the last end to snatch a 23 – 22 win. The other two sides struggled to combat the skill of their opposition skips. Stuart Graham lost 26 – 15 while Ian Wratten went down 23 – 9.
On Sunday the Grade 5 side faced the competition leaders Moruya and found out why the visitors are taking all in front of them. Moruya won all rinks and scored 80 shots to 35 to win 10 – 0.
The Grade 7 side played Bodalla in a very exciting match. For a large part of the afternoon it looked like Bodalla was heading for a big win before the Tuross teams clawed their way back into the contest. After just 7 ends Ian Wratten’s team was down 17 – 1 before they stemmed the flow and gradually turned the tables. They snatched an improbable 26 -25 win when they scored 4 shots on the last end.
Ronnie Richardson’s team also pulled a rabbit from the hat scoring 6 shots over the last two ends to grab an unlikely 21 all draw.
With these two rinks finished all attention was on Stuart Graham’s match. With 2 ends to go they were 5 shots behind and they looked like narrowing the gap before the Bodalla skip played a great bowl to win the end. The last end was very close but Tuross could not score the shots needed to win. Bodalla won 21 – 16.
As a result Bodalla had a very narrow 67 – 61 overall win picking up 8.5 to 1.5 competition points.
Above Left Alf Winch and Reg Endall preparing to bowl and Right: Alan Skelton (click to enlarge)
