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2023 Pool Season
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Pool Prizegiving – 2023 Season
The pool season features nine tournaments open to members plus four invitational tournaments, open to all. On Sunday we celebrated the winners and runners up of the nine RSA tournaments.
For the benefit of the newcomers to the club, and there are a number of you, the winners of each tournament have their names engraved on the trophy for all to see, and both the winners & runners up get a gold and silver medal respectively plus some prize money….and a huge round of applause in recognition of their achievement.
It has been a great season with high quality pool throughout with loads of laughs, oohs & ahhs and a fair amount of “If only that black had dropped!” and “What if?”.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Chrissy and our bar staff and everyone who pitched in and helped to make this season a success – it can’t be done without you! From helping running the board, cooking the BBQ or bringing food to keep us going – you know who you are and the support is very much appreciated!
We are all winners , but the actual Winners of the 2023 Pool Season and huge congratulations go to:
9 Ball Mike J
Mixed Pairs Ash & Nadine
Ladies Pairs Marcia & Rachelle
Snooker Tony
Drawn Pairs Marcia & Malcolm
Ladies Singles Marcia
Men’s Pairs Gary & Scotty
Dick Pye Open Tony
Men’s Singles Tony
All very deserving winners, but I would like to call out two players in particular:
Marcia Moore and Tony Hatton both left on Sunday making one hell of a racket having each got 3 Gold medals! Well done to both of you.
We are all very much looking forward to a break, some decent weather, and then to get stuck into next year’s season, which will kick off in mid Feb with a mini league. By popular request, next season will feature two new tournaments: Scotch Doubles and Ladies 9Ball!
Finally, I’d also like to thank Tara for the wonderful image below
Cheers
Dave
MENS SINGLES 2023
On Sunday we had the men’s singles tournament, and to use the words “epic”, “titanic” etc, would be an understatement.
The RSA was open from 7:45am and the tournament was played with the backdrop of the All Blacks vs Ireland RWC quarter final and we started the tournament at 9am, after the first half. The rugby had certainly set the scene – tense, exciting, full of skill, fortunes shifting, and we hoped the tournament would be much the same, and it certainly was!
We had a healthy turnout of 14 players and divided into two sections of 7 for the qualifying and agreed, as a group, that we would play best of 3 over 6 rounds. After the first 3 rounds some patterns were beginning to appear. In section A, myself and Ash had a clean sheet of 3 wins and Michael had 2. And in section B Storm also had a clean sheet of 3 wins with Daniel and Zom on 2. Things were certainly heating up, and some chefs would have to leave the kitchen after the next three rounds.
By this point, of course, we had all celebrated the All Black’s win over Ireland and were in very good spirits! Huge thanks to Daniel & Marcia for helping out on the BBQ, which was lovely, and to Seth for all his help. We were making good time and were done with lunch and the qualifying by about 2:30 pm.
At the end of qualifying, I was feeling happy having won all 6 of my games, and looking at the other section, I saw that Storm had done exactly the same. There were others on 4 & 3 points and we had a very natural split where we could take 4 from each section through to the quarter final stage: Dave vs Daniel, Robert vs Tony, Ash vs Zom and Michael vs Storm. Most of the quarter finals were decided 2:0, with the notable exception of my own against Daniel. I hadn’t actually dropped a frame in my 6 qualifying games, and was feeling quietly confident. But Daniel was unlucky to lose the first frame and confidently won the 2nd and left it up to a very tight, tactical battle in the 3rd, which I ultimately won – phew! The semis were Dave vs Tony and Ash vs Storm. My game was fading a little at exactly the same time as Tony’s form was coming together nicely – he ended my campaign with a thoroughly deserved 2:0 victory. And in the other semi, Storm continued his winning form and proved too strong for Ash, also winning 2:0.
So, the Clash of the Titans was set between Tony and Storm, best of 5.
I refereed the final and, as usual, it was a pleasure from the best seat in the house. However, I have to say that in this case, and I include our Invitational tournaments in this statement, It was by far and away the best final I have ever seen! So, Tony went 1:0 up then Storm made it 1:1, then 2:1 then 2:2, but that doesn’t tell the story at all. Both players were playing fantastic pool and at one point, when all hope appeared to be lost in frame 4, Storm played his last ball, which was on the cush, with so much top that it came back the length of the table to nudge the black into a potable position, and he got it!
At 2:2, the final frame, went down to the absolute 8 wire, where it was a black ball game and there were 4 attempts at the black, none of them easy and each one of them rattling the jaws, before finally Tony had a slightly more straightforward shot (nothing is in a final btw) and sunk it to win!
Well done Tony, commiserations to Storm, and many thanks to everyone (and the All Blacks) for making this a memorable event!
The final finished just after 5pm, and I think everyone had a wonderful time.
We have an Away game against Birkenhead in a couple of weeks time and there are not many names on the sheet – please sign up if you’d like to play.
Cheers
Dave
Ladies Singles 2023 - Sunday 8th October
On Sunday we had 8 of our ladies meet at 9am for the 2023 Ladies Singles tournament.
As is normal for our ladies tournaments, both singles and doubles, the players all bring a food plate rather than having a BBQ and, once again, lots of lovely food was brought along – thank you all!
With a field of 8 players, I decided that we would have a full round-robin qualifying best of 3, after which we would review and decide whether we would move into a semi-final or straight into a final.
After the first round of the qualifying it became clear that best of 3 was going to take too long and we made the decision to use an idea from Scott Mitchell and have the remaining rounds be best of 2 whereby players would accumulate points, as opposed to Wins and Losses. It’s also the case that with 8 players, that new games can’t go on until at least two tables are free, so this reduction in match time was doubly welcome.
As the qualifying progressed we saw a lot of great pool and many very tight games – 1 apiece was by far the most common score – and right up till the last round, it wasn’t clear who would come out on top. At the end of the 7th round, we finished qualifying with one player on 10 points (Marcia) and three others on 9 points (Nadine, Emma & Rachelle) with the next highest being two players on 7 (Milly & Karen). We were doing well for time and the results pointed toward a semi-final, where we drew lots and had:
Nadine vs Marcia
Rachelle vs Emma
Both semis were great games and both went to three frames, with Marcia edging out Nadine and Rachelle pipping Emma to the post.
