Sports reports: Mannum finish as minor premiers in Murray Towns cricket
Plus the latest in lawn bowls, rifle shooting, golf and more.
This story includes contributions from Derek Vanderzon, Daniel Irvine, Terry Hann and Michael Potts.
Nick Lindner's century plus tight bowling have ensured a huge win for Mannum, as well as top spot in the Murray Towns Cricket Association's A grade competition for 2025-26.
Mannum also managed one of the biggest innings of the season with their 9/319 total against a hapless Meningie, who didn't manage triple figures.
Mannum have been the form team this season and will face Wanderers in the double chance game on Saturday at home.
Mypolonga will wrestle with Ramblers at home in the minor semi-final from 1pm.
Monarto 2/199 defeated Jervois 7/197
- Monarto best: Roclin Bates 117, Ty Pfieffer 3/17
- Jervois best: Theo Rimmer 63, Camron Jorgensen 2/25
Mypolonga 9/192 defeated Wanderers 10/79
- Mypolonga best: Aaron Zrim 68, Lachlan Zrim 4/21
- Wanderers best: Tom Watkins 15, Tom Watkins 3/29
Mannum 9/319 defeated Meningie 3/98
- Mannum best: Nick Lindner 104, Kieren Hancock 4/9
- Meningie best: Stewart Williss 42, Tyson Bradley 3/33
Ramblers 10/156 defeated Tailem Bend 10/143
- Ramblers best: Riley Vanson 44, Kris Kropinyeri 3/21
- Tailem Bend best: Paul Agalidis 23 , Campbell Shubert 4/23
Rifle club holds championship round at 500 metres
It was manual targets again this week at the Deed Range in Monarto as the Murray Bridge Rifle Club shot its annual championship round from 500 metres.
Pleasant conditions began to warm up as the day progressed but not before several shooters left their mark on the day with a series of possibles.
Robert Paech led the way in TR with a double possible to finish on 100.04.
His low v-bull count meant that he didn’t claim the championship win, with Mark Whittle taking that honour this week with a well shot 97.06 to finish a point ahead of Andrew Heard.
In F-Open there were possibles from Adrian Conlon (60.08) and Mark Nesti (60.06).
Adrian backed his up with a 59.04 to finish on an impressive 119.12 to claim the top-off rifle prize.
Adrian’s score was also good enough to claim the F-Class handicap award for the day, despite the fact his handicap is only 0.9, defeating second placed Gordon Harrison by just over a point.
Harro did not finish empty handed for the day, as his 114.07 was easily the top score in F-Standard.
Also, not going home without a prize, although it might be one he could have
avoided, was Peter Casley, who took out the F-Class magpie award with 5 birds!
Also shooting well on the day were visitors Karen Conlon and Glenn Drayton, who also both scored possibles.
Next week the club travels to Mt Barker to compete in the second round of the DRA Championships, before returning on 7 March to compete from 700m, by which time it is hoped that the electronic targets are back in action.
Poor result drops Tailem Bend out of second spot
A disastrous 76-36 loss to RSL has scuppered Tailem Bend's hopes of a top two finish in Lower Murray lawn bowls, leaving them 13 points adrift of Jervois ahead of their final round meeting at Tailem.
Meanwhile, Mannum have positioned themselves to usurp both should Jervois fail after collecting all 12 points against Karoonda.
David Graham, Anthony Wilkin, Kerri Bolt and Vicki Johnson would be well pleased with their 38-9 pummelling of Tailem Bend's Duane Edwards, Merv Stevens, Con Jones and Bernard Naulty in a score line which very few would have foreseen, even at RSL's home venue.
Karen Kneebone, David Thiele, David Newell and Noel Kneebone, who surprisingly led, were also impressive with a 24-11 win over Sam Shepherd, David Hoare, Keith Wood and Glenda Shepherd.
Jason Sipos, Max Wilkin, Matt Wynne and Garry Daniel were unable to complete the clean sweep, narrowly losing 14-16 to Travis Schenke, Rob Hales, Michael Thorne and Matt Kowald.
At Mannum, the home side won on all rinks but were pushed most of the way by bottom side Karoonda before going down 58-44.
Gavin Pfeiffer, Tom Towns, Todd McDonnell and Colin Campion opened with a 4 on the first end, but were soon down 4-8 as Ian Symonds, Belinda O'Malley, Tarryn Turner and John Wegner won the next 5 ends.
Pfeiffer responded with 3,2 and 4 to regain momentum and from there on cruised to a 22-14 win.
A late rally with the last 3 ends and 4 shots made Symonds score look a little better.
David Kempe, Ron Van Tijn, Graham Leathers and Peter Wegner had a real battle on their hands in a tight contest against Rowan Zadow, Rohan Tomkinson, Jayden Turner and James Boughen, eventually getting up 19-14.
For 20 ends the margin either way was no more than 2 shots, with Zadow drawing level several times in the second half.
Kempe went to the final end with a 2 shot lead, and a 3 on the final end made the margin more convincing than it might have been.
Graham Wakefield, Marty March, Marie Wachtel and Gary Odgers were perhaps a little fortunate to hold off Erin O'Malley, Garry Mason, Damon Fromm and Malcolm Waechter.
Wakefield raced out to a 9-1 lead after 5 ends, but from there on won only 4 more of 16 ends, with 1 end tied.
Fortunately for Wakefield, two 2's and a 3 were just enough to hold off O'Malley by 1 shot, with her scores being predominantly singles, and nothing better than a 2.
