ROMILLY Bowls Club welcomed Rhondda outfit Gelli Park on Saturday, hoping to bounce back from their defeat the previous week at Troedyrhiw.

The encounter was a must-win for 'the Rom', who are facing an uphill battle against relegation from Division One this season due to structural league changes which will see the bottom three go down.

On a fine Saturday afternoon, the play began with Romilly taking an early lead and were seven ahead by

the fifth end.

As the game progressed, the rink of Gary Eastment/Paul Swannick/Graham Cogbill and

skip Brian Foscolo were leading the way for Romilly, going twelve shots clear by the tenth end. The rinks of Jeff Wright and Mel Newman were also ahead by six apiece, leaving Romilly nineteen shots up at 49-30. Between the eleventh and fifteen ends, Foscolo's rink continued to surge further ahead to 21-7.

Wright's rink of Alun Bryan/Jerry Daly and Clive Collins continued to play well, increasing their lead to 18-11.

Newman's rink saw their lead cut slightly, despite a strong performance, but still held a four shot advantage

at this stage.

Meanwhile, the rink of Kelvyn Mills/Terry Bloomfield/Andrew Hatcher and Mike Doyle began

to overhaul their opponents and from being five behind at end ten, they came back to lead by four at the fifteenth.

Their score left Romilly ahead overall by twenty nine shots, with the score at 73-44.

By now in a strong position to win the game, Romilly pushed on to try to win all rinks to ensure full points. The rinks of Foscolo and Doyle maintained their form to both win comfortably by 25-13 and 23-16 respectively, whilst Newman's rink of Alan Bannister/Gwyn Rees and Fred Phillips also held their opponents well over the final ends to win by six shots.

Wright's rink however, who were holding a comfortable lead up until the fifteenth end, were put under tremendous pressure but managed to hold their nerve, eventually winning 20-18.

The overall result was a twenty seven shot victory for the 'Rom' by 90-63, taking the full 14 points.

Romilly 'A' side and Munro Cup sides are having mixed seasons, with the 'A' team struggling

due to a lack of numbers whilst the Munro Cup team are doing well despite a reverse at Dinas Powys

in their last game.

Currently the 'A' team are struggling in the CML Third Division after successive promotions in the past two seasons and with a shortage of strength in depth this year, the rest of the season is going to be difficult.

The Munro Cup side is presently topping the league, but there are a number of sides in close

proximity, therefore it is imperative that Romilly do not lose any more games if they want to regain

the Cup this season.

Romilly held their Annual Triples Tournament last Sunday with 24 teams in attendance. On a sunny

day, Group A began the first of their four games at 9.00 followed by Group B at 10.00am.

Bacon 'sarnies' were available from the start, with lunches after the second round of games. There was also a barbecue ongoing throughout the day along with the watering hole at 'Alfies' bar.

All Bowlers had a great time, with plenty of joviality on display amongst the competitors, but

at the serious end the final was played out between Local Triple of Phil Gershenson/Rhys Phillips

and Clive Collins against a Llantrisant Triple entered by Roy Richards.

The game was one sided with the Llantrisant Trio winning comfortably.

The third and fourth place play-off was between a Triple led by Romilly's Mel Newman and a triple

from Penarth Windsor led by Rod Hudson.

It was the visitors who came out on top, following a brilliant bowl from Rod's wife Angela who on the last end picked up the jack for a two, to win 9-8