Last weekend saw 112 teams across the 7 grades, try to take home a State Pennant. The Manning District was not left out, with three clubs of our own vying for the honour of flying one of the precious pieces of fabric they call a State Pennant flag. Unfortunately it was not to be this year.
In the blue ribbon grade Tuncurry headed off to Belrose Bowling Club and, once down there they must have thought they had entered a furnace, because boy was the competition hot. Tuncurry found themselves in arguably the second hardest Section containing two power clubs of Sydney, namely Merrylands and Cabramatta, with the other side being Ashfield to make up the fourth. Luckily for the boys, they were drawn to play Ashfield first but even this game didn’t go to plan, and it really set the tone for the weekend, going down by 9 shots. The weekend only got worse for the red, white and blue, going down in the other two matches also and only bagging three rinks out of a total nine.
The Fives were at Tamworth where our late call up side from Wingham, was at least acclimatized to the cold weather. They jumped out of the blocks with a might victory in their first game, getting up by 30+ shots. However, unfortunately for them, the form did not continue and they were unsuccessful in their remaining games. But with very little time to prepare, only finding out their were on their way to the State playoffs a few weeks beforehand, the boys can hold their heads high for a job well done.
In the Two’s, the mighty Wingham tigers sent their highly underestimated team off to Port Macquarie with high hopes,and the boys didn’t disappoint. After an early stumble to Taren Point in the opening game, the roaring tigers won their remaining two games. But it wasn’t to be for the small country club, with the loss to Taren Point proving costly and having to settle for second in the Section. However, this result still meant that they were the best performed side from the Manning.
The District wishes to congratulate all the Clubs’ on their efforts in this years Pennants and, just remember, the 2015 season is only a stones throw away.