Sandy Bay win premiership in a thriller
Grand final report by Connor Munnings
2 April 2022 (Grand Finals)
A number of close games highlighted the grand finals of the Bowls Tasmania South Saturday Pennant.
Sandy Bay have gone back to back as Derwent Eye Specialists Premier Division premiers after defeating Glenorchy Rodman by one shot. Sandy Bay were dealt a big blow before the game, with Keghan Booth’s rink of David Morris, Oliver Clark and Scott Booth being unable to play due to health and safety protocols. They were replaced with Peri Buckley, Amity Booth and Andrew Carswell. Glenorchy Rodman were also without Grant Allford.
In what was a thrilling display of bowls, scores remained tight throughout the whole match with Rodman and Sandy Bay splitting rinks. Justin Plummer’s rink of Stewart Cashion, Stephen Graf and David Anderson had been in fine form throughout the finals series and continued that with a 23-14 win over Rodman’s Jack Ellis. However, it was Ryan McCoull who had the biggest win for Sandy Bay, defeating young gun Isaac Maughan by 10 shots.
With Darren Beattie, Mark Quinane and James Howell all playing well, McCoull helped set up the win for Sandy Bay. With a completely new rink, Booth played superbly to keep scores close against Luke Turner. Despite going down by seven shots, Booth’s rink fought hard to make sure Sandy Bay stayed in control. Rodman’s Tony Vince nearly took the game away from Sandy Bay with a 25-14 win over Bryce Guy.
In Division 1, New Norfolk comfortably defeated Kingborough. Scores were close early before New Norfolk charged away with the lead.
In another exciting finish, Sandy Bay defeated Royal Hobart in Division 2 by one shot. For Sandy Bay, Alex Stanelos defeated Barrie Cranwell 25-18 and Philip Manning beat Grant Langridge by five shots. Royal Hobart’s Owen O’Driscoll beat Bill Mottershead 25-19, while Paul McCann defeated Mark Burgess by five shots.
Claremont had a comprehensive 11-3 20 shot win over Kingborough in Division 3. Garry O’Brien got over Anthony Sculthorpe by 16 shots and Steven Davie beat Mike Westlake 27-17. Fred Shead was Kingborough’s only winner over Paul Davie by six shots, while Claremont’s Peter Trikilis had a 19 all draw with Greg Riley.
Cremorne pulled off a three shot come from behind win against Cygnet in Division 4. For Cremorne, Teresa Newman’s rink was in control all day against David Deburgh to win by 15 shots, while Kerry Bowerman had a tougher battle against David Woolley to win 16-13. With Cygnet’s Greg Coad easily beating Peter Krstic by 24 shots, it was Cremorne’s Stewart Edwards who scored a five and a four on the final two ends to win by nine shots against Paul Williams and get Cremorne the overall win.
In Division 5, Claremont had an all rinks win over Oatlands by 27 shots. Wayne Ehrlich defeated Stephen Lockey 25-8, Alan Anderson beat Chris Cox by eight shots and Barry Ryan got over Clinton Palmer by two shots.
Continuing their great grand final day, Claremont comfortably defeated Franklin in Division 6 on all rinks by 50 shots. Ronald Coleman was the big winner over Geoff Reeve by 27 shots, while Mark Weir defeated Rodney Filgate by 11 shots and Ken Broomhead beat Colin Coulson 21-9.
In an all Claremont affair, it was Claremont 2 that was victorious over Claremont 1 in the Division 7 grand final by 14 shots. Judy Prokopiec defeated Mike Quinn by 8 shots, while Diana Sweeney beat John Howard 20-14.