Rodman Imposing in All-Rinks Win Over Bucks
A Premier Division report for The Mercury by Peter Kirby
Glenorchy Rodman v Buckingham
In a brutal opening to Bowls South’s Leumas Accounting Premier Division, Glenorchy Rodman was merciless against their visitors, Buckingham, claiming an all-rinks win by sixty shots, 106-46. Evergreen Geoff Maughan contributed most to Rodman’s victory, defeating Bucks’ Stuart Rees by twenty-six shots, 33-7.
The results on the other three rinks were much closer, with Cam Tegg winning by thirteen shots against Bucks’ Craig Owen, Anthony Clifford twelve shot to the better of George Kovacs, 25-13, and Rod Turner having to work the hardest to defeat Bucks’ Alvin Cooke, on his return to Premier Division, by seven shots, 21-14.
Kingborough opened its season with a healthy 50-shot lead over their visitors, Brighton, winning on three rinks, 102-52. Brighton’s Greg Fehlberg upset Nathan Dinning’s debut as a Premier Division skip, leading from the outset to claim the match by five shots, 21-16, for the only rink win for his side.
Not even a delivery of a bowl on the wrong bias on the eighth end upset Fehlberg’s rhythm, and with his three, Paul Roberts, playing a blinder, was able to counter the good heads built by the Dinning rink.
Kingborough’s Will Coad and his team of Jordon and Clinton Seabourne, and Treb O’Neill were dominant throughout their match with Brighton’s Matt Breward rink, claiming winning ends by four shots on three occasions, and another by five shots. Coad allowed his opponent a one-shot win on the first end, before taking control of the contest, winning fifteen of the remaining twenty ends to close out twenty-three shots up, 35-12.
Jason Fowler’s rink of Heath Seabourne, Iain Dinning and Michael Andersch restricted Mick Daniels’ Brighton rink to seven winning ends of one shot each, and another by two shots, while himself amassing eight ends of multiple shot gains, a major highlight being the three shots scored on each of the final three ends to defeat Daniels by eighteen shots, 27-9.
Jarrod Long’s Kingborough rink of Jack Butler, Callum Dinning and Brent Forsyth was just as clinical against Grant Wakefield’s Brighton rink. After a tight battle early, a five on the tenth end, backed by a two on the next end, Long’s rink established a winning break and dominated for the remainder of the match, finishing fourteen shots up, 24-10.
Rosny Park v Sandy Bay
Rosny Park started well in their first game back in Premier League and led by 4 shots after 12 ends. Sandy Bay, led by Alby Norris and his rink consisting of Phil Manning, Andrew Chamberlain and Ryan McCoull came back from 2-5 down against Andrew Blake to win 32-10, setting up the home side’s win. Norris was in top form after putting in a lot of work early morning, getting the green up and running nicely for Round 1, with the highlight being the performance of Phil Manning in the Lead position, playing his 300th game for Sandy Bay, and ex Buckingham skip Andrew Chamberlain playing very well in his first game for his new club after being presented with a free club cap pre-game by Alby Norris, with his name and number 261 on the cap.
Lucas Howell defeated Peter Bannister 21-14 in a high-quality game, leading from start to finish. Bannister’s team of Peter Francis, Ross Bannister and Grant Dudman bowled well and stayed in the contest all game and were only 1 shot down after 18 ends, but Howell and his team of Tony Rowe, Kyron Daly and Rohan Cooper answered every challenge, winning the last 3 ends to win by 7 shots. Ex Kingborough Tigers Premiership player Tony Rowe was outstanding in the lead position; wearing cap number 262. Kyron Daly bowled very well in the 2-position after recovering from a hand injury and Rohan Cooper with his new black Henselite XG bowls wound back the clock, putting on an exhibition against his old team playing in the 3-position.
Justin Plummer and ex-Kingborough Premiership skip from last season, Nic Courto, put on a high-class exhibition of bowling. Courto and his team of ex Beltana players David Dixon, Chris Elwell and Gary Richardson won the first two ends, but Plummer and his team got out to a winning 14-5 lead after 14 ends, with Bowls Tasmania Senior Women’s representative, Peri Buckley, playing well and picking up the kitty on a few occasions with well weighted trail shots. Ben Jones, Sandy Bay, and David Dixon, Rosny Park, had a good tussle in the lead position, but Justin Plummer was the difference, bowling very well in his first game back with Sandy Bay after a season at Claremont in 2023-24.
The closest game of the day was between Keghan Booth of Sandy Bay and Alex Elwell of Rosny Park. Keghan Booth was in good form after a season out of the game after the birth of his daughter and led 6-3 after 6 ends. Elwell and his quality team of Michael Rankin, new recruit Grant Chamberlain and Michael Eiszele won the next 3 ends to lead 9-6 and from there the game was close right to the last end, with Booth and his team of Stewart Cashion, Brandon Beattie and Josh Mabb holding on to win a thrilling game by 1 shot, 18-17. The highlight of this game was the solid first game performance by 12-year-old Brandon Beattie wearing his new cap, Number 260, presented pre-game by Alby Norris. Brandon debuted for Sandy Bay in Division 3 at 9 years of age, leading for veteran skip Jimmy Roussos, and his Premier League debut was well earned but, sadly, the family is moving to Queensland next month, with Brandon and father, Darren, likely to join the Pine Rivers Bowling Club.
Howrah v Cremorne
Howrah got away to a winning start at home to Cremorne, winning on three rinks in an otherwise close contest, 82-75. Bill Butler defeated his Cremorne opponent, Ashley Banks, by a single shot, 17-16, and Howrah’s Adam Butler shaded Brad Knight by two, 20-18.
Cremorne’s Pat Hoffman tried valiantly for his side, defeating Steven Hyland by five shots, 24-19, but Peter Jenkins’ nine shot win over Cremorne’s Phil Ions, 26-17, ensured the result in favour of the home side.
Claremont v Dover RSL
At Claremont, in the closest match of the opening round, Dover got the better of their hosts by a mere four shots, 83-79, winning on two rinks, and drawing a third. Claremont’s Michael Taylor had a great tussle with Dover’s Cam Norris, with nothing separating the pair at the end, finishing in a 17-all draw.
Dover’s Jarah Allan and Brad Carver had six-shot wins over their Claremont opponents, Paul Hart and John McDonald, and Chris Chalker, winning by eight shots, 27-19, did his best to overhaul the deficit against Dover’s Mark Godfrey, just falling short.