I had the pleasure of being the Ref for the final between Marcia and Rachelle, and it was a pleasure to watch. Marcia was now hitting her stride and took the first frame. In the second frame, both players were playing very well and it turned into a black ball game. Both players missed opportunities but then Marcia lined up the final pot, which Karen Palmer captured on video and is posted on our Facebook page, and it was a beauty!
Huge congratulations to our Winner, Marcia, commiserations to our Runner Up, Rachelle, and thanks to all the players and their supporters for turning up and making it a great day.
We finshed at 5pm on the nose.
Cheers
Dave
RSA 2023 MIXED PAIRS TOURNAMENT - Sunday 1st October
Kia ora,
On Sunday for the 2023 Mixed Pairs tournament we had 13 pairs playing!
If my memory serves well, which is not always the case, I'd say that was a
bit of a record over the past 10+ years and is testament to the growing
number of women taking part in our tournaments! Our tournament
playing guidelines try to optimise for players to play the maximum range
of other players in the tournament in the qualifying stages.
As such, the ideal is a single section best of 3, but with a larger number
of players, the next best is a single section best of 1 and, with 13 teams,
we decided to play a single section best of 1.
Once again, several of our players brought a plate of snacks to keep us going through till lunch, and this time saw our first Air Fryer of the year! This is very much appreciated and thanks to all who brought food. We kicked off and started motoring through the qualifying, given that the format ensures that there is always a game that can be played and we had zero idle table-time.
At the halfway mark, there were several teams in contention for the lead with Zom & Emma on 5, Rach & Merv, Nadine & Ash, Scott & Jodene and Emma & Tony all on 4. There were several other teams on 3 and 2 and, sadly, Thrax and Milly were having "one of those days" and were yet to pick up a point.
Sorting out the BBQ was a tag-team effort this time, with people swapping in/out with those who were called to play, and huge thanks to all those who pitched in, you know who you are and it was much appreciated. We took a short break from play to enjoy the food, and I took the opportunity to let everyone know that, unfortunately, the Pt Chev RSA is closing down and that frees up two Sundays for next year's pool calendar. I suggested a Scotch Doubles tournament, which received universal support and also a Ladies 9 Ball Singles, where I heard a few shouts of "Hell yes!" and so will provisionally lock in those fixtures for next year.
After qualifying was over, we had one team on 10, three on 9, a 7, a 6 and five teams all on 5. We decided to have a Quarter final stage and need to pick 2 of the five teams all on 5. One was picked and one dropped by comparing qualifying results and we played a three-way playoff for the last spot, and well done to Kev & Noelene for securing that spot.
The results of the Quarter final were a semi-final with Ash & Nadine (who beat Kev & Noelene) vs Rach & Merv (who beat a very in-form Scott & Jodene) and Tony & Emma (who beat Dave & Tracey) vs Marcia & Jim (Who upset the Zom & Emma steam train).
Some great semi-final tussles resulted in the final between:
Ash & Nadine vs Emma & Tony. Given the late hour, the final was best of 3 and some very solid play from Ash & Nadine saw them prevail 2:0 - Well Done to both of you!
INTERCLUB WELLSFORD - Sunday 24th September
On Sunday we hosted the Wellsford team at Warkworth for a fixture that
has been running for nearly 40 years!
Wellsford sent 12 players and we had 13 including 3 new members –
Warren and his two sons, Mason & Connor – Welcome to the team!
Connor & Mason have only been playing pool since the family joined
the RSA a month ago! Awesome that they put their names down with
so little experience - the fearlessness of youth!
We started the best of 3 singles and after the first 4 games it looked
like normal programming with the score at two apiece with myself and
Warren taking out a win each. However, and despite the matches being closely fought, we lost 8 out of the last 9 singles, with only Rachel bringing home a win – well done Rachel!
There was the usual great range of plates for lunch, and topped up with a couple of limos, we tucked into a delicious lunch before moving on to the doubles. I’d really like to thank everyone involved with helping around lunch, and in particular Rachel, who went above and beyond....again!
I had put Connor number 2 on the board after me, because he said he wanted to play with me in doubles. And Mason was a late entry at number 13 and I decided I’d play the doubles with him too. The match between myself & Connor vs Bryce & Keith, was absolutely fantastic and one that I will not forget in a hurry. Connor is a natural potter and he rifled in a number of long pots (his favourite) and we won the first game, lost the second and set up for a decider. We played very well in the 3rd game and towards the end Wellsford fouled and left us snookered on our only remaining ball, the black. This is a foul snooker and means that we can pick the white up and put it anywhere on the table before taking our shot. It was Connor’s shot and he placed the white down, lined up his shot and slammed the black into the middle, winning the game!
And my game with Mason was similarly unforgettable with Mason playing some really good shots to keep us in the game. Again, the match went to three and Mason nearly won the 3rd when the black went close to the middle pocket. I don’t normally compliment myself in these reports, but I was faced with a black just the wrong side of the middle and I doubled it into the corner, nothing but net for the win
We had two more doubles wins – Merv & Warren and Jennie & DaveH – making the final score Warkworth 7:13 Wellsford
Wait! That means that the newcomers were involved in 4 of our 7 wins!
Wellsford win the cup for 2023, but the scoreline did not really reflect how close the games were and the day was heaps of fun and memorable for reasons other than the score
MENS SELECTED PAIRS
After we held the Men’s Selected Pairs tournament on Aug 20th it became apparent that one of the players was not a financial member at the time. We decided to have a play-off between 4 teams (Ash & Kev, Art & Michael, Ian & JimB, Scott & Gary) to see who would meet Storm & Dan in the final. There were some tense games in the play-offs, but ultimately Scott & Gary held their nerve, and their skill, to beat Ash & Kev and to meet Storm & Dan in the final, which was best of 5 and held at 5pm on Friday night.
I was on raffles and ode duty at the time and was unable to see the games, however, I have it on good authority that Scott & Gary were on top form and playing some amazing pool. They ended up running out emphatic winners 3:0!
HUGE congratulations to Scott & Gary – Well Done!!
THE 2023 DICK PYE OPEN SINGLES
On Sunday, 11 of us mustered for the 2023 Dick Pye Open Singles. As a reminder, an 'Open'
tournament is open to both men and women and we had 8 men and 3 women. It was great to see
our women take part, because I have to admit that in the earlier years this tournament was really
just a repeat of the Men's Singles, and it's so good to see that changing.
