Page 9 - Spring 2012

British Isles 6:Layout 1 16/05/2012 09:19 Page 1

FOURS CHAMPIONS IRELAND TAKE 9
IRELAND THE FOURS

Throwing down the gauntlet from the be-
ginning, the Irish four of Tom, William,
Andrew & David Morrison conceded
four shots in the opening two ends but
only conceded one more as they raced
to a 17 - 5 victory over the Isle-of-Man.
The Welsh four of Martin Rideout-Hutch-
ings, Chris Martin, Tom Jones &
Stephen Williams also got off to a win-
ning start against Scotland but only after
3 - 1 finish took them from 5 across to a
9 - 5 victory.
In the next round Scotland bounced back from their loss with Bob Burt, Bill Robertson,
Dennis & Alan Eddie beating the Isle-of-Man by 13 - 7. England’s first game was against Ireland
and it was a tremendous tussle by Roger Wiggins, Lee Woodward, Michael Keevil & Julian
Bradbury who emerge as 8 - 5 victors in a very tight game. However, in round three the wheels
came off the English Wagon as they very surprisingly went down 13 - 8 to Scotland’s Bob Burt,
Bill Robertson, Dennis & Alan Eddie. At one stage a spurt put the English 8 - 5 up but eight
shots over the next five ends ensured a memorable Scots victory over the “Auld Enemy”.
Wales meanwhile notched up their second win with 12 - 3 win over the Isle-of-Man and
were the only unbeaten side. This However was not to be as the opening round of the next day
saw them go down to an 8 - 13 defeat to FOURS FINALISTS
Ireland. At 2 - 8 things look bleak for WALES
Wales but a four and a two put them level
only for the Irish to strike back with a four
and a single on the last end for their five
shot win. This threw the fours event wide
open and England returned to winning
ways with a very comfortable 16 - 5 vic-
tory over the Isle-of-Man.
The last round set up an intriguing
prospect with England, Ireland, Scotland
and Wales all on four points. On shots
England had +9, Ireland +14, Scotland +7 and Wales +8. With England playing Wales and Ire-
land playing Scotland, it was possible depending on the shots scored for any of the four teams
to win. England suffered an opening blast by the Welsh and were 9 - 0 down after just two ends.
This became 13 - 1 after four ends but England gave themselves a glimmer of hope by scoring
five on the next end but this was answered by a three giving Wales a 16 - 6 lead.
An exchange of singles over the next saw Wales emerging clear victors at 17 - 9, with an
overall shots plus of 16. The Irish however had started with a six shot advantage and it quickly
emerged that they were very unlikely to lose to Scotland and finally won 15 - 4. This gave Ireland
a clear nine shot advantage giving them the Fours title, with Wales in second place.
HOW NOT TO MARK CARDS AT ANY LEVEL
Returning the problems that Helen & Alex Muirhead had at the competition desk, I was aston-
ished when working through the cards for this report, on just how many were marked incorrectly
the first couple I came across I thought were exceptions but then I found several more. The ex-
amples I have scanned are not intended to embarrass anybody and I have deleted the names
on the cards as they were not the people marking them.