ON Wed, 1st Aug, Sully Sports Men’s Bowls team visited Cowbridge in the Munroe Cup, on a hot sunny evening, with a much weakened team, as amongst the absentees were 4 of their regular skips.

The Sports only managed to win on 1 rink, and with the hosts very comfortable on their carpet all-weather green they made it pay to secure a heavy 112-42 aggregate victory.

L Romans’ rink got off to a poor start, losing the opening 5 ends to trail 0-9, but the 3 they took on the 6th turned out to be the only shots they would record in the game.

The Sports found the carpet pace difficult, and a few tricky lines didn’t help either, but the home players revelled in it, to plough through the game with ease, and with that, any luck going went to them.

Home skip A Wallace bowled exceptionally well, but even so, saved losing lies on at least six ends with fortuitous wicks, and registered a 33-3 rink win.

Skip A Middleton was not able to turn up, and the rink, consisting of leads/2nds played two woods short.

Up against it the rink fought hard, and after winning the first 2 ends by singles, they only managed 3 more singles to lose 5-45, with the hosts really getting a grip in the latter stages as they piled up 38 shots in the last 11 ends.

A Collard’s rink took time to adjust to the green’s surface and found themselves 7 shots down after only 4 ends, but to their credit they pulled themselves back into the game to enter the penultimate end only 3 shots adrift.

The hosts then took 4 shots on the remaining ends to re-establish their 7 shot margin and win 20-13.

G Brown’s rink also lost the 1st four ends to be down 0-6, but then played some good bowls.

The lead changed hands a few times, but the Sports lead by 6 with 4 ends to go.

Cowbridge took 5 shots over the next 2 ends to trail by 1 starting the penultimate end, but the Sports then took a 5, and a single on the last to win 21-14.

Rink Scores:

M Morgan, M Stafford, R Giddings, K Romans 3-33;

P Collier, J Harries, D Austin 5-45;

P Robbins, A Thompson, P Holland, A Collard 13-20;

R Knight, J Kirk, C Spillane, G Brown 21-14

Saturday, 4th Aug saw Mackintosh as the visitors to the Sports for their latest PG1 fixture.

The Sports despite having a few of their more experienced players on holiday, were able to field a slightly stronger team than earlier in the week, and recorded the double over the “Tosh” (who had problems of their own as a player failed to turn up leaving one rink short), and a comfortable aggregate 90-71.75 win.

C Coomber’s rink struggled for much of the game, were 11 shots down with 8 ends left, and fought back to trail by 3 with 2 ends left, but with both sides taking a single each, the visitors held onto win 22-19.

A Collard’s rink was a bit of a tussle, changed hands four times early on, but at the end of the 12th the Sports led by 10 shots and were looking for an easy victory, but the visitors rallied to win 7 of the final 9 ends, including 3 shots on the last to grab an honourable 23-23 draw.

K Romans’ rink had the advantage as the visitors were a player down, opting play with eight woods and thus take a 25% penalty on their final score.

The “Tosh” held the early lead, and after 11 ends the score were level.

The Sports then played some fine bowls to take 7 of the last 10 ends to win 26-13, adjusted to 26-10.75 for the penalty.

G Brown’s rink was hard fought, with the visitors holding the early lead of 5-0 after 3 ends, but once the home rink got in front, they slowly increased the advantage, despite a partial recovery by the visitors over the 14h and 18th ends, to secure a 22-16 win.

Rink Scores:

R Knight, M Stafford, R Giddings, C Coomber 19-22;

M Morgan, P Collier, G Currie, A Collard 23-23;

L Adams, P Robbins, B Whyman, K Romans 26-10.75;

P Holland, A Thompson, C Spillane, G Brown 22-16.

The Sports’ next fixtures are both at home, on Wed 8th Aug, to Penarth, in the Munro Cup, and to Cardiff Athletic, on Sat 11th Aug, in the PG1s.

The Ladies final Evening League fixture, away to Dinas Powys, on Fri 3rd Aug, ended in bitter disappointment, as their 1 shot aggregate loss, saw them replaced at the top of the table by Cardiff, and therefore losing out being able to defend last season’s title in final play-offs.

The game, played in a good spirit, was closely fought throughout, with the Sports ahead by 1 shot after 10 ends, but Dinas just did enough in the final ends to snatch a dramatic victory.

Rink Scores:

S Phillips, M Smith, M Dare, C Jenkins 12-18;

C Harries, R Williams, L Woodcock, S Parker 20-15.

All the Sully Sports members wish all the best to Sylvia Phillips and Mary Dare, who play in the County Pair’s Finals at the Rhoose Bowls Club, with the semis on the evening of 28th Aug, and the final the following evening on 29th Aug.