We divided into two groups of 6 and 5 and started the Round Robin phase with 5 rounds of play.
The goal was a similar one to the Drawn Pairs, where we were looking to take the top 4 from each
group into the quarter final stages.
In Group A, Tony, Wendy & Milly all got off to a winning start in Round 1, whereas Michael and Marcia's campaigns didn't kick into gear till Round 3. Perhaps the biggest upset in Group A was Marcia taking out Tony 2:1 in Round 4 - Well done Marcia, one for you to cherish I'm sure.
In Group B, Kev's star was definitely rising as he powered on from one win to the next and, in fact, finished the group stage with a clean sheet of 4 wins. Daniel, Merv and JimB all had a 50:50 time in the group stage, finishing with 2 wins and 2 losses. And bringing up the rear was MikeG, who was suffering from a lack of sleep the previous night.
Towards the end of the group stages we took a break to enjoy a fabulous BBQ lunch and HUGE thanks to Daniel, Michael and anyone else who helped cook it and also to the Maree and Seth with helping us get set up with everything we need - Thanks All!
Qualifying for the Quarter final stage from Group A was Tony, Michael, DaveO and Marcia and from Group B, Kev, JimB, Daniel and Merv. There was some great pool in the quarters, with some tight games and it led to Semi final 1 Tony:DaveO and 2 Kev:Michael. By now it was clear that the two in form players were Tony & Kev and, indeed, they both took out their semis in style.
I had the pleasure, as I often do, of ref'ing the final and it was a pleasure to watch. The first frame was over in a flash, where Tony "broke and ran" meaning that he potted a ball off the break and proceeded to pot all colours and the black in that single visit. This is no mean feat - well done Tony. The second frame was much more even, and Kev actually got to play this time! But ultimately Tony won the second too. Kev came racing back in the third frame with an excellent clearance to keep his hopes alive.
In the fourth frame, however, Tony's game proved too strong and he took out the title for 2023
Well Done Tony! and huge thanks to everyone for showing up and supporting our club competitions, it's very much appreciated.
RSA DRAWN PAIRS - Sunday 10th September
On Sunday starting at 9am, we had the RSA Drawn Pairs for 2023 and it was a great day of pool. This is an Open tournament where both men and women welcome and the pairs are drawn on the morning of the event. There were a couple of last minute changes and we ended up with 19 players at 9am and Merv called his brother Kea who kindly agreed to play, making 20 in total i.e. 10 pairs. For the qualifying round we split into two sections of 5 teams and played round-robin, with a view to taking the top 4 teams from each section into the Quarter final stage, giving the maximum amount of pool to as many teams as possible.
Some of the players had decided to bring some “nibbles” to keep us going till lunch, which was fantastic as these “nibbles” were the most substantial and delicious ones I’d ever had. Huge thanks to all those who contributed to this, it was very much appreciated!
In section A, the top two teams battling it out were Scotty & Kea and Trout & Marcia, both ending up with more wins than losses and guaranteeing qualification. And in section B, it was a similar story with Dave H & Rachelle and Kev & Merv rising to the top.
Other teams were doing quite well too, with Myself & Kim, Gary & Jill and Noelene & Ash all finishing the qualifying with heads held high on 2 wins.
At the end of the qualifying there were a clear set of 8 teams that would progress to the Quarter finals and sadly two teams for whom the campaign, but thankfully not the day, was over.
We broke around 2pm for BBQ sausages and steak and many thanks to Dave Harvey in particular for sorting this out.
There were some great matches in the quarter finals and I want to particularly call out my partner, Kim, who played really well all day and took the last two balls and the black to put us through to the semis – well done Kim! Also in the semis were Kev & Merv (against us) and Scotty & Kea against Trout & Marcia.
Unfortunately, the day proved a bit too long for Kea and he had to retire, and Kim & I fell to the sword or Merv & Kev, which set up the final between:
Merv & Kev vs Marcia & Trout
There was some great pool in the final, with some tense moments and nervy shots, but in the end Marcia & Trout’s cool composure won through and they took the title 2:0.
Congratulations to the Winners, to the Runners Up and to everyone who played and made for an excellent tournament.
Ngā Mihi
Dave
Ladies Pairs Tournament - Sunday 6th August
With a 10 o’clock muster time we saw eight teams ready to contest for this Prestigious Trophy.
After the first round saw wins to Jill & Karen, Nadine & Noelene, Tammy & Tracey, Jennie & Rachel.
However, as we progressed to the third round, Jill & Karen had a problem with the Tabasco sauce in the
Bloody Mary’s which led to a two-game losing streak.
Nadine & Noelene and Tammy & Tracey were on a great winning form until they met each other in the
fifth round, with Nadine & Noelene managing a win.
By this time the Karaoke sing-a-long was well under way along with some great dance moves by Jess, Jennie & others.
Need I say more about the food once again, it was very impressive. Enjoyed by both the players and supporters alike. A very hard act to follow – Great Job Girls.
As we ended the full round robin, we had Nadine & Noelene on 6 wins, with Tammy & Tracey, Jill & Karen, Rachelle & Marcia all on 5 wins.
The playoff games were Nadine & Noelene v Rachelle & Marcia, Tammy & Tracey v Jill & Karen.
This led to a very late final between Rachelle & Marcia and Jill & Karen.
Rachelle and Marcia were victorious on the day.
Special thanks to bar staff, Pauline for starting the day and watering the girls, then Maree who had a very late finish to her day.
Cheers, Kev
Interclub – Away vs Pt Chevalier - Sunday 30th July
Kia ora,
On Sunday 14 players (perfect number for the two RSA vans) headed down to Pt Chev RSA for our return interclub match. The current Pt Chev RSA is an old building, full of character, that makes you feel you’ve stepped back in time somewhat. That feeling was compounded by a feeling of having also been transported to New Orleans as the Auckland Secondary Jazz Competition Finals were being held in the main hall and to a full audience. Now, I’ll freely admit that jazz has never been my thing, but I have to say I was very impressed hearing these extremely talented schoolkid bands belt out their numbers, complete with brass, strings, electric guitar and piano sections! But this is a pool report Dave, stay on point!
Pt Chev have moved their tables upstairs from the basement last year and have a beautiful (recently recovered) full size snooker table and three 7’x3.5’ pool tables. And, like Papatoetoe, they play the Northern Area rules. We had 16 players a side (Marcia and I playing twice) and started off with a rundown of the rules followed by the Doubles best of 3 with a plan to make the singles best of 1 and, time permitting, a final round of doubles best of 1.
