Over 60s National Championships – Day 3 Report
Not Everything Goes to Plan for Vics on Day Three of the Over 60’s National Championships
Another day of what ifs for the Victorian Over 60’s teams at North Launceston BC, Tasmania today for both the Men’s and Women’s teams in their National Championships.
After holding a well-constructed twenty shot lead 46-26 at just past the half way mark of their morning match against the ACT, the Victorian women fell into an abyss, as they were outscored 20 shots to 44 shots to go down by a margin of four in a match that effectively put an end to any hopes the Victorian women had of securing the title going down 66-70.
The men won their morning encounter against an ACT team that has previously had the wood over the Vics when they have been able to grab a hold of them early in the tournament and perform a nice little number on them. The Victorians were having nothing of that this year and they survived a very determined ACT to record a 59-54 win in what was a very exciting match, given that it was getting closer and closer with every bowl played as both teams neared the finishing line of 63 ends. The records will show that Victoria won 59-54, but not before seeing off a more than capable opponent in ACT.
The afternoon matches for both teams against South Australia provided the result we have been looking for since the afternoon of Day One when both the men’s and women’s teams were successful together. It’s always good to go out for dinner as winners!
State President John Fisher was quoted as saying, “Both teams played excellent bowls today and we are in a position to feature heavily on the final day. The players have given everything they had plus some to lift themselves back into contention”.
The Victorian men put the cleaners through their cross-border rivals from South Australia and delivered a knockout 64-42 win with two rinks posting wins and keeping them well in contention with the leaders. Tomorrow they face QLD & NT and if they can grab the overall wins against those two opponents and also gather maximum rink points they should be in with a very good chance of securing the title. Here’s hoping!
After lowering their colours to ACT in the morning, the women rallied after lunch and kept their South Australian counterparts at arms-length for the duration of their match to run out winners by seven shots, 55-48 with two rinks up in the process. The loss to ACT has proven costly to the Victorian Women and their hopes now lie in having to hope that other teams can knock over teams above them.
At the completion of Round 4 the Victorian men are sitting in third position in the event with 6 points and 8 rink wins (+27 shots), four shots behind Western Australia in second place on 6 points and 8 rink wins (+31 shots). New South Wales are undefeated in top spot in the event with 6 points and 8 rink wins (+48 shots). Throw Queensland into that mix too, as they also had 6 points and 7 rink wins (+26 shots) to add to the traffic jam at the top of the leader’s board.
By winning this afternoon’s game against SA it keeps the Victorian Men in at least third place on equal points with WA & NSW.
All the rink scores are available by clicking here where you’ll be taken to the official results pages.
