POOL CLUB
Business House League (seasonal) – Monday to Wednesday (as required) – 7.00pm start
Mini-league round-robin competitions before and after the Business House League season.
Inter-club and Club Champs (seasonal) – Sunday – Start times vary.
For all inquiries please contact Dave on 027 754 9961
Email: David.Ollason@hotmail.com or pool@warkworthrsa.co.nz
Birkenhead Away Sunday March 30th
On Sunday, after the AGM, 14 of us headed down to the Birkenhead RSA for our away game.
Birkenhead is a large club with a very strong and active pool and snooker section, and the coordinators, Paula & Tina, had amassed an impressive 23 players, meaning that many of our players and one of theirs played twice.
Given the size of the field and the slightly later than normal start, we decided that the doubles would be best of 3 and the singles sudden death.
Myself and Marcia were up against one of their top players, Maurice, partnered with Mitchell, a youngster (14) who is being coached into the team and was playing his first interclub match. It went to 3, but ultimately Maurice's experience won out. Unfortunately, this was repeated across all 4 of the first matches and we had to wait for Jim & Rach to restore some pride with our first win.
Although the matches were close, with many going to 3, we only had another two wins in the doubles and were left staring at an unflattering 3:9 score line as we moved into the singles.
Our woes continued in the singles, where we took only 3 of the first 12 singles before heading to afternoon tea. But we were treated to some lovely Chinese food, which certainly brought smiles back to our faces and set us up for the second half of the singles.
Perhaps knowing that the match was lost put the team in a more relaxed frame of mind, because we came back swinging and won 7 of the final 12 singles matches . It was still a hefty defeat:
Birkenhead 23:13 Warkworth
But a modicum of pride was restored and we had all had a great day, as you can see below.
I'd like to make a few special mentions:
Gary for his excellent win in singles against Moloi (Their top player)
Rach for winning the last match of the day, under intense pressure with everyone watching.
Shirley for winning her singles and to Trish and myself for being the only partnership to win both singles an doubles.
Well Done All!
As we wrapped up and were thanking the teams, Tina made special mention of the fact that it was great to see so many ladies playing for Warkworth.
This is a sentiment that I share and have expressed in these reports before - Go Warkworth Ladies!!
Cheers
Dave
Onehunga Away Sunday March 23rd
On Sunday, 15 intrepid potters made their way to Onehunga RSA for our first interclub of the 2025 season.
Onehunga also had 15 players so one player on each team (myself and Wazza) played twice making a round 16 a side.
After a very warm welcome and a run-through of the rules - Onehunga, like Papatoetoe, play the Northern area or National rules, which are quite different - we started with the doubles.
After the first 4 matches, Warkworth had only one win - Well done Marcia & Gary - against three losses. A pattern was emerging and one that would continue into the next four matches where, again, we had only one win - The two Daves. It wasn't that we were playing badly - most games were going the distance to three frames - but we were struggling with the rules a little and needed to settle into it. The score at the end of the doubles was Onehunga 6:2 Warkworth.
Perhaps our fortunes would change in the singles round? And indeed, things were looking a little better with the singles tied at 4:4 after the first half of the matches.
We broke for afternoon tea at 3pm, which was a lovely chicken burger and chips and looked to capitalise with renewed energy. Sadly, however, the last half of the singles was a 2:6 loss making the final score Onehunga 16:8 Warkworth.
It was disappointing, but I was reminded of the fact that the exact same thing happened last year where we got thumped Away but then thumped even harder on the Home game and came away with the trophy. Here's hoping we do the same again this year!
I do want to thank both Keanau and JJ for playing this event for the first time, and also to call out Gary, Marcia and Dave Harvey for having won both their singles and their doubles - well done!
We handed the trophy over for safe keeping until the return match, when we very much hope to return it to its rightful place on our shelf.
A reminder that this coming Sunday is Birkenhead Away and we will leave as soon as the AGM is over.
Cheers,
David
Scotch Pairs Sunday March 9th
The RSA 2025 pool tournament season kicked off on Sunday with the Scotch Pairs, and what a fantastic opening to the season it was!
We divided the 12 teams into two pools of 6 and kicked off the round-robin at 9am. A huge welcome to Storm's son Marshall (12) who was playing with Dad in his first tournament - we were all keen to see how he would go. Like a duck to water, was the answer, taking out their first two matches in style!
As the round-robin phase was drawing to a close, we broke for lunch. This year we have decided to make the tournaments $5 entry plus $10 or a plate for food, and we had a great mix of lovely plates plus some BBQ sausages and steak cooked by Dave Harvey - thank you Dave and everyone for the food.
It was Malcolm Kidd's (Trout) birthday, and we wished him all the best in the traditional manner, and here he is enjoying his cake with chocolate fish - Happy Birthday Trout!
At the end of the round-robin, it was clear that in both sections there was a natural break between the top 4 and the bottom 2 teams, so we decided to start the knockout stage with a quarter final.
Tony & I were lucky to squeeze past Storm & Marshall in the quarters and even luckier to make it past a very in-form Trout & Jennie in the semis. Both matches we 2:1 nailbiters.
And Kev & Noelene had a similarly tough journey to final via Thrax & Milly and Jo & Murray. Again, both tight matches.
We had lost in the round-robin 1:2 and were out for revenge in the final. And it was looking very good for us with an initial 2:0 lead in the best of 5, needing only one frame from 3. But Noelene & Kev had other plans and played really well to bring the score level at 2:2 and set us up for a decider. Not only a decider, but one that went to the black which took a few attempts both sides, before falling to Kev for the decisive pot.
Well done to Kev & Noelene as the 2025 Scotch Pairs winners, thoroughly deserved!