After the first round of doubles, the match was evenly poised at 4 apiece and we were shaping up for a tight match. However, we made a poor start in the singles, winning only two of the first 8 singles – clearly the 1 frame format was favouring the home side. But we rallied a bit in the second half but the singles score was Pt Chev 10:6 Warkworth.
Lunch was from the restaurant and was fabulous with pork belly, sausage, veges, chips and gravy + chocolate cake – yum!
The final round was reverse doubles, where you play with the other end of the cue.....no, actually you play against a different pair than the first time, which was a welcome twist with which to end. Here again, both teams were evenly matched at 4:4, making the final score. Pt Chev 18:14 Warkworth. Special mention to Tony who I’d put against their best player, Mali, and who Tony beat in his singles, as well as 3:0 in 3 frames on the snooker table – well done Tony! Also very noteworthy were the teams of Robert & Jennie and Kev & Rachel, being the only two teams to have won 3 of their 4 games and, in fact, Jennie was the only player to have won all 4! Well done to all!
We were gIven a great welcome by Pt Chev and everyone had a fabulous day, finishing at 5pm on the dot and back home by 6pm.
Mangawhai have just contacted me and moved the next match back to Sunday 27th Aug and that is the next Interclub and is at Home. Finally, please sign up for the Colin Whalen on Aug 13th, which is less than two weeks away – there are plenty of places available.
Ngā mihi
Dave
Interclub – Home vs Birkenhead
On Sunday we hosted Birkenhead for the first of our two matches scheduled this year.
It seems an age since we last played against each other and we were looking forward to reconnecting with some familiar faces and anticipating typically tight game. This year, it has been great to see the fantastic turnout from Warkworth and also from our visiting teams – we haven’t had many matches that have been lopsided in terms of numbers.
Birkenhead was no exception and came with 17 players and we had 19 so we drew up a board of 20 players a side, with a plan to play Singles best of 3 and Doubles best of 1.
We made a great start in the singles and when we broke for lunch after the first 15 singles, Warkworth was leading 9:6.
Lunch was a mix of plates brought by the WW team, topped up with pizza from the $10 paid by players who didn’t bring a plate. All the food was delicious and most was finished up completely – well done to all!
Perhaps WW needed a siesta after the lunch, but when we resumed, Birkenhead won all the remaining 5 singles and took the lead 9:11! Unfortunately their winning streak continued into the early doubles. We needed to stem the tide, and we did rally, and were level 4:4 over the last 8 doubles. However, the post-lunch damage was irreparable and the final score finished up:
Birkenhead 17:13 Warkworth
Special mentions from Sunday’s game:
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Ash, Rachel and Elvis who had great days at the office, winning both singles and doubles!
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Merv for his goat biryani – absolutely delicious and not something you see every day!
Friendships rekindled and a great day had by all.
Looking forward to next Sunday’s match which is away at Pt Chev. Please put your name down or contact me if you’d like to play.
Ngā mihi
Dave
The Whisky League
We are running a mini league again after the Business House and this year the team names are all single malt Whiskies and it will be played on Monday nights at 7pm starting Monday Aug 7th.
The format is 8 teams of 4 (drawn by me) and we play 4x singles and 2x Scotch doubles.
The evening normally finishes with a game of Killer ($2 entry).
This is very popular and I’m afraid all 32 spots were snapped up on Wed night, but we do have room for reserves, who can play for any team that is short on the night. I have two reserves already but please let me know if you would like to be on the list.
I’ll be putting up the teams and playing order shortly.
Business House Pool League 2023
On Wed last week we had the Prizegiving marking the end of the Business House Pool league 2023 season. It was heaps of fun and Elvis was in the house!
2023 was a great season with the usual mix of triumphs & tragedies, laughter & tears, that the single frame, do or die format produces.
This year we had 10 teams in the A Div and we welcomed a new team – Scrambles – formed this year into the B Div making 11 teams. The league has room for 12 teams in each Div and hopefully we’ll be able to get more teams into the league.
Wed night’s proceedings kicked off with a welcome from Bob and then moving into the Prizegiving itself starting with our traditional prizes for:
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First Tin Hatter of the league, which went to Simon (Golf)
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And the person Tin Hatted by Simon – Rod (GNC)
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Top Dogs i.e. players that won the most Singles games, was a tie this year between Dave (Contractors) and Liam (STR)
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And voted by all the teams, the most social team in the B Div – Savans, and in the A Div – Flukers
This year the top spots in both divisions were highly contested and the results in both rested on matches played on the final Wed of the league!
In the B Div, the top two teams both finished on 54 points apiece, and the decision came down to the match between the two earlier in the league:
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The B Div WINNERS were STR on 54 points and the Runners Up were Savans also on 54 points
And in the A Div, Mill Lane were in the box seat with the league positions dependent on the final game between Flukers and RSA 2. Flukers needed 6 points to beat Mill Lane and RSA 2 needed 7. As a Mill Lane player myself, I was hoping for a nice tight game with neither side getting more than 5 points However, on the night RSA 2 triumphed in style winning 7:2 and taking the league
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The A Div WINNERS were RSA 2 on 50 points and the Runners Up were Mill Lane on 49 points.
Huge Congratulations to the winners in both divisions – well done!
But equally, and on behalf of the Warkworth RSA, Thanks and Congratulations to all the teams and players who helped to make this season such a success.
The evening was rounded off with some fantastic food from Raina – Thank You!
I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to 2024!
As I mentioned, we are on the lookout for up to three more teams next year, so if you come across anyone who might be interested then please let me know.
Inter-club v Northern Wairoa (No...not Onehunga) - Sunday 3rd July
Kia ora,
As I was greeting the Onehunga team getting off their bus, I realised something was not quite right. Sure, it has been a couple of years since we played, but I didn't recognise any of the team other than their captain, June, with whom I had liaised to organise the game. And their shirts were different than I remembered too. Turns out that June has moved from Onehunga up to Dargaville and we were actually playing Northern Wairoa RSA!
With that rather embarrassing matter out of the way, we got down to welcoming the (correct) team and running through the rules etc
Northern Wairoa had 20 players plus 4 cheerleaders and we had 24 players, so the RSA was pretty busy for a Sunday with nearly 50 people - an awesome turnout!
