Romsey Bowling Club has never won a division one premiership, but there is good reason to believe 2023-24 is the season where the Redbacks can finally break through.
Highlands pennant began on Saturday in ideal conditions, and the strongly reinforced Redbacks came to Kyneton Golf and accounted for the reigning premiers by 23 shots, with all fours up.
Coach Garry Templar was certainly pleased with the victory, but played down any premiership expectations at this early stage.
“It was a good win over there, against strong opposition. We know Golf has a quality lineup,” he said.
Templar drew attention to Romsey’s effort last season, finishing on top of the ladder and then bowing out in the finals in straight sets.
“My aim is for our three sides to make the finals, and we’ll see where we go from there.”
Templar said Romsey was attracting new players, five of whom had never previously played the game.
“We’ve been consistently getting 34 at training, it’s a good atmosphere,” he added.
Even at this very early stage, I’m prepared to predict Romsey and Kyneton Golf will end up with the double chance in the top division.
And for the first time, there is added incentive for a side to finish on top, having the choice of the semi-final venue.
With around half of the clubs now having synthetic greens, the previous system of automatically playing the semi-finals on grass has been dumped by the Highlands match committee. A reward for finishing on top.
THE FIVE NEWCOMERS
The Redbacks unveiled five very talented recruits in their division one line-up to tackle Golf, taking the pressure off the Romsey ‘regulars’.
With only three rinks (12 players), their inclusion makes a huge difference, and one thinks back to Kilmore’s ambitious and successful move several years ago to recruit quality players and break a top grade premiership drought going way back to 2028.
Skippers Graham ‘Big G’ Edwards and Aaron Young immediately proved their worth, backed up by the other recruits in Dean Goodwin, Glen Gascoyne and Lloyd Dyamond.
The ‘Big G’ was rated top class when he played with Kyneton Golf two seasons ago, then went back to Bendigo last season, accompanied by Gascoyne. Young began at Romsey as a teenager, won a club championship, then shone at Lancefield and in inter-association before trying his luck with Bacchus Marsh in metro before returning to Lancefield.
Goodwin has played with Kyneton and in Bendigo, and Dyamond was formerly with Kyneton.
Saturday’s encounter at Kyneton Golf was rightly match of the round, with the green in fine condition.
Golf, fielding a side much the same as the one that dominated last season’s finals, stayed in touch up to half-time.
Onlookers had plenty of good bowls to applaud from both sides across the match, but the Redbacks were able to add numbers at crucial stages and gradually drew clear.
Edwards drew clear of Adrian Plowman in the second half, Young defeated Barry Godbolt by six, and Matt Brundell finished three ahead of Peter Linehan.
In the Gisborne versus Kyneton match, the home side had just one rink up but still won by 16 shots due to the dominance of the Ian Morley, Phil Nathan, Ian Ball and Peter Williams (s) rink against Mark Smoljo.
Smoljo was fresh from a big tournament win in company with Terry Kelly and Jimmy Cooper.
An improving Kilmore, a real chance for the finals, accounted for visitors Trentham by 23 shots, with Corey McKeone’s rink salvaging points for Trentham.
Broadford finished 13 up against Diggers Rest in the remaining match, with Lancefield having the bye.
The closest match across the three divisions was at Lancefield, where the Tigers scraped home by a shot against Trentham in division 3.
Woodend’s synthetic green, which had to be replaced after flooding, is now in use, but the grass green is not expected to be ready until early next year.
ALL THE SCORES
Division one scores in the opening round of Highlands area pennant bowls on Saturday were:
Kyneton Golf 53 lost to Romsey 76: P. Linehan (s) 20 lost to M. Brundell 23, A. Plowman 15 lost to G. Edwards 29, B. Goodbolt 18 lost to A. Young 24.
Gisborne 66 d Kyneton 52: D. Beardmore 18 lost to N. Jamieson 23, A. Higgins 16 lost to A. Mathieson 19, P. Williams 32 d M. Smoljo 10.
Kyneton 79 d Trentham 56: D. Noonan 26 d . White 17, M. McMaster 32 d R. Dobinson 15, J. Reimann 21 lost to C. McKeone 24.
Broadford 70 d Diggers Rest 57: D. Kelly 32 d D. Odgers 19, D. Ellis 25 d K. Geisler 11, R. Chapman 23 lost to S. Crimmins 27.
DIVISION 2
Macedon 59 d Woodend 44: I. Guymer 16 lost to T. Lennie 19, G. Dickerson 18 d S. Pickles 14, R. Stapleton 25 d M. Dornau 11.
Romsey 58 d Kyneton Golf 51: A. Laing 20 d C. Scott 16, P. Chalmers 16 lost to J. Trounce 24, S. Trodd 22 d J. McQualter 11.
Kyneton 65 d Gisborne 53: L. Gent 12 lost to R. Newton 28, M. Bermingham 22 d K. Jarred 13, D. Fisher 31 d B. Wylie 12.
Diggers Rest 74 d Broadford 51.
DIVISION 3
Gisborne 71 d Kyneton 57: C. Butterley 14 lost to J. Epps 27, V. Cyrulo 20 d J. Wells 17, F. Roche 37 d C. Bermingham 13.
Lancefield 64 d Trentham 63: K. Webb 22 d . Walsh 21, J. Smith 16 lost to M. Hinneberg 25, G. Stewart 26 d I. Bruton 17.
Macedon 54 lost to Romsey 68: M. Cameron 18 lost to M. Toy 26, M. Keenan 21 d R. Kozulins 16, B. Swan 15 lost to C. Dean 26.
Woodend 43 lost to Kilmore 89: C. Staggard 12 lost to A. Jowett 37, G. Dryden 12 lost to L.Hodgson 28, M. Paterson 19 lost to S. McNamara 24.
