British Isles International Series 2024: Gents Day Two Report

Session One: Pairs and Triples vs England

Yesterday morning’s session saw a tricky contest with a strong England side. Our pairs and triples fought valiantly, though it was not to be, and the English sadly came out on top.

Pairs

Our first pairs tie saw Daniel Gormley and Iain McLean face Sam Tolchard’s duo. It was nip and tuck with both teams keeping within touching distance of the other. After four ends, the sides were locked at four-all, and once again after nine ends, there was only one shot in it.

The turning point came in the twelfth end, where Tolchard made a three with a quality bowl. This was met with another treble two ends later, which put the English six ahead with four to play. Despite their best efforts, Gormley and McLean couldn’t recover the deficit, and they fell 19-12 in the first game.

Andy Dunnett and Jason Banks both played fantastically in a game in which the scoreline did not match the performance.

Jamie Walker’s pair both played well too, and their win was probably merited, although the scoreline was particularly harsh, with Jason getting overly unlucky on several occasions.

After six ends, the Scots were 5-1 behind, and this was the trajectory on which the game continued. After twelve ends, Jason and Andy trailed by seven, with the scoreline reading 10-3. Having to chase shots, Banks and Dunnett took some risks that did not pay off, though a treble in the penultimate end led to the score finishing 17-8.

Connor Milne and Darren Weir recorded a massive win over Tristan Morton’s pair. Flying out of the traps, the Scots led 7-2 after six ends, and looked to be comfortable. A huge five in the eighth end saw Weir and Milne lead by nine, before they recorded another five shots in three ends, leading 17-6 at the twelve-end mark. Morton fought back, making it tricky for the Scotsmen, but a welcome four in the last end saw them take a 22-13 victory.

Triples

All three of our triples fell to defeat at the hands of the English this morning, though the games were tighter than the scoreline may have seemed.

Gary Prunty, Liam McKay and Mark Kelsey came close to overcoming Wayne Wilgress’ rink in the morning, having controlled the game for the majority of proceedings. Leading 6-2 after six ends, the Scots looked comfortable while playing effective bowls. Six ends later however, the English had pulled themselves back into the game, as Prunty’s triple only lead 10-9. The last six ends saw pain for the Scots, as they lost two fours, to fall short 18-15.

Mark O’Hagan’s triple alongside Dylan Robertson and Darren Gualtieri were trumped 19-9 by Ed Morris and his triple.

A fast start saw them lead 6-4 after six ends, but a count of a five against in the seventh end saw the Scots struggle, despite playing some incredible bowls. At the 12-end stage it read 15-7, before the last six ends saw single shots exchanged, until 19-9.

Final score: Scotland 81-104 England (3-21)

Session Two: Singles and Fours vs Ireland

Singles and Fours against Ireland also proved tricky for the gents, as they won two games, and lost four, picking up just six points once more.

Singles

In the singles, Andy Dunnett faced defeat against Shane Leonard 21-17 in a 22-end thriller. After seven ends, Dunnett led 9-4, he reached 10-5, before Leonard took a four, to put Dunnett under pressure. Andy pulled away to 13-9, before being crossed at 15-13. He never retook the lead, and both men traded shots until Leonard ran out 21-17 victor.

Iain McLean also fell short against Jack Moffett, losing the contest 21-14. Starting slowly, McLean trailed 12-2 after nine ends, he worked back into the game, though eventually found himself 18-6 behind. A fantastic three ends saw McLean pick up two trebles and a double to get within four, however Moffett stuck his first bowl right on the jack in the eighteenth end, which was the catalyst to him taking the required three shots to beat McLean.

Mark O’Hagan gave Scotland their only win of the day in the singles, beating Stuart Bennett 21-9. The game was on a knife edge in the beginning, with only three shots separating the two at 9-6. Mark never faltered and reeled off four singles in a row, to lead 13-6 eventually, before continuing up to 15-9. It only took three ends after that to seal the deal, with a three, two and one enough to claim the win.

Fours

Darren Weir, Dylan Robertson, Andy Thomson and Andy Furye lost out 14-13, in the last end to Martin McHugh’s rink. The Scots trailed through the majority of the game, although there was never much at all in the scorecard. After five ends, the scoreline read 6-5 to the Irish, and after ten ends, McHugh and co. were 10-9 in front. The last three ends is where it got nerve-wracking for the Scots. They took a three in the thirteenth to sit level on 12. In the penultimate end, Furye and co. took a single, to lead going into the last end. However, chasing shots on the big board, Furye’s team lost a two, while in search of a bigger score.

