IT proved a better weekend for Abergavenny Bowls Club as both the Mixed League team and MBA team were successful in their league games, reports JOHN WHOMERSLEY.

The Mixed Team played Abertillery at Avenue Road on Friday afternoon, and triumphed on two of the three rinks to win by 59-45.

The rink of John McGregor got off to a flyer, building a 12-shot lead over the first nine ends.

Although the Abertillery rink then scored five shots on the final end, the hosts’ rink scored a comfortable 27-13 victory.

John Vale’s rink held a ten-shot advantage after the first half, and then maintained their lead to win 22-14.

Unfortunately, Peter Steed’s rink could not make it a clean sweep as they were defeated 18-10.

On Saturday, the MBA team welcomed Machen for their return league game, winning on one rink, tieing on one and narrowly losing on the remaining two.

However, such was the margin of victory on their successful rink they were able to claim overall victory 77-67.

Abergavenny’s winning rink was that of Matthew Vale, which took control after the sixth end to build an unassailable lead.

The rink then scored five shots on the final three ends which took them to a 26-11 victory.

John Woodier’s rink held a hard-won lead going into the last end but their opponents’ skip managed to register three shots with his final wood to tie the game 19 all. 

Gethin Hill’s rink had fought back from a six-shot deficit to be holding a match-winning four shots on the final end.

But the Machen skip then bowled a match saving bowl to concede only one shot, which gave them a 15-14 win.

John Beaton’s rink reduced a nine-shot deficit over the final quarter to lose eventually by only four shots 22-18. 

The EMBA team welcomed Caldicot for a league game on Sunday, but lost on all four rinks to go down 79-65. 

The match was much closer than the scoreline suggests as Abergavenny were leading on three rinks after the penultimate end.

But Caldicot scored enough shots on the final end to win each rink by one shot.

Rink scores were Matthew Vale 19-20, Martin Doughty 15-16, Bryant Chivers 20-21, and Peter Steed 11-22.

Games coming up include a Mixed League game at Beaufort on Friday (July 19), and an MBA game at Blaina and a GBL game at home to Whiteheads on Saturday (July 20), while the ladies then play a league game at Chepstow on Tuesday (July 23).