Final score was 17-16 to Wakefield.
At Jervois, league leaders Murray Bridge were too strong, with Andrew Stasinoswky, Brian Traeger, Helen Lindner and Ben Traeger once again leading the way with a 28-13 win over Graeme Herbert, Derek Vanderzon, Shane Fromm and Neil Morris.
Herbert began well enough with 4 of the first 5 ends to lead 5-3, but Staz was almost faultless once he found his range, and with Lindner providing strong support had powered away to an 18-6 lead at the break and was never going to lose from there.
Darren McIntosh, Tony Trewren, Troy Penhall and Paul Smart have also proven difficult to beat, and they were 24-16 winners over Jeremy Scannell, Graham Fromm, Graham Schenke and Stuart McCulloch.
McIntosh led 8-0 after just 3 ends, but Scannell had an opportunity to hit the front right on the break when holding 4 shots, but unfortunately moved the jack to go down by 1 shot and trail by 4 overall.
From there McIntosh always looked the winner, extending his lead to 10 shots after 18 ends.
A 5 to Scannell gave him a glimmer of hope, but this was quickly extinguished with a 2 and 1 to McIntosh.
A fast start to Shawn Hicks, Heather Fromm, Tim Hicks and Grace Hameister was followed by an equally as impressive finish as they overcame Bruce Attrill, Aaron Jones, Judy Zadow and Brian Leckie.
A 5 on the second end helped Hicks to an early 7-1 lead, but he soon gave up a 5 himself, and when Attrill scored another 5 on the 14th end he was 5 up.
Hicks immediately responded with a 4, only to see Attrill again hit back with a 3.
Two ends later Hicks was back in front with another 4, and he immediately backed it up with a 3 to consolidate, going on to win 24-20.
Brief return to the old course brings joy for most
With course upgrades being undertaken on the new layout at Murray Bridge Golf Club, some of the older generation were ecstatic that the old course was back in action on Saturday, albeit for just a week or so.
A par comp was played with Glenn Hanson victorious with a huge six-up from unlucky fellow B-grader Tim Curnow, who shot the same brilliant score.
Yes, the tee blocks were well forward and the weather was nice as players had to switch their focus back to "the dangerous little par 3 in the corner" and the "easier" 8th and 9th holes.
Visiting 5 handicapper from Grange GC David Schirripa certainly loved the course as he easily won the "A" grade with a superb 5 up even par 70 off the stick.
Local "C" grader Peter Ferguson shot a 5 up to annihilate those in his division.
So scoring was easy and everyone happy.
All except for chirpy "A" grader Matt Kowald who smashed his drive down the 8th fairway before then lining up his 3 wood next shot...at the wrong green!
Not concentrating fully, he was eyeing off the normal dogleg right 7th green but today he needed to go left instead to the 8th green.
Worse still his playing partners zipped their mouths and let him go before then giving him curry for his stuff up.
Not amused Kowald had the last laugh though when he played a nice 3rd shot back through the trees and then chipped to six inches of the hole for a tap in five and halved hole - the same as what his playing ex-mates all had.
Glenn Hanson topped off his big day by also taking out the Pro comp for hìs 4 up back nine while Keith Durham enjoyed his return to the dangerous little 4th hole in the corner by spearing his iron tee shot closest to the pin to win the Yabby.
Often there are eagles scored on Par comp days and Saturday was no exception.
Fabian Poharama only needed two shots to hole out on the par four 9th which can be driven if one is game enough to take on the trees on the corner.
It is unknown if that's what Fabian did but he scored eagle nonetheless. Anthony Edwards snared a two on the par four 5th hole along Maurice Road where he could only have chipped in from likely 100m out to claim his share of the eagles nest.
A wasted result for both players on a Par comp day given that you can only win the hole once but a tidy result in terms of new balls in the bag.
This Saturday sees a Stableford competition where players will be served for the final time by club Pro Steve Wilson who is moving onto greener pastures after nearly eight years of great service at Ritter Street.
All welcome.
Local trainers do well at Strath and Balaklava
- Flying Assassin ridden by Connor Murtagh and trained by Garret Lynch (Murray Bridge) won the Sportsbet Jockey Watch Benchmark 56 Handicap at Strathalbyn
- Joviale ridden by Rochelle Milnes and trained by Stuart Padman (Murray Bridge) won the AJW Security Rating 0-56 Handicap at Strathalbyn
- Oldpop ridden by Caitlin Jones and trained by Grant Young (Murray Bridge) won the Red Capp Cleaning & Property Services Class One Handicap at Strathalbyn
- Bolted In ridden by Campbell Rawiller and trained by Matthew Seyers (Murray Bridge) won the Marjorie Buckley nee Saint Memorial Rating 0 - 56 Handicap at Balaklava on Wednesday
- Alainge ridden by Sairyn Fawke and trained by Garret Lynch (Murray Bridge) won the Adelaide Galvanising Industries Benchmark 66 Handicap at Balaklava
- Power Of Time ridden by Todd Pannell and trained by Andrew Clarken (Murray Bridge) won the Taylors Wines Maiden Plate at Balaklava
Six players manage 180s in round five of Murray Bridge darts
A grade results
- Mannum Club 13 defeated Launchers 6
- Raukkan 11 defeated Tungster Tossers 8
- Mozzies 11 defeated We're Sexy & We throw it A 8
Email your sports reports to jane@murraybridge.news.
