Page 10 - Spring 2019

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The third and final round turned out to be any-
10
thing but a walk in the park for the Irish four-
some. At 2 - 7 down to the Welsh four of
Warren Turner, Alex William, Rhydian Rees &
Nigel Thomas, they scored a single and a
stunning five to lead 8 - 7. Back came the
Welsh team winning the final three ends and
taking the match 13 - 8.
This gave England’s Jason Woods,
John Mills, Nathan Bailey & Eric Pavey a very
outside chance of winning the event if they
could get a very big win against Scotland.
David, William, Andrew & Tom Morrison They lost a single on the opening end but by
with IIBA President Flo McNally the eighth end they led 9 - 1 and then finished
the last three ends with a 2, 4 and then an astonishing seven to win 22 - 1. Alas it was not
enough and they lost out by just two shots and must have regretted the size of their opening 10
shot defeat to the Irish.
“A” Rinks
“A” Rinks

Ireland win the “A” team event
Ireland win the “A” team event
to win all five titles at stake
to win all five titles at stake
Ireland as usual started as favourites and the other nations were basically looking for second
place, unless there was a surprise result. As with Premier event, each country played the other
twice. The opening round saw Ireland take on Wales and the Welsh made a very good fist of
things in three of the four games, losing one by one shot and drawing the other two. However,
Rachel Cochrane, Shane West, Jordon Rankin & Martin McNicholl were in sparkling form for
Ireland and had a crushing 23 - 2 win to contribute to Ireland’s 47 - 23 win. England meanwhile
faced Scotland and recorded a 44 - 21 win, helped by a 14 - 4 from Michael Tandy, Michael Iv-
ings, Thomas Perris & Simon Willies.
In round 2 England faced Wales and duly won 48 - 29 with Michael Tandy, Michael Ivings,
Thomas Perris & Simon Willies once again being England’s best rink with a 16 - 3 victory. Ireland
had a crushing 62 - 20 victory over Scotland with Rachel Cochrane, Shane West, Jordon Rankin
& Martin McNicholl being the top rink again with a 21 - 1 win, closely followed by a 21 - 2 from
Eddie Campbell, James West, Jason Hand & Paul Duff.
Round 3 finally saw England facing Ireland but the Irish proved too strong winning 51 - 34.
Rachel Cochrane, Shane West, Jordon Rankin & Martin McNicholl were once again the best
rink for Ireland winning 19 - 5. England’s Michael Tandy, Michael Ivings, Thomas Perris & Simon
Willies were also their best rink and recorded the only victory at 13 - 8.
On to round 4 and the repeat games with Ireland facing Wales and this turned out to be a
humdinger of a match with no quarter on either side. Two of the rinks went Ireland’s way 9 - 6
and 9 - 8 and the other two went to Wales, 8 -7 and a 10 - 8 from Tim Thomas, James John-
Davies, Darren Davies & Craig Evans, with Ireland winning overall by just one shot at 33 - 32.