Unlike Onehunga, Nth Wairoa have never played us before and didn't understand the format of the day. They arrived starving after a long journey and huge kudos to our Maree behind the bar who was rushed off her feet making toasties and pouring drinks for hungry and thirsty travellers. Well done Maree!
With similar nunbers to Papatoetoe, we planned to play the 24 singles best of 3 and the 12 doubles best of 1, breaking for afternoon tea at 2:30pm.
Warkworth got off to a flying start, taking 10 of the first 12 singles. I thought a complete rout was on the cards, but Nth Wairoa rallied a little more in the 2nd half, winning 5 of the 12, leaving the score at the end of the singles at 17:7 to Warkworth.
Afternoon tea this time was a mixture of plates brought by our team as well as some Chinese platters and chips from the Golden Boat. I think it worked out really well and, despite the toasties consumed earlier, all the food was pretty much eaten up and everyone enjoyed it.
Massive thanks to Noelene, Nadine, Rachel, Jennie, Tracey and anyone else I've forgotten who helped with the setting out and washing up of all the food. It was very much appreciated, thank you all!
Moving into the doubles, do-or-die best of 1, Nth Wairoa started to feel more comfortable with our tables and rules and managed to edge us 2:4 after the first 6 doubles.
It would have been 1:5 were it not for Elvis, who gets the "Nerves of steel" award in his doubles with Tracey. The opposition were on the brink of victory but Elvis held his nerve and confidently potted his final colour with pace to get onto the black, which he then rifled into the corner. Nothing but net - well done!
Perhaps sensing a little blood in the water, Warkworth rallied and levelled the 2nd set of doubles 3:3 and the final score was Warkworth 22:14 Northern Wairoa
Our team should be very proud. We played well throughout the day and the winning margin was fair and not down to luck or home advantage. It was thoroughly deserved and we were simply the stronger side on the day.
It was another great day and Northern Wairoa were a fantastic bunch of people to spend a Sunday afternoon with and they enjoyed themselves thoroughly too. Indeed, we have already penciled in a return in Dargaville for Nov 26th.
(Note that they only have two tables and so we will limit the number of players we send.)
A reminder that the Colin Whalen Invitational pairs is postponed till August 13th and the next pool event is Birkenhead at Home on Sunday 23rd July with muster at 12 noon.
(My bad – the sign up sheet says it’s Away and 11am).
Ngā mihi
Dave
RSA Snooker Tournament - Sunday 25th June
It was the halcyon days of the early 80's when I first got interested in snooker, watching Pot Black and then being absolutely glued to the Embassy World Professional Championship from the Crucible in Sheffield. I was an avid armchair enthusiast for several years before ever picking up a cue myself and seeing first hand what these terms - "screw", "side", "stun" etc - actually meant. And yet more years before I had the opportunity to play on a full size table and truly appreciate the skill that these snooker players had….as I clearly didn't.
It's a complex and fascinating game and 8 of us enthusiasts turned up to play the 2023 RSA Snooker tournament on Sunday. With 8 players we had the opportunity to play a full round-robin qualifying, best of 1 frame, with the view of taking the top 4 into semi-finals & final, best of 3.
We made good progress in the qualifying with only very minimal idle table time. After the first 4 rounds, there were 3 clear frontrunners: Tony on 4, Scotty & Bros on 3 and myself & Brian on 2. However, fortunes change in snooker as they do in pool and after the full 7 rounds we had Tony on 6, myself and Scotty on 5 and Brian on 4, making the semi final.
We broke for a sausage, steak and onion lunch - many thanks to Chrissy for the awesome food, to Tony for cooking and to Seth for helping laying out.
In the first semi I was lucky enough to prevail over Scotty 2:0 and in the other Tony, who had lost to Brian in the qualifying, exacted his revenge with a 2:0 victory.
Unfortunately, players obviously have lives outside of snooker, and the final was played to an audience of Don, Jacko and John.
I was the defending champion and was pleased to reach the final. But by now, Tony was firing on all cylinders and I just couldn't keep up and he raced away to a 2:0 WIN with ease, and with a break of 39, if memory serves.
Well done Tony, thoroughly deserved!
Business House
A couple of messages for the Business House Pool:
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I made a mistake in the version of the draw that I sent through, and the Golf vs Fire matched scheduled for Tues 11th July has to be moved to Wed 12th July
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The teams that missed their last match on the 14th because of the power outage need to reschedule. Mill Lane vs RSA2 is rescheduled for Tues June 27th and that is written on the draw. Could I ask the other teams to please reschedule and write into the draw.
The RSA 9 Ball Champs
On Sunday 9am we had the first of the main RSA internal pool tournaments, the 9 Ball Champs. This is an Open tournament, meaning open to all RSA members, both men and women, and we had 16 players on the day with some coming as a direct result of the impromptu 9 Ball tournament held last weekend.
We divided into two groups of 8 for the qualifying round robin, where each player plays every other in their group, best of 3, so plenty of pool with everyone playing 7 matches. The plan was then to take the top 4 from each group to go into the quarter final.
We planned to get through the qualifying just in time for our steak'n'sausages afternoon tea at 2:30pm, and we pretty much made it with only a couple of games that had to pause.
As the qualifying progressed, the frontrunners started to emerge and after 4 rounds, myself, Thrax and Tony were leading in Group A with 3 wins, whilst in Group B, Bros and Keith were on 3 and Mike had a clean sheet on 4! In the final 3 rounds some started to wane while others found their stride, and Mike Jones continued on a seemingly inexorable journey towards total domination with 7!
Qualifying from Group A were Tony, Thrax, Dave and Scotty, and from Group B, Mike, Bros, Andy and Tracey. Nice to see a woman qualify - well done Tracey!
I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in my first frame against Bros, but in the second cleared up brilliantly potting the 9 early to win.
Mike's campaign marched ever onwards and the Semi finals was Mike/Thrax and Bros/Tony and there was some great pool setting up a final between Mike and Tony.
The final was best of 5 frames and Tony came out swinging and took a 2:1 lead. Mike was not going down without a fight though, and brought it back to 2 apiece and a final frame decider. This was a great game that ended with both players on the 9 ball, which seemed a fitting end to an epic battle.
Tony missed and the 9 ball came to rest over the middle pocket giving Mike a shot. Mike grazed the 9 so finely that we all thought it wasn't going to make the 1 cm it needed to drop….but it did and Mike was the winner!
