Going for GOLD!!!
Gold rush on the cards for Queensland juniors, following stunning round of wins in Darwin Gold fever has struck the Queensland camp in Darwin, following another day of spectacular wins at NT’s Nightcliff Bowls Club.
With play-off positions on the line in today’s crucial third and final round, Queensland’s under-18s came out blazing, sweeping ACT aside in the singles, pairs, triples and fours to secure berths in six of tomorrow’s eight gold medal matches – (Boys – Singles, Pairs & Fours / Girls – Singles, Triples & Fours).
Queensland will also play off for bronze in the the boys triples and girls pairs.
“It’s a fantastic result, I’m really very proud of the team,” state coach Bill Cornehls said.
“If someone had said at the start of the tournament that we’d be playing for six gold and two bronze, I wouldn’t have believed them, maybe three or four gold, but not six!”
The team was determined to put in a good performance against ACT, but it was Connie-Leigh Rixon’s stunning come-from-behind singles win that really gave the Queenslanders a boost, Cornehls said.
“We were in a good position at the end of Day 2, but things could have taken a bad turn if we didn’t produce the wins against ACT today,” Cornehls said.
“We spoke about not resting on our laurels and hoping the games went our way, we needed to go out there and make it happen, and, all credit to the players, that’s exactly what they did.
“Connie’s win gave the whole side a kick-along, it really lifted the team and gave us that extra push in the other games.”
After pulling off impressive singles wins in rounds one and two, Rixon looked in trouble against ACT’s Jessica Hogan during today’s crunch encounter.
A win would send a victor through to tomorrow’s gold medal match, with the loser forced to settle for a shot at bronze. And that looked to be where Rixon was headed, trailing Hogan 8-16 by the mid-way mark.
But the Sunshine Coast schoolgirl never gave up, clawing her way back to 14-19, before tying up the match at 19-all.
Hogan grabbed one on the next end to make it 19-20, and was again holding shot when Rixon drew two lovely inside bowls to snatch victory 21-20.
“The girls from ACT was playing really well and was all over Connie in the early ends, but Connie fought her way back into it and deserved the win,” Cornehls said.
“She has been playing really well throughout the tournament. It will be a tough match tomorrow against the girl from WA, but I have great confidence in Connie.”
The “girl from WA” is Elizabeth Allan and tough may be an under-statement considering Allan rolled reigning Australian Indoor champion Jamie-Lee Worsnop to reach the gold medal match.
Following Rixon’s win, the rest of Queensland’s Day 3 victories seemed to come a little easier.
The boys clocked up wins in the pairs and triples this morning, 22-11 and 21-12 respectively, while in the afternoon games Hayden Vogler skipped his fours side to a 17-9 victory, and Nic Gosley kept his slate clean with another singles win, 21-14.
Gosley takes on Victoria’s Jay Bye-Norris in tomorrow’s gold medal play-off, while Vogler’s side also face Victoria in the final.
Vogler will also skip Jake Rynne and Jesse Turnbull in the triples bronze medal match against WA.
Tiffany Murray had another good day at the office, skipping her team to victories in the triples 27-6 and the fours 22-10, but the biggest win of the day went to pairs duo Sophie Young and Taleah Putney, who posted a staggering 25-shot victory over ACT, 28-3.
Young and Putney will play-off for bronze tomorrow, against Victoria’s Tiffany Brodie & Tayla Morison.
Murray will skip the fours and triples in their quest for gold, taking on Victoria and NSW respectively.
Caption: Connie-Leigh Rixon in action with Michaela Bailey-Nelson. Photo courtesy of Bowls Australia.
PLAY-OFFS
Boys’ singles
Gold/silver medal match: Jay Bye-Norris (VIC) v Nic Gosley (QLD)
Bronze/4th: Jono Davis (NSW) v Joe Thomas (TAS)
Girls’ singles
Gold/silver medal match: Elizabeth Allan (WA) v Connie-Leigh Rixon (QLD)
Bronze/4th: Jamie-Lee Worsnop (NSW) v Jessica Hogan (ACT)
Boys’ pairs
Gold/silver medal match: Isaac Rayner & Jono Davis (NSW) v Jacob Nelson & Nic Gosley (QLD)
Bronze/4th: Jayden Christie & Joshua Corless (VIC) v Josh Walker-Davis & Joe Thomas (TAS)
Girls’ pairs
Gold/silver medal match: Ellen Ryan & Dawn Hayman (NSW) v Mikayla Fuller & Mikayla Gibson (TAS)
Bronze/4th: Tiffany Brodie & Tayla Morison (VIC) v Sophie Young & Taleah Putney (QLD)
Boys’ triples
Gold/silver medal match: Curtis Hanley, Ben Cotter & Jay Bye-Norris (VIC) v Gerrin Jenke, Tyson Wilson & James Bodnar (SA)
Bronze/4th: William Hyatt, Dan Nicholls & David Downey (WA) v Jake Rynne, Jesse Turnbull & Hayden Vogler (QLD)
Girls’ triples
Gold/silver medal match: Lauren Shaw, Molly Wilton & Jamie-Lee Worsnop (NSW) v Michaela Bailey-Nelson, Connie-Leigh Rixon & Tiffany Murray (QLD)
Bronze/4th: Amelia Bruggy, Cody Sylvester & Elise Rigoni (VIC) v Bailey Raffety, Jacqui Bowman & Carly Otterspoor (SA)
Boys’ fours
Gold/silver medal match: Jayde Christie, Curtis Hanley, Ben Cotter & Joshua Corless (VIC) v Jake Rynne, Jacob Nelson, Jesse Turnbull & Hayden Vogler (QLD)
Bronze/4th: William Hyatt, Ryan Philpott, Dan Nicholls & David Downey (WA) v Josh Walker-Davis, Josh Appleyard, Lachlan Sims & Jack Ellis (TAS)
Girls’ fours
Gold/silver medal match: Tiffany Brodie, Cody Sylvester, Elise Rigoni & Tayla Morison (VIC) v Michaela Bailey-Nelson, Sophie Young, Taleah Putney & Tiffany Murray (QLD)
Bronze/4th: Lauren Shaw, Molly Wilton, Ellen Ryan & Dawn Hayman (NSW) v Bailey Rafferty, Jacqui Bowman, Carly Otterspoor & Lynsey Trenorden (SA)
