The Metro Team and the New Zealand Netballers have a lot in common namely the inability to win when travelling any distance away from home. As the Indian summer continues almost into May the win less drought has been prolonged for yet another couple of weeks. Without wishing to dwell too deeply on the matter over the past 4 ½ years our away record reads: - 0 wins, 4 halves & 15 losses. With only three rounds to go this year we have one more opportunity to turn it around when we play Russley at Russley!
This week saw us journey to that hidden gem (long may it stay lost) Windsor described by one of our number as “a trick course only fit for a magicians tournament”. I arrived carefully timed to watch the team struggle up the 18th with heads bowed almost to their knees – clearly it made not been a good day!! In the bottom pairing Steve Ellis returning to the team in the rotation cycle after an enforced recuperation period showed good touch to win his match 1 up. Steve carted an 83 and showed that beauty is in the eye of the beholder saying he thought the course was in “great nick and the greens were rolling really well”. Unfortunately Cran was not quite so lucky and succumbed somewhat earlier.
In the 5 & 6 grouping Brian Tyro making his ’09 Metro debut quickly found himself 4 down after 5 but then 1 up after 10 and quite hopeful. Then in his own words he needed to go and purchase some Vaseline as he tumbled to a 4/2 loss. Rex Price had the deck stacked against him as his opponent shot 75 off the stick coming home in 35 to really give him no chance – another 4/2 loss. Captain of the day Ben Frampton was up one place at three but alack to no avail suffering a 5/4 loss and incurring the maximum fine his comment as he exited 18 green was “I thoroughly enjoyed the nature walk between 9 green and 10 tee and I am looking forward with expectation to the fish as promised for lunch!!”. Spare a thought for Ben; his secretary, Jenny, is the Club Captain at Windsor and he wasn’t looking forward to the Monday morning conversation. JD provided slightly stiffer opposition but was defeated 3/1. His comment of," There’s a lot of local knowledge out there look what they scored!” probably only told half the story.
This year we have played well at the top of the order but it was going to take more than that to salvage some pride at least. Glenn Bongartz had stepped up to fill the void at 1 given the large number of unavailabilities and proved his worth with a 6/5 victory. Glenn delivered an inspirational speech to the team at the after match but it may have been better timed if it had been before tee off. Glenn shaking his head in disbelief is now talking of retiring from Metro undefeated. Steve Savill always fashions a good record through the season and values his wicket highly but on Sunday he fell at the last hurdle to lose 1 down, a bogey against a par at the difficult finishing hole.
All in all not one of our most inspiring performances with a 6/2 loss. There are three more rounds with two homes games, beginning with Rawhiti on Sunday, then Coringa and finishing at Russley on 24 May. I anticipate being in a position to report an improved result in due course. In the interim good golfing!!!
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