Commiserations to Tony, but huge congratulations to Mike, not only for winning his first RSA tournament, but for the style in which he did it - Played 10 matches in the day and won every single one of them!
Special thanks to Chrissy for getting the food, which was lovely, and to Storm, Thrax and others who helped cook it and also to Seth for helping too.
Another great tournament and we're looking forward to the Snooker tournament next Sunday.
Pool News & Updates - June 11th
The saying goes that “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and on Sunday we decided to put that to the test. In lieu of a cancelled inter-club game against Mangawhai, 21 of us came down at midday and we had a 9 Ball tournament. There was some wailing and gnashing of teeth at the proposal of playing some new-fangled game. American Stuart brought out his best John McEnroe – “You cannot be serious!”, and I honestly thought Noelene was going to faint on the spot.
Luckily, a few of us have played 9 Ball before and both Wendy and Rachelle had had their interest piqued watching Tony & I practice the week before. So, an all-out mutiny was avoided and we proceeded with a rather protracted explanation / demonstration of the rules, done in courtroom style, complete with objections and overruling.
9 Ball is a fast and exciting game with only the balls 1-9 on the table, and the object is to sink the 9 ball and, provided the lowest numbered ball is hit first, the 9 can be potted at any time! In fact, my first game was over in ~5 sec, as I potted the 9 off the break….Sorry Jill!
We played a knockout tournament with a Plate and matches were best of 5, so plenty of pool guaranteed for all. After my initial success against Jill, she fought back to 2:2 and then proceeded to take the final frame and send me into the Plate. And this kind of tight game was being repeated all across the first round, with many “Oh, I get it now” comments and players eagerly trying to spot plants and cannons to get the 9 ball in early. Others chose a more measured approach, potting the balls in sequence and finishing with the 9.
By now everyone was having a great time and we moved towards the final stages with the Main semis being Kev/Jill & Gary/Rachelle and in the Plate Dennis/Marcia & Dave/Jim.
I got the better of Jim and Dennis edged out Marcia setting up the Plate final. And in the Main, Kev, who had really taken to the game, brought Jill’s campaign to an end. And the other semi was an epic with many ooohs & ahhs from the crowd as Rachelle & Gary reached 2:2. The end was befitting of the tight match with Gary initially thinking he had won when the 9 went down, only to have ecstasy turn to agony as the white followed suit. In the Plate final, I had found my 9 Ball stride and managed to win with two frames ended with 9 ball plants.
The Main final, however, was another epic that went down to the wire, with Rachelle prevailing in the end – Well Done Rachelle! It was an excellent day, everyone had a great time and it appears that, yes, you can teach old and middle-aged dogs new tricks!
The RSA official 9 Ball tournament is on this Sunday and there is still time to sign up.
Cheers
Dave 027 754 9961
Pool News & Updates - 8th June
Business House Pool Rules
Last week a question came up about the Business House Pool rules. We’d like to confirm that teams do not have to play their Doubles with players in the same order as the Singles. For example, if singles was played in the order ABCDEF then the Doubles could be BD AC EF.
Interclub Mangawhai – CANCELLED
Unfortunately, Mangawhai have pulled out of the game on June 11th.
We will be doing a casual play this Sunday muster 12noon no entry fee no food be great to have as many to come in and play!
9 Ball Champs
We will shortly put up a sign-up sheet for the 9-Ball Champs tournament on June 18th.
This is a great game and we will publish the rules of 9-Ball in the Newsletter and on the board.
Looking forward to seeing you all at this tournament.
Cheers
Dave 027 754 9961
Inter-Club Report - Saturday 27th May ~ PAPATOETOE @ WARKWORTH
Kia Ora,
In the words of the late, great, Tina Turner, Saturday's match against Papatoetoe was, "Simply the best, better than all the rest". I mean this most sincerely, it was the best match that I have played in over the 10+ years that I have been playing Inter-club.
First of all I want to thank the Warkworth RSA team. I know that I have been a right royal pain of late trying to badger you all into playing, especially when I know that some of you have other commitments and this is a big ask. We had the highest turnout ever with 26 players, and many thanks to you all, and especially Storm & Tony - there's one up the spout for both of you.
Secondly I'd like to have a special call out to Wendy who joined our RSA a week ago and immediately put her name down for today's game. That takes guts and confidence and Wendy was here bright & early at 11:30am and I put her on at number 2. She won both her singles and her doubles with Storm - Well done Wendy and welcome to the club!
Papatoetoe arrived with 20 players and 6 doubled up so we were 26 a side. We started with the singles best of three, knowing that with this number of players, the doubles would likely have to be best of one which it was.
Warkworth galloped off to a massive start winning 10 of the first 13 singles! But, as is often the case with pool, there's many a slip betwixt cup and lip and Papatoetoe rallied strongly in the back 13 and brought the score back to 14:12 to Warkworth after the singles.
We broke for lunch at 2:45pm and again I'd like to thank the Warkworth team - you knocked it out of the park, as usual. Special thanks to Tracey, Nadine, Rachelle and Rachel for helping coordinate and to my own Tracey for the meatballs and the pizza. Jim's legendary carrot cake was in the house and all of the food went down really well and was most appreciated.
Moving into the doubles and again Warkworth got off to a great start winning 5 of the first 6 doubles. But as is often the case, fortunes change and Papatoetoe fought back in the second half and won 5 of the last 7 doubles.
The final Score was Warkworth 21:18 Papatoetoe
Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted with the win, but it wasn't about the score in the end, it was about the camaraderie, respect and the mana shown by both teams.
Some points of note:
Tony won his singles game with a double from the bottom cushion into the middle pocket. A shot that I have been trying to teach him for many years now. "There is no try, only do" - Yoda. Shot of the day.
Mike Jones got with the project and dispatched his singles in 2 and won his doubles….and brought a pav - well done Mike!
Matches made in heaven, where both players won singles and doubles: Storm & Wendy, Ash & Tony and Elvis & Emma - well done all!
We had ending speeches where I thanked Papatoetoe and led us in a three cheers for them. In return, Chad made a speech thanking us and acknowledging the fact that Diane’s Mum had passed earlier in the day and then finishing with their version of three cheers done in the style of a Haka.
I'd like to finish by saying that this pic of us all thanking each other, and with the hongi between Merv and Orlo, really just says it all, what a beautiful day!
