Sport
1 May, 2026
Welsh wizard waves magic pool cue
As had been the case with opening round, both teams were virtually unchanged from last year and the evenness of the match would appear to forecast another season of intense rivalry between these two heavyweights of the competition.
By BOB WOOLEY
PRINCIPAL attention was centred on the Parisian quarter of town where the Farmers’ Arms One team hosted the Country Club Two side in a replay of last year’s preliminary final which had culminated in victory for the Floggers and Rollers and eventual grand final glory.
As had been the case with opening round, both teams were virtually unchanged from last year and the evenness of the match would appear to forecast another season of intense rivalry between these two heavyweights of the competition.
The Club Two side was to begin on a bright note as captain Harley Durward and Will Jackson won their opening frames against Ned Gorrie and Ben Medlyn respectively.
However, the Farmer’s captain Leigh Watkins, waved his Welsh wizard’s wand over Jake Male.
Then his teammate Hayden Perry accounted for Grant Doyle to level the score at the end of the first round.
At the top of the second round, Ned bounced back to level his match with Harley but Will cut off Ben’s fuel supply completely to ground him with a seven-ball rout.
Leigh calmly dispatched Jake, but when Grant squared his match with Hayden the match was back to a similar state of equilibrium.
The Country Club hit the front again when Harley, at the top of the third round, invited Ned to join the others at the bar but the match was destined to head for the doubles all square again as Hayden bestowed a similar summons upon Grant.
A tie-breaker appeared odds-on favourite, allowing the Rollers and Floggers to win both doubles and the match by seven games to five.
The RSL team was able to conjure up enough for their expedition to the Pub in the Scrub to confront the Logan side.
The Diggers’ dynamic duo, captain Mitch Phillips and Dave Russ, re-produced their fine form to dismiss Ben Pell and Stephen Rodger in straight sets.
It was the Postlethwaite siblings who provided the entertainment.
Sam was pushed to the third by Jacob Vanrenen who had the misfortune to hand Sam the match with a foul on the black ball.
Kyle had been whipped into submission by Avoca Forester’s captain, Shaun McNaulty but they had run their race as the Diggers powered away to win both doubles and the match by eight games to three.
The Clubs’ Troy Shields, Neil Robinson and Des Moulday dismissed Farmer’s Two’s Bianca Cannon, Luke Hodges and Jack Swanton, only Steve Atkinson was to fail, going down to Jack Hodges in the only frame required in the third round.
They then took the first of the doubles but in Des succumbed with partner Steve in the Club’s final victory score of eight games to three.
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