Page 9 - Autumn 2014

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score against Belgium. In the end England’s fate was sorted by Wales beating the Irish 14 -
7, although England finished with a 13 - 2 win.
In group “B” the Welsh four of Gareth Davies, Arwel Morgan, Allan Slattery & Peter Rees
started off with a whirlwind 19 - 1 demolition of Germany. The big battle between England and Ire-
land went the way of England’s Ryan Knight, Mitchell Young, AJ Brown & Chris Hopkins (who sub-
stituted for Dominc Reed who was taken ill on the morning of the event, as were a number of us
the following week) and AJ Brown. Their win was a confident 10 - 5 over Gary Culbert, Matthew
Crawford, Jal Richardson & Andrew Leckey.
In the next round Wales were pushed hard by Sweden’s Rosa Albrektsson, Annelie Wikstrom,
Jorgen Karlsson & Anders Jerkeryd but scraped through 8 - 5 in a low scoring game. England
also won, as did Ireland who bounced back after their opening defeat. England sat out the following
round whilst Wales and Ireland had very good wins 17 - 1 and 18 -7 respectively. In the next round
England needed a four on the last but one end to come from 5 - 6 down to 9 - 6 up and held Swe-
den to a single on the last end for a 9 - 7 victory. Wales sat out this round whilst Ireland won 14 -
5.
Wales returned to the fray whilst Ireland sat out with Belgium’s Hilaire Jacobs, Ghislain Loix,
Raymonda Van Roy & Cristian Van Den Broecke pushing the Welsh all the way but they finally
won 10 - 7. England then romped home 18 - 2 against Scotland. However, in the next round the
Welsh four of Gethin Davies, Arwel Morgan, Allan Slattery & Peter Rees proved better scorers
than the English and their 13 - 8 win included a six on end seven, thus going from 4 - 5 to 10 - 5
with just two ends to play. In this round the Irish suffered a catastrophic defeat to Sweden, who
scored a three on the last end to win 10 - 9.
This was followed by a 12 - 9 defeat to Wales, which effectively scuppered any chance of
Ireland qualifying for the semi-finals. England finished with a 12 - 6 win against Belgium, securing
second place in the table and entry into the semi-finals.
England then faced Ireland in the semi’s and after six of the ten ends were just 4 - 5 down
but a four and a two put the Irish 11 - 4 up with just two ends to play. A three to England closed
the gap somewhat but a single to Ireland on the last end ensured an 11 - 7 victory. The other semi-
final was an all Welsh affair and turned out to be quite a battle but a last end single gave Jac Ed-
wards, Chris McWinnie, Andrew Jones & Nick Evans a 12 - 10
win over their fellow Welshmen.
What then ensued was an absolutely cracking final that
went right down to the wire. After eight ends Wales led 7 - 5,
back came the Irish with a three to lead 8 -7.
A single to Wales levelled to final at 8 all with only the last
end to play and in mounting excitement and to the delight of
the Welsh team and spectators, a single shot gave them a 9 -
8 win in a match worthy of any final.
England’s Ryan Knight, Mitchell Young, AJ Brown &
Chris Hopkins salvaged some important pride for England eas- Championship organiser
Championship organiser
ily winning the 3rd & 4th place play-off by 11 - 6 over Wales. Wyn Jones
Wyn Jones