Sport
28 June, 2026
Arch-rivals have encounter among eucalypts
ROUND Nine of the 2026 season of the Inter-Hotels Pool Competition was to produce some interesting results as we have reached the midpoint of the season with all sides having now played the same number of matches.
ROUND Nine of the 2026 season of the Inter-Hotels Pool Competition was to produce some interesting results as we have reached the midpoint of the season with all sides having now played the same number of matches.
Match of the round was undoubtedly the encounter amongst the eucalypts where the all-conquering Country Club two champions hosted their arch-rivals, the feisty Farmers’ Arms One formation.
The visitors exhibited an early determination to ruffle the royalty as Ned Gorrie and Hayden Perry opened the scoring against Harley Durward and Will Jackson respectively.
But the magic wand of captain Leigh Watkins was to fail him on the black ball against Jake Male.
When George Gorrie was also to succumb against Simon Elliott the match was all square at the end of the first round.
At the top of the second round Harley and Will asserted their authority to bring their matches to equilibrium but Leigh was to respond by enticing Jake to produce a foul on the black ball.
However George was to become the evening’s first retiree when he was dispatched by Simon.
With three singles frames to be contested and now trailing by three games to five it was up to Ned to keep his team alive and this he was to accomplish against Harley however his teammate Hayden was unable to produce a similar finale against Will.
Their fate was now in the hands of the Welsh wizard and he was to rise to occasion, electromotive emissions exploding from his magic cue to mesmerise Jake.
He was then to successfully partner Hayden against Harley and Simon to restore the balance of the contest.
The sorcerer’s apprentice Ned and his sibling George were unable to empty their buckets over Will and Jake, allowing the Rollers and Floggers to retain their unbeaten status by seven games to six.
It was to be a night to forget for the Farmers’ Arms Hotel as their number Two side hosted the Country Club One combine.
They were indeed fortunate to avoid the ignominy of yet another whitewash.
The saviour from the stern-showing was to be Bianca Cannon, who was to win her opening frame against Dan Harken
But her fellow combatants’ Jack Hodges, Luke Pole and Alayne Cunningham were each cut down mercilessly by Paul Mullins, Troy Shields and Des Moulday.
Even Heckle and Jeckle, with their meditations in the ethereal world of the forthcoming Magpies v. Magpies clash on the hallowed turf of the MCG foremost in their black-and-white brainwashed minds, were able concentrate on the baize long enough to win the final doubles for the Mean Machine to secure the points by ten games to one.
It was on this day 85 years ago that Lieutenant-General Noel Beresford-Peirse, officer-in-charge of the British X111 Corps, called off Operation Battleaxe, the disastrous attempt to relieve the garrison at Tobruk.
The attacking force from the wilds of the Avoca Forest prepared for a similar result when they assaulted the bastion of the RSL .
However they were blissfully unaware that, following the bye the Diggers team was seriously depleted with three of their leading players missing in action for the night.
Captain Mitch Phillips was confined to barracks by illness, Sam Postlethwaite was way up north somewhere in the land of the Banana Benders and Dave Russ was regaled sartorially in top hat and tails while hobnobbing with the rich and famous at Royal Ascot.
This left the team in the hands of Kyle Postlethwaite, experienced reserve Daniel Needs, Ruby Smith who has not played a game this year and rookie Ethan Powell.
The match went predictably, the singles contests all being decided in straight sets with Daniel and Kyle each proving too good for the Logan’s Keith Turner and Shaun McNaulty.
While Ruby was desperately unlucky to lose both frames against Stephen Rodger on the black ball and Ethan was seven-balled in his opening frame against Ben Pell.
The boys from the Pub in the Scrub hit the front when Keith and Shaun won the first of the doubles against Daniel and Ruby.
But the desperate Diggers fought back through Kyle and Ethan against Stephen and Ben to square the match then the experienced combination of Kyle and Daniel were to win a tense tie-breaker against Stephen and Ben to take the points by six games to five.
Ladder
Country Club Two 232.1
RSL 184.8
Country Club One 168.6
Farmers’ Arms One 135.0
Logan 71.2
Sporting Club 42.3
Farmers’ Arms Two 26.5
Read More: St Arnaud