Top 10 Rich River lawn bowls skip Peter Nesbitt will be looking to repeat his semi-final heroics and complete an unlikely fairytale by taking his Campaspe weekend division one team into next weekend’s grand final.
Rich River has an appointment with Echuca, at the Echuca Bowls Club, on Saturday in a preliminary final bout which looks heavily weighed in favour of the home team.
If the in-form Nesbitt has any say in the outcome, however, it could mean an Echuca —which finished on top after the home-and-away season — exit in straight sets.
Nesbitt was the standout in the elimination bout with Deniliquin last week, his 26-shot win more than balancing out the defeats of Jason McCloy and Keith Hewitt on the adjoining rinks.
Rich River finished the home-and-away season third, having momentarily held onto the double chance in second, with a 7-5 win/loss record.
It has twice been beaten by Echuca during the home-and-away rounds, by 14 shots in round three and 10 shots later in the season.
Jason McCloy’s four-shot win against Ian Page the second time the teams met was the only winning Rich River rink from the six completed 21-end matches.
McCloy, ranked fourth of the Campaspe weekend division one skips this season, has an 8-4 record for 2021-22. He lost his final last week by four shots to Deniliquin’s leading skip Jamie Shields.
Echuca skips Dennis Compton and Jamies Ferrier have two wins to their credit this season against Rich River, the latter having accounted for Nesbitt on both occasions.
The winner of the preliminary final will face the rampant Tongala, which may prefer to face Echuca again come grand final day.
Tongala lost in round 13 to Rich River, its only defeat of the final six weeks of competition, by eight shots.
Tongala has, in fact, lost twice to Rich River. It was beaten in round six by five shots, losing two rinks and only managing a draw on the remaining rink.
Tongala’s leading skip, Bradley Tinning, drew with Colin Hayes on that occasion, but Tinning was not involved in the round 13 match. Tinning is the competition’s top-ranked skip this season.
∙ Echuca will be aiming to defeat Moama for a third time this season and take its place against Rochester in the Campaspe weekend division two grand final.
In the two meetings of the teams this season Echuca on by eight shots in round three and by 26 shots in round 10.
Moama only managed a combined total of one rink win during those battles, Ian Whiting and his rink the dominant force with 12-shot and 10-shot victories to set up its status as the competition’s top team after 14 rounds of preliminary rounds.
The preliminary final battle between the pair will be for the right to tackle Rochester, which was a nine-shot qualifying semi-final winner.
∙ Elmore will need to cause a boilover if it is to prevent Moama from qualifying for a rematch in the Campaspe weekend division three grand final next week with Lockington.
Lockington won through to the grand final when it upset the top team in the semis, a nine-shot win on the back of a Phil Cunnington doimination of Moama skip Tony Hawley.
Elmore lost in round six to Moaam by 16 shots and then again in round 13, by 15 shots.
On both occasions Elmore managed just the one rink win, Barry Cuttriss the dominant skip from the six involved in the battles. He is the only skip to have won on both occasions, although there have been personnel changes.
∙ In division 4a Moama Red will be favoured to win through its preliminary final with Echuca Blue, having won both the matches between the pair this season.
Only two weeks ago the Red combination was a 29-shot winner at the level, which has only two rinks. Terry Thomson, on that occasion, won by 23 shots.
She will be out to make up for her semi-final loss to Rochester skip Gregory Watkins last weekend.
The division 4b grand final qualifier is Deniliquin RSL, which will be confronted by either Lockington or Echuca White.
Lockington finished the season higher on the ladder and with four more wins, but will face the Echuca combination on its home rink in the preliminary final.
