Rochester facing ladder leader to start new year

Stan Barker’s return to Rich River’s ranks has had an immediate impact, the experienced Barker is unbeaten and he has had Peter Nesbitt in a support role.

Nesbitt is also unbeaten from his three matches and Rich river sits 10 points clear on top of the seven-team ladder.

Rochester remains in touch in spite of its two defeats, from three matches, being just five points behind fourth-ranked Mathoura.

In the final five rounds of the season the Rochester combination has Rich River (January 14 resumption of play), reigning premier Tongala, then Mathoura and Deniliquin to end the season.

Three wins from those four games would probably be sufficient for it to sneak a place in the final four, but that would mean a win against Tongala — which has had an inconsistent start to the season.

Tongala lost by six shots to Rich River, then smashed Mathoura by 42 shots, before suffering a 28-shot loss to Echuca and then returning to the winners’ list with a 42-shot victory against Moama Steamers.

Rochester beat Deniliquin by five shots to start its season, then suffered a 16-shot loss to Moama and fell just five shots short — winning two of the three rinks — in its final pre-Christmas bout with Echuca.

The Echuca match has given significant hope to the team of better things to come in 2023, with John Weeks leading his rink to an unbeaten pre-Christmas status.

Weeks beat Echuca’s Ian Page by four shots in the loss, with Richard Feuk an eight-shot winner. It was only the 15-shot win of Echuca star James Ferrier, against Tim Quinlan, that cost Rochester victory.

A week earlier Weeks, Ron Dennis, Marg Knight and Leslie Walles beat the Moama Steamers foursome skipped by Roy Jackson by three shots and they opened their season with a seven-shot win against Deniliquin.

The four are all ranked inside the top-20 Campaspe Division one weekend pennant bowlers for 2023, a list headed up by three bowlers from Brad Tinning’s unbeaten rink — including John Reidell and Barry Tinning.

Barker and Trevor Nagorcka follow, while an interesting top-20 bowler is former Rochester skip Peter Holzer. He is now playing with Mathoura and has won two of his three matches.

– Bert Smolenaars and Allan Crilly have had unbeaten starts to the 2022-23 Division two weekend pennant season, both ranked inside the top 15 seeds for the season.

Rochester sits fourth on the ladder with a 2-2 win/loss record, only 10 points off top-teams Moama Steamers and Rich River. Last season it was the premier of the Division two weekend pennant competition, but there have been significant personnel changes.

Only three shots separated Rochester and the Moama Steamers in the opening match of the year, the Steamers getting across the line with two rink wins. Crilly bowled second to Tim Quinlan in a 24-17 win in that match, but Smolenaars did not play.

A week later Rochester was a 24-shot winnner against Deniliquin, Crilly missing on this occasion as Smolenaars bowled second to Graeme Chambers in a 31-17 victory.

A 10-shot win against Deniliquin RSL followed, Smolenaars second to Anton Gusak in a 25-16 win and Crilly bowling third to John Boys in a five-shot win.

Rochester won two rinks in its 19-shot loss to Echuca in the final pre-Christmas bout, only the 22-shot loss of Boyd (to Wally Fehring) influencing an Echuca win.

Smolenaars bowled second to Gusak again, for a one-shot win, while Crilly was in the lead role to Leigh Milgate for a two-shot win.

Rochester has a January 14 appointment with sixth-ranked Mathoura before tackling top-team Rich River, then Tongala, Moama and Denliquin to finish its home-and-away season.

– Rochester will have to wait until the final home-and-away round of the season in order to challenge top Division three team Moama Steamers.

Sitting second after four rounds of the flood-delayed start to the season, Rochester already has wins against bottom-team Echuca, third-ranked Deniliquin and fourth-ranked Lockington to its credit.

Its remaining match was a 26-shot loss to Moama Steamers, where it walked away with only one of the three rink wins.

The Steamers are the only team in the top four that the Rochester team faces in the final five rounds of the season.

Wes Bertouch and David Murray are the first and second seeds from the opening four rounds, both having won all four matches this season.

Bertouch has bowled as lead twice to Murray, as well as twice to Anton Gusak, including a four-shot win against the Steamers.

As a skip Murray has a 27-19 win against Lockington’s Phil Cunnington to his credit and a 25-9 win against Lee Pattinson. He has twice bowled third to Gusak in wins against Echuca and the Steamers.

– After successive defeats to the top two teams of the Division four competition Rochester had its only pre-Christmas win of the season against Tongala.

The two-shot win has Rochester sitting second botom, but within 14 pennant points of the top four after four rounds.

In a tough quirk of the draw the team faces the four top teams in its final five rounds of the season, aiming for Lyn Moon and Elaine Hall to continue their rink wins.

Yvonne Smolenaars is the top Division four player in the Rochester team, ranked 31st with two wins and a loss from three games. Rochester was forced to forfeit its match with Lockington.