Karoonda remain the pace-setters in Lower Murray bowls
Plus Jervois defeats Tailem Bend, Murray Bridge have their first win and our correspondent looks ahead to round six.
This story was contributed by Dhontbe Schortt.
Karoonda have kept their unbeaten run intact after the first fully completed round of the Lower Murray Bowls Association season with a 67-56 win over Mannum.
It was again Andrew Stasinowsky, Erin O’Malley, Ray Rudiger and Malcolm McKenzie who dominated for the winners with an effortless 33-11 win over Graham Wakefield, Tom Towns, Jack Vinck and Gary Odgers.
Stasinowsky already had 16 shots on the board after winning the first eight ends before Wakefield troubled the scoreboard with a four on the ninth end.
Stasinowsky then piled on another 13 shots to 2 for a 29-6 lead before a couple of successive ends to Wakefield gave the score a little more respectability; but in the end he could only win four ends in total in a 22-shot loss.
Rowan Zadow, Ian Symonds, Jayden Turner and Ivan Silcock jumped Gavin Pfeiffer, Marty March, Stephen Gregory and Colin Campion to take a 7-0 lead after four ends, but needed a four on the final end to claim a last-gasp win.
Successive threes to Pfeiffer gave him the lead for the first time after 15 ends, and when he won three in a row soon after he was well placed for the win.
A single on the 20th had Zadow three shots in arrears, and a final-end four got him over the line by a single shot, 20-19.
Terry McDonnell, Andrew Hammence, Peter Wegner and Todd McDonnell scored two points for Mannum with a mid-game burst which propelled them clear of Josh Porker, Malcolm Waechter, Belinda O’Malley and Bill Cornish.
Porker had looked to be gaining the ascendancy when he led 9-6 after nine ends, but this soon became 9-22 as McDonnell added four, three, four, three and two to take the game away.
A five to Porker gave him a glimmer of hope, but the final six ends were all decided by single shots, with four of those going to McDonnell for a solid 26-16 win.
Jervois wins away despite some resistance
At Tailem Bend the return of Sam Shepherd was not enough to overcome Jervois, although he helped his rink to an easy 27-10 win to secure two points.
Duane Edwards, Shepherd, Neil Zander and Bernard Naulty were untroubled against Jeremy Scannell, Graham Fromm, Bruce Smith and Stuart McCulloch, who were blitzed at the start to trail 15-2 after nine ends.
Scannell made some in-roads during the middle stages, reducing the deficit to seven shots after 14 ends.
Edwards then reasserted his dominance with 10 shots to nil over the final seven ends for a big win.
Graeme Herbert, Garry Mason, Graham Schenke and Shane Fromm romped to a 31-8 win over Travis Schenke, Merv Stevens, Ian Shepherd and Matt Kowald.
Herbert opened with a four and gradually built a nine-shot lead over the first half.
Schenke scored two upon the resumption, but from thereon it was all one-way as Herbert took eight of the remaining nine ends, adding 17 shots to one.
A four on the final end took the final margin to 23 shots, with Schenke powerless to stop the onslaught.
Shawn Hicks, Derek Vanderzon, Heather Fromm and Neil Morris generally controlled their contest against Rob Hales, Michael Thorne, David Hoare and Grantley Byrne.
With Vanderzon regularly finding the jack, Hicks won seven ends in a row to take a 10-1 lead after eight ends.
Hales picked up two, three and two to go into the break with some momentum, but this was quickly snuffed out when Hicks added a four in the first end after resuming, and followed with two singles.
A four on the 19th end gave Hales a faint hope, but Hicks closed out the final two ends for an eight-shot win, 24-16.
Vanderzon capped the win with his third meat raffle win for the season, an unblemished record at all three away matches so far.
Murray Bridge break their drought
A dominant first half across all three rinks has given Murray Bridge its first win of the season against a struggling and undermanned RSL, missing regular skippers David Thiele and Jason Sipos.
David Kempe, Ben Traeger, newly promoted Sam Hill and John Bubner had few issues dealing with Karen Kneebone, Max Wilkin, Michael Walker and Phil Day.
Two fours in the first three ends set them up for an imposing 18-3 first-half lead and an eventual 26-13 win.
An improved second half with a five on the 13th end helped Kneebone, but the damage had already been done.
Brian Traeger, Judy Zadow, Helen Lindner and Paul Smart were not as prolific, but won the opening four ends for an early 6-0 lead over Charlie Di Santo, Gary Daniel, Bruce Warner and Greg Hopgood.
Di Santo gradually worked back into the match, and briefly hit the front by two shots after 15 ends, but this was all too brief as Traeger responded immediately with a four.
From there he went on to win 19-15.
A similar pattern followed with Darren McIntosh, Tony Trewren, Troy Penhall and Bruce Attrill with their 23-19 win over Noel Kneebone, Kerri Bolt, David Newell and Anne-Marie Kuchel.
Threes on the first and second ends were followed by another on the fifth as they built a 14-5 lead just before the break.
Kneebone then went 11-1 over the next six ends, and with a four snatched a one-shot lead after 16.
But the lead was short lived, and a four to McIntosh on the 20th end gave him a decisive break to close out the match.
Top two clubs will clash in round six
The highlight of round six will undoubtedly be the clash between Karoonda and Jervois at Jervois, with the hosts winning their past four games since they last met at Karoonda.
Karoonda were too good that day, winning by 22 shots, but both teams have had similar results since.
Karoonda have slightly advanced their shot differential advantage over their rivals, but Jervois have edged a point closer.
Andrew Stasinowsky has his rink firing, with double-digit wins in all but one of his matches so far.
He will have no misgivings in returning to his old home greens and will be the key to the outcome.
With Josh Porker missing, the other rinks might need reshuffling, so could be a little unbalanced.
For Jervois, Graeme Herbert is coming off a couple of big wins, and with Shane Fromm’s improvement will have him primed for the contest.
Shawn Hicks also has his rink performing and so far unbeaten.
Jeremy Scannell was a little unfortunate to run into both Duane Edwards and Sam Shepherd last round and will be keen to rebound.
I will tip the locals to just scrape in for the points in this one.
Last time Tailem Bend met Murray Bridge they pulled off what was a surprise win, but this time at home it would not surprise at all.
They probably cannot afford to keep Sam Shepherd and Duane Edwards in the same rink for too long to achieve their most potent lineup, while David Hoare seems under-utilised playing second.
Murray Bridge finally chalked up their first win against RSL last start, but RSL were severely depleted with two regular skippers missing.
Tailem Bend at home should start favourites.
RSL host Mannum, who are beginning to find some form, and should continue their climb.
Terry McDonnell has had a couple of big wins on the trot and is crucial to their hopes.
RSL need all their best players available to really threaten, but this doesn’t happen often enough.
They need a couple of wins soon to revive their season, or it will quickly slip away from them.
With third, fourth and fifth separated by just two points, Mannum have enough incentive for a big win.
