FIVE ARCHES 80 (11 pts) PENDINE 67 (3)

Last Saturday, Pendine returned to Division One duty at Tenby and the weather was dry.

On rink one, Mal Evans’s, four faced the return of Simon Evans to the Arches team, but Pendine’s lead Jamie and third Curt were in fine form, playing the swinging hand extremely well, and they led 5-2 at five ends and at the tea-break were 15-5 up.

They then went on walkabout as the Arches won seven of the next eight ends, which included a seven on the 18th, to be only one shot down, and then held sway on the next two to be 21-20 up on the last and set the scene for a nail-biting climax.

Pendine’s lead initially held two shots, only for Arches third Dai Spencer to disturb the head and turn it around in his side’s favour as they themelves then held two, but thankfully skip Mal, with the last wood, smashed the head and got shot to draw 21-21.

Rink two saw SKT against his Pwlltrap neighbour, Huw Nicholas, and on five ends was 4-2 up, but by the 10th was 7-9 down and sadly Stewart’s rink dropped counts of three and five on the 17th and 18th ends and lost 22-11.

Rink three had brother DKT’s quartet against Neil Dickinson’s rink and from being 7-3 up at the fifth were just 9-7 up at the tea break, but won eight of the last 11 ends, with DKT saving a six count against on one end, to then win 21-11.

Rink four saw Geoff Hale’s rink opposed by Ashley Hooper (Pembroke Dock Open singles winner), which included at second Jonathan Hubbard (recent bronze medal winner in Australia) and they started well, being 7-3 up after five ends and 15-5 up at 10 ends. Although Geoff’s boys got back to 11-16 by the 14th, they won only two ends after and lost 26-13.

Rink scores (Pendine first) were as follows:

J. Shields, D. Stewart, C. Rance, M. Evans 21; R. Thomas, D. Lloyd, D. Spencer, S. Evans 21.

D. James, R. Gosnold, A. Edwards, S. King Thomas 12; K. Lloyd, B. Benham, J. Criddle, H. Nicholas 22.

D. Roberts, A. Collindge, R. Truelove, D. King Thomas 21; J. Rees, T. Powling, T. Rose, N. Dickinson 11.

P. Leeds, E. Davies, M. Dix, G. Hale 13; M. Day, J. Hubbard, S. Davies, A. Hooper 26.

PEMBROKE DOCK 92 (12 pts) PENDINE 69 (2)

Following their match at Tenby on Saturday, Pendine were away again on Sunday at Pembroke Dock. It turned out to be hot, sunny afternoon, with the green in superb condition.

On rink one, DKT’s four were opposed by young Matthew John’s rink. Pendine started very well, finding the line and pace of the green, with each member playing his part on the tight and the wide swinging lines, being 7-0 up on the fifth and continued in the same vein, being 16-1 up at the tea-break. Pembroke Dock improved over the last 11 ends, but except for one end, Pendine held their own game together to win 24-12.

Rink two had skip Mal Evans versus the ebullient Richard Jones’s four and they picked up six shots on the first end, but by the tea break Pendine got back to 9-11 down. The Dock immediately responded by picking up a five and scored well thereafter to win 28-18.

Rink three had skip Geoff Hale against Richard Hissey’s (Pembs. county president) unit. This is a particularly tricky rink and, although only 4-5 down on the fifth end, after after that Pendine couldn’t find the line or weight and lost 26-9.

Rink four skip SKT was opposed by Dave Halward’s rink, with Pendine 5-4 on five ends, but did not score again until the 12th end. They improved over the last five ends, but it was not quite enough and they lost 26-18.

Rink scores (Pendine first) were as follows:

D. Roberts, A. Collindge, R. Truelove, D. King Thomas 24; T. Harries, K. Biershank, H. Williams, M. John 12.

J. Shields, D. Stewart, C. Rance, M. Evans 18; K. Chadwick, P. Williams, K. Edwards, R. Jones 28.

P. Leeds, E. Davies, M. Dix, G. Hale 19; J. Carroll, P. Griffiths, B. Dowling, R. Hissey 26.

D. James, R. Gosnold, A. Edwards, S. King Thomas 18; A. Yea, B. Parry, R. Thomas, D. Halward 26.