On rink 6, despite heavy defeat, Connor Milne, Jason Banks, Danny Stevenson and Daniel Gormley almost saved the aggregate score for Scotland, which would have handed us an invaluable six points. Trailing through the whole game, Connor and his team went into the last end 17-9 behind, though as was the case for the majority of the game, all four players piled bowls into the head, and were lying at least five shots.  Unfortunately, Mark Wilson’s side had the spot covered, and when the end was burnt, the shots swung in Irish favour, with the Scots losing a three for a final score of 20-9.

The four of Mark Kelsey, Ryan Gualtieri, Liam McKay and Gary Prunty managed to win their rink game, handing Scotland a further three points, even though they only won four ends of the tie. In the third end, the Scots scored a massive six, which brought them onto the card for the first time, before consecutive fours in the sixth and seventh ends saw them lead 14-6. They would not score again until the final end, where Prunty and co made a two, to win the game 16-11, after just 12 of the 15 ends were played, due to time constraints.

Overall Score: Scotland 90-96 Ireland (6-18 points)

 Session Three: Pairs and Triple vs Jersey

The Scots took a welcome clean sweep against Jersey in their latest session of the day yesterday. Three wins in both the triples and the pairs managed to see the Scots over the line, though it was not all comfortable.

Pairs

The first pair up, was our British Isles championships runners up in the gents pairs, brothers Darren and Ryan Gualtieri. The pair struggled in the first half of the game, notably losing a count of four to trail 12-7 after nine ends. The second half was much more positive, with the Gualtieris losing only three of the final nine ends, scooping up a five in the thirteenth, allowing them to cross Scott Rudderham and his partner, to lead 17-13. From there, the two sides shared the points for the remainder, as the Gualtieris maintained their four-shot lead, running out 21-17 winners.

Connor Milne and Darren Weir looked comfortable in their win over Malcolm de Sousa’s pair, winning the game 22-11. A slow start saw the Scots trail 5-2 after four ends, before a massive score led to them crossing the Jerseymen. They never went behind again after this point and scored consecutively between the eighth and twelfth ends inclusive, to lead 15-7. After this, the game was done as a contest, and Milne and Weir kept up the pressure to win by 11.

In the final pairs game, Mark O’Hagan and Liam McKay were run to the wire by Taylor Greechan’s pair. The game was nip and tuck throughout, with Jersey scoring a four in the seventh end handing them an advantage after seven ends. Consecutive pairs in the eleventh and twelfth ends saw the Scots reclaim their advantage. While Greechan pulled level with two ends to play, O’Hagan and McKay were able to secure victory, taking three shots in those last two ends, to end 16-13 in front.

Triples

Iain McLean’s triple, along with Jason Banks and Aaron Betts survived a scare from Greg Davis’ triple to win 18-14. Flying from the traps, the Scots led 7-0 after two, and eventually 12-4 after just six ends. Davis and co. kept chipping away however, getting within four shots, at 12-8, and remaining that way for the entire game. The last eight ends saw the two teams trading shots, and the margin of four stayed the same in the end.

Across from McLean saw Andy Furye, Andrew Thomson and Andy Dunnett win 29-15 over Ian Hodgetts’ triple. It was a game full of big scores, with the Scots scoring three fives, and the Jerseymen getting one of their own too. After seven ends, it read 10-8, in Jersey’s favour, before eleven shots in four ends seen the Andys blow them out the water. They let Hodgetts back into the game, after he played some fantastic bowls, making it 19-15 to the Scots with four to play, although the gents found a second purple patch, akin to that in the early stages, to take ten shots in the final four ends, winning 29-15.

Gary Prunty’s triple with James Hogg and Mark Kelsey overcame Ross Davis’ team 21-12 in the final game of the session. They, like most other rinks, trailed at six ends, losing 7-6 after a five fell against them. They dug in though, recording a four, two threes and a single across the next six ends, cruising into a 17-9 lead. From there they never looked back, and eased the game out, comfortable victor.

Final Score: Scotland 127-82 Jersey (24-0)

Table after Day Two: