Impressive win over Aust.

Press, 14 April 1980, Page 18

Impressive win over Aust.

An impressive win by the South Island over the visiting Australian bowls team at . Papanui on Saturday must raise hopes of New Zealand, doing well against the visitors when the tour ends with tests in Auckland next Friday and Saturday. The South Island won by three games to one. It took the pairs easily and the triples narrowly in the morning and clinched vic-; tory when the new New' Zealand singles player, Kevin Scott, beat the highly; regarded Australian, John' Snell, 2145. The Australians, who had up to this stage been a, shade disappointing, • re-! deemed themselves to some extent by convincingly winning the fours, although it; was only the fine play of i the skip, Keith Poole, that kept Morgan Moffat's four at bay over the latter ends. The Australian manager, Mr M. Brougham, said that his team had made a dis-: apnointi.ng start to the tour,which takes in matches this i week against MarlboroughNelson, in Blenheim, and the. North Island, in Palmerston; North, before the two tests. 1 He said his players had; found the green, running at] about 15s, to their liking,] but the cold and the damp had presented problems, i Snell, who suffers from fibr- i ositis in his left arm, had l

• been inconvenienced the, -•most. ; 11 “But all credit , to the, r South Island. The team' Hplayed very well, especially) t!Darling in the pairs and : Scott in the singles and we] 1 knew this first match would! be difficult. I am sure our I ' players will get better as the :tour goes on,” said Mr] ; Brougham. ; Kevin Darling continued: •jhis outstanding season as a ' pairs skip by beating Snell,; , 26-12. It was vintage Darling; .in the early stages as he! i! played a succession of fine shots and on one memorable! I early end he drew the shot! /three times, only to see !Snell drive the bowl off. on; ; each occasion. The last drive left Snell with three shots. : ; Rain interrupted play for i about an hour in mid-morn- : ing and when play resumed Darling had three or four had ends. But with his lead, Stuart McConnell, getting better all the time, Darling was in no trouble and he had extended his lead , even i before he found his touch again. Towards the end McConjnell was vastly superior to 1 his rival lead, Alf Saunder- ; cock, and Darling raced i away to win 26-12. j The triples was a close game throughout. The Ausitralian combination, skipped i by Poole, was up 8-3 after i •five ends, but Moffat’s team ;

!,fought back! doggedly and a .three on the eighth end, the s]first after the rain, put it i'ahead, 11.-8. i Poole /held his team toPgether towards the finish •:and it went into the last end Ilin front, 15-14. At the I changeover Poole held two : shots, but with a fine runining shot Moffat clipped .them both from the head land his reward was the two shots he needed for victory. ,< Although d narrow win, it ;!was deserved nevertheless as dthe South team of Scott, ; Dave Burgess and Moffat iwas collectively the stronger ■unit. The Souths position was /strong at the luncheon break. Not only was it up •two games to nil, but the big win in the pairs left it favourably placed if the games should be shared and a points differential should be the deciding factor. But countbacks were forgotten about when Scott beat Shell at singles. The Australian looked set to live up to his reputation of being one of the) world’s, best singles players by racing to an early 6-0 lead, points fairly earned by superior drawing. Scott, however, soon warmed to ! his task, especially when he had the jack and was able to play short ends. A four, all drawn shots, gave Scott the lead at

i 8-7 and he took full advan-j i tage of a bad patch Snell t then went through to extend his advantage to 14-9. Snell narrowed the gap to i 14-11 with two singles and i he was holding three shots e!until Scott, with his last ) bowl, trailed the jack back - to earn himself a three. 1 Scott won the next two I ends to advance to 20-11 jiand although Scott lay game on the next end; Snell t [fought back bravely and ; with his drawing touch re- , gained he made Scott wait, t five more ends before he] • could get the point he needed for victory. ' >i The performance of the II Australian four certainly >lgave the side hope for the jirest of the tour. Saudercock, t the lead, reversed the secon- : dary role he had played to 1 McConnell in the morning 1 and the middle men, Ken Williams and Clarrie Wat- - kins, also improved considt erably. • They certainly had the j better of Burgess, who ; played far too many short t bowls, and Darling, who i apart from the occasional ; brilliant shot, had a bad ■ game, especially with his , drives. He had five in the i last three ends and hit noth- ■ ing. But Poole was undoubt- ( ; edly the master and as New Zealand teams have found ini ] the past he is capable of|(

[winning a game singleI handed. Moffat played well ! enough to keep the South Island in the race for a long time, his two best shots being on the fifth end, when he put the jack in the ditch for a three, and on the ninth when, with the jack again in the ditch, he drew the shot after being five down. Although struggling. South Island actually got in front, for the first time, at 14-13 after fifteen ends, but towards the finish Poole was I equal to just about every | challenge given him. He made two tremendous saves I when South Island was on the verge of good returns and twice he added counters to shots he already held. Results: Single.— Kevin Scott (South Island) 21, John Snell (Australia) 15. [ Pairs.— Stuart McConnell and Kevin Darling (South Island) 26, Alf Saundercock and Snell (Australia) 12. Triples.— K. Scott, Dave Burgess, Morgan Moffat (South Island) 16, Ken Williams, Clarrie Watkins, Keith Poole (Australia) 15. Fours.— Saundercock, Williams, Watkins and Poole (Australia) 22, McConnell, Burgess, Darling and Moffat ! (South Island) 15. I

Robert Bain (Christchurch Boys’ High School), left, and Vance Moffatt (University) competing in a bout of the Canterbury men’s under 23 fencing championships at Avonside Girls’ High

School on Saturday. Bain won this encounter. A fine display of endurance fencing enabled Adrian Parxyn to win the championship. Parkyn beat four opponents in consecutive con-

tests to win the title. The runner up was Grant Tweddle and Vance Moffatt finished third. In the women’s section, Jane Lindsay was successful, ahead of Sophi Chan and Jillian Lloyd.