Ngā mihi
Dave
Inter-club - Wellsford@ Wellsford
Kia Ora,
On Sunday we mustered at 11am for the trip up to Wellsford for our Inter-club match and got there with plenty of time for practice at 11:30am. We had a strong turnout of 17 players and two Interclub first-timers - Andy Barnes, and Shaun Cook - a warm welcome to both of you!
Wellsford have two 8' pool tables and a full size snooker table and they had 12 players. Given the number of players, the singles and doubles were played in parallel with the singles from the top of the draw on the pool tables and the doubles from the bottom on the snooker table.
The match would finish when we had completed 12 Singles and 6 doubles if the time was 5pm or later.
I was first up and won my singles, but after that we had 6 losses (4 singles 2 doubles) before Marcia pulled it out of the fire with a 3 frame thriller to give us our second win! Needless to say, we were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat at this point
Luckily the tide started to turn and we won 2 more singles plus the next 2 doubles - congrats to Tracey, Merv, Shaun/Kerry and Denis/Nadine respectively.
Given the time pressure, we had more of a working lunch and didn't really pause play whist we tucked into some lovely food, courtesy of Wellsford's Terry/Shirley.
We won the final 2 doubles - congrats to Gary/Tracey & Dave/Rachelle - but lost 2 more singles and went into the last match, Nadine vs Phil, with a score of WFD 9 : 8 WW. Nadine played fantastic pool out of the gate and took the first frame with ease. Phil took the second but was now clearly feeling the pressure and resorted to covering pockets. Houdini would have been proud of the amazing job Nadine did of digging her way out of some very closed situations and she eventually got to within one ball of the black with Phil on the black. Phil missed a sitter, but Nadine's 7 ball was on the knuckle and not easy, she missed and it went to Phil. Great effort Nadine! Would have been great to add to your doubles win, but not to be.
Final Score Wellsford 10 : 8 Warkworth
We thanked our hosts and left at 5:30pm having had a great social and competitive day of pool.
A few closing points to make:
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Several of our players only got to play a single game as we didn't have time to play the last 5 singles and 3 doubles. Given only 2 tables at Wellsford I think we will have to limit our numbers to 12 going forward for Wellsford Away games (feedback welcome)
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Special mention to Andy Barnes, who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in his singles I can remember how nervous I was in my first few interclub games and I completely empathise with his in-off and follow-through. We've all been there mate, better luck next time.
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Wellsford play Snooker's Touching Ball rule i.e. you must play away and the touch counts as a hit. Good to know for next time.
Next game is Papatoetoe at Home on Saturday (not a typo) with a muster time of 12pm
Ngā mihi
Dave
RSA Invitational Singles - Sunday 7th May
Kia Ora,
On Sunday we had another great event, the 2023 RS Invitational Singles. Like the Clive Hulme, there was good attendance across a number of different clubs; Warkworth (10), Birkenhead (8), Hibiscus (2), Swanson (7) and Northland (3). Unfortunately the flu/Covid meant we had a couple of late pull outs, couple of late replacements, then more pullouts on the day and ended up with 30 players. Would you believe, Tony & I had the BYEs, and let me tell you, no advantage at all. Quite the opposite, we played our first games after lunch!
After a welcome and a run through of the rules, we got underway at 9am sharp. After the first round, two Warkworth players remained in the Main – Zom & Scotty – with myself and Tony on a Bye and the remainder of our players went into the plate. And in the next round, I’d like to specifically call out Zom vs Eli (one of Swanson’s teenagers and a NZ Rep). Zom won the first game and was agonisingly close to winning the match 2:0, but Eli managed to pull it out of the fire, having potted his last ball unintentionally and having to go into a black ball game with an excellent safety to start. Great stuff and bad luck Zom, you nearly had him!
I narrowly lost to Toby and went into the plate and Tony went through to the quarters with a good win over JK.
We did have a rule misunderstanding that cost Deon his match, and although we did mention this in the opening, I have made a mental note to be clearer with this going forward.
Lunch was, as ever, spectacular and many thanks to Raina, Eddy and the gang for providing us with such fantastic food to keep us going.
After lunch in the Main, Tony made it to the Quarters but unfortunately was undone by Toby on the road to the semis. The champion from the last invitational, Casey, continued her run beating Lee to move into the semis, where she was joined by Eli, Ross and Toby. And in the plate, Milly had her second win in as many tournaments, and moved into the quarters! As did I where I met Robert and we had a good game where Robert won, setting up the semis:
Main: Casey/Eli and Ross/Toby
Plate: Simon/Melissa and Pierre/Robert
The semis were all good, tight matches and resulted in Simon/Robert in the final of the Plate, where Simon prevailed and was the winner.
I was privileged to be the referee for the final, with the best seat in the house to watch one of the best matches of pool I have ever seen in the 37+ years that I have been playing!
Ross raced off into the lead in the first frame, but Casey fought back brilliantly to get onto the black and pot it…but then go in-off into the middle. Ross then won the 2nd frame cleanly and was sitting on a seemingly unassailable lead of 2:0 in a best of 5. However, Casey stuck in there and played some of the best pool ever seen on our tables, nearly but not quite matched by Ross, and we ended up at 2:2. In the final frame, Ross lost focus on literally a single shot (I know the feeling!) and after a safety exchange, Casey pounced to win the final frame and the match! It was a thrilling final and a pleasure to watch – well done to both Ross & Casey.
In her winner’s speech, Casey complimented the RSA, the organisation and the tables – we really do have the best tables .
Congratulations to all those players who placed and received some prize money:
Plate Semi Finalists: Melissa and Pierre
Main Quarter Finalists: Lee, Moloi, Simon Mock and Tony. Semi Finalists: Eli and Toby
As ever, a great day had by all.
Nga Mihi nui
Dave
Interclub - Hibiscus Coast @ Warkworth
Kia Ora,
On Sunday we hosted Hibiscus Coast RSA for an inter club pool match. Given that Hibiscus didn’t play last year, this was first time we had played in over 3 years. I’d been told by their captain that they would be coming with only 9 players, which was a little disappointing, but on the day they had 13 players to our 16.
When I started playing interclub over 10 years ago, our team was very male dominated. But in recent years, that has changed and we’re more 50:50 as are the teams that we play against and we drew up the order as Mixed pairs.
