RQ, to those in the know, had requested that the Queensbury Trophy (Queens-land & Canter-bury) be moved to coincide with the Bledisloe Cup challenge so accordingly on Saturday a team of 10 (only Bryan Andrews and myself carried forward) under the leadership and direction of David Robinson lined up to try and wrest the prize from the Aussie hands.
After a welcoming brunch a four-ball best ball was put into action with some old scores to be settled. It appeared that the competition would be fierce and we were not disappointed. By days end however Christchurch held a slight 3/2 advantage. Rod O'Brien (71 off the stick - on a 5 handicap) and Bryan Andrews(79 off the stick with a 16 handicap) set the early pace and posted our first win. My pairing followed closely behind with Geoff Brodie shooting an 83 (off 16) his second best round ever and my 84 (off 14) paling into insignificance by comparison. Rounding out our success was the Paddy Helmore/Andrew Gillespie pairing who came back strongly after being down early. It was definitely all on in the individuals on Sunday!
At the rugby, during the evening, some tough talking took place between the teams and RQ seemed quietly confident but alas they had not counted on our secret weapon the weather!! Despite a spending spurge at the pro-shop I am not sure the RQ team was ready for the effects of a Christchurch Southerly especially after what seemed to be a hard night!! A hastily organised course inspection together with a review of the rain radar prompted the organisers to reduce the round to the inside paddock with 11 holes.
Paddy Helmore and I lead the charge and subsequently exited the 18 green all square after both being 1 down with 2 to play. The next pairing brought bad news with 2 wins to RQ and one of the other matches firmly in their favour matters were becoming distinctly sticky. However Chris Richmond snuck in a win to right the ship and then our bottom four of Andrew Gillespie, Andrew Sloane, Geoff Brodie and Bryan Andrews came home solid with 4 wins so all in all a comprehensive win to Christchurch albeit on our home track with the weather gods ranged against RQ!!
A late lunch of mushroom soup, a chicken breast and fruit salad brandy snap basket provided a sustaining repast to build up the energy stores depleted by the adverse conditions - many thanks to Andrew, Amanda and their team as they did a terrific all weekend!! Next year sees our team travel to Brisbane and with Bledisloe fixture also there it may be a larger than usual grouping - watch out Australia.
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