Rich River surprises Steamers

By Matthew Kappos

Nov 20, 2024

Keith Hewitt skipped a 10-shot win as Rich River broke its duck against Moama. Photos: Aidan Briggs

Moama has lost its share of the lead in the weekend pennant thanks to an inspired performance from Rich River.

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Playing at Rich River Bowls Club, the home side picked up its first win of the year, shocking the Steamers, who had been one of the form sides in the competition to date.

Trevor Eastwell puts the appropriate weight on his shot. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Keith Hewitt led the Rich River quartet featuring Eugene Xodo (lead), Robert King (second) and Alan Polak (third) to a strong 25-15 win in his rink over Moama skip Geoffrey Beattie.

Gary Radford also had a rink win for Rich River, while Robert Young skipped the only Moama success.

Evan Berryman helped Echcua to a dominant victory in his rink. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Rich River finished on top on the final scorecard 14-68 to 2-55.

At Echuca Bowls Club, Tongala also lost its claim to equal best record, the host grabbing the win 14-73 to 2-52.

Brad Tinning picked up points for Tongala, but his side was downed on overall shots. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Bradley Tinning was in form for Tonny, taking his rink 26-18, but Echuca was comfortable in the remaining rinks.

Steve Cunnington got points for Echuca 23-10, while Ian Page had the biggest win of the tie, 32-16 over Tongala’s Stephen Hammond.

Rochester couldn’t have come much closer to earning its second win of the season, downed by just two shots.

The Campaspe Playing Area saw one of the tightest contests so far this year, with near identical scores in all three rinks.

Alan Polak was locked in for this vital bowl. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Rochy’s Les Walles and Deni’s Jamie Shields fought to an 18-all standstill in their rink.

Eighteen shots was also Deni’s score in the other two rinks, piloted by Shane Laing and Simon Chisholm, but Rochester skips Richard Feuk and Tim Quinlan both fell just short of their rivals, scoring 17 shots each.

It resulted in a final score of 15-54 to 1-52 in favour of Deniliquin, who escaped with a dominant share of the points, despite there being very little to separate the sides on the greens.

Stanhope earned some breathing room at the summit of the league ladder, dominating Mathoura 16-81 to 0-33.

A huge score of 37-10 for Gregory Fitzpatrick would have been hard for the former champion to overturn, while Timothy Hancock also won big for Stanhope, 27-7.

Mathoura’s Peter Pangrazio came close to earning his side something to take away from the game, but he was edged out by Stanhope skip Ben Fletcher 17-16.

Division Two

The rinks swung back and forth by larger margins in the second division match between Rochy and Deni, but the final scoreline was even closer, with Deni taking the tie by one shot, 12-58 to 4-57.

Rochester’s Anton Gusak and David Murray each picked up rink wins, 26-14 and 23-11, putting their side in a strong position.

However, the dominance of Robert Morris’ quartet in the remaining rink, 33-8, was just enough to earn Deniliquin the overall result.

Moama performed better against Rich River than its division one equivalents, winning 14-82 to 2-51.

Skips Ben Franklin and Russell Kelly each had big wins, while Barry Brown clawed back some points for Rich River.

Echuca earned a healthy share of the points in a 14-60 to 2-55 victory over Tongala.

Echuca skips Ken Main and John Dinsdale logged identical 23-17 wins, while Tongala’s Danny O’Brien pulled points back his side’s way, prevailing 21-14.

Stanhope scored an important win against Deni RSL, taking the match 14-70 to 2-50.

Andrew Morris skipped his side to the biggest win for Stanhope, 33-10, Jennifer Crilly also taking her rink, 24-18.