After the introductions and a run through of the rules, we kicked off with the singles, best of 3 frames. Despite me leading the team off with a loss against Peter Grimes, after the first 8 singles games, the teams were evenly poised at 4 each, with solid wins from Gary, Rachelle, Kev and Eddy, against still opposition, and I think all games went to 3 – well done!. However, in the following 8 games we had wins from Lynne & Elvis – well done both! – but unfortunately no others and we finished the singles 6:10.
We broke for lunch at 2:45pm and a huge call out to the Warkworth team for going above and beyond and providing a fantastic spread of lovely food. It was all delicious, but I do need to particularly call out Lynne’s roast pork and Jim’s carrot cake, which are both becoming legendary on the interclub pool circuit!
After lunch we kicked off with the doubles, again best of 3. We made a good start, winning 4 of the first 5 games and clawing back to 10:11. We lost the next doubles and were looking to win the final two games to get the draw. These were epic battles involving Elvis/Lynne and Merv/Jim. Both very tense and tight games, but unfortunately both went to Hibiscus Coast and the final score was 10:14.
A great day was had by all and It was great to catch up with Hibiscus Coast after so long and, as was the case in the past, it was a good match. The return match has been scheduled for late Nov and we are looking forward to restoring some pride with a win
Ngā mihi
Dave
Interclub - Papatoetoe Away
Kia Ora,
On Sunday, we travelled to Papatoetoe RSA for our inaugural match with a team that's new to us this year. The background here is that Papatoetoe had their club social weekend away a few months ago and stopped in along our RSA, loved the tables, got talking to a few of our members (Thanks Gary!) and one thing led to another and we organised to meet in the pool schedule.
We arrived early (it's only an hour away) with 11 players and they had 14, so 3 of ours played twice.
Their tables are 7'x3.5' as compared to our 9'x4.5' and they play the Northern Area rules, which makes much more sense on that size. We were made very welcome from the get go with their players helping ours understand the rules – a shift in thinking is required as there is no two shots penalty for a foul and instead the penalty is a free ball and/or ball in hand. I think most of us got there in the end, especially those who had played Pt Chev last year. And of course, Papatoetoe will be playing our rules on the return.
All games were best of three and we started with the doubles and honours were reasonably shared with the doubles finishing 4:3 in Warkworth's favour. I need to make particular note of one game here, mine and Rachel's, and not because of anything spectacular on my part. In the final frame, Rachel cleared our last three colours and then the black to win the frame, and each and every shot was played to perfection and the margin for error on those tables is tiny - Well Done Rachel!
I'd also like to call out Lynne & Terry for winning their doubles game, proving that they're a winning combo!
Lunch was fantastic, and an interesting mix of themes - mainly Chinese with a bit of Italian and some Kiwi. It was awesome and everyone enjoyed it!
Moving into the singles, we saw the see-saw theme continue with wins and losses on both sides in equal measure. I do want to particularly call out our women here - Rachelle, Rachel and Tracey all won their singles, and that's fantastic to see!
We were poised at 10 a piece and it all came down to the last game of singles between Bob and Doc. After 1:1, we were down to the last frame of the last game to decide the match, and a superbly played sequence finishing with a trickled black along the cushion saw Bob snatch glory for Warkworth 11:10. WELL DONE EVERYONE!
As Robert from Papatotoe quite rightly pointed out, it was all about having fun. But given that we'd all had heaps of fun throughout the day, it is a competition afterall, and the win was pretty sweet too :-)
We have discussed and would like to have the rematch on Sat 27th May as opposed to the planned Sun 28th May, as this would mean Papatoetoe could "Make a night of it" and stay over. I appreciate that this may impact some Warkworth players who play on a Sat afternoon, but I would like to ask those players to consider playing for us on that day.
A great day had by all, and we’re all looking forward to the next match which is Hibiscus Coast at home on Sun April 30th.
Ngā mihi
Dave
Pre Business House Mini League
Last Tuesday we kicked off the pre-Business House mini league and it was a huge success. As expected on the first night of a new league, there were a couple of no shows, but we managed to work around it and call up reserves. The doubles was played in the Scotch format, where players alternate taking shots within their team’s go, and everyone had a lot of fun with it.
The night finished with a tense game of killer where Tony retained his 3 lives for the longest of anyone, but in the end he was faced with too many impossible shots and ended up in a 3-way stand-off with Karen and Gary, all on a single life. Karen’s last shot was a valiant attempt, as was Tony’s, but ultimately Gary won out and took the spoils – well done! If anyone is interested in being a floating reserve i.e. able to play for any team that’s short, then please contact me.
We are still very much looking for players for the Clive Hulme invitational singles on Sunday March 19th. The sign up sheet is in the club right now if you are interested.
Cheers
Dave
Interclub – Point Chev
On Sunday, 19th February, Warkworth RSA hosted Point Chev for the first time and it was a great day of pool and we have already scheduled the return for July 30th!
Warkworth had an amazing turnout of 19 players, which is very impressive considering that many of our regulars had golf commitments over the weekend and the weather was unseasonably nice! And Point Chev turned up (early) with 16 players, meaning that the match was 20:20 to ensure everyone got to play.
Given the numbers, we agreed to do the singles out of 3 and then consider the doubles out of 1 if running short on time. Warkworth got off to a great start, winning 5 of the first 7 games, but then Pt Chev rallied and it was 5:5 after 10. Most of the singles games were epic tussles that went to 3 frames and by the end of it, the game was perfectly poised at 10 games apiece.
We broke for afternoon tea and, as is now the norm, the food was fantastic and featured 5 pans / crock pots of hot food and various other delicious dishes. Given the high numbers, however, we got some pizza and chips to bolster the food, and it was pretty much all gone by the end. Special thanks goes to Lynne & Terry, Rachelle, Rachel, Nadine & Tracey for all their help in getting food all together. It was all very much appreciated by both teams – well done!
Moving into the doubles phase, we had to make the matches a single frame, and unfortunately our winning start in the singles did not translate into the doubles and we lost 6 of the first 7 games We rallied a bit at the end, winning 2 of the final 3 games, but the damage had been done by that point and the final score was Warkworth 13:17 Pt Chev.
Point Chev are a very good side with heaps of experience and they deserved the win. However, despite the final score, everyone had a great day and are looking forward to the return and getting a trophy for what is now going to be a regular fixture in our pool calendar.