Blog

Hi again from Japan and the Australian Junior Men. The last few days of the comp were somewhat up and down for the team with the first of our local derbies with the Kiwi’s going their way with a score of 11-2. The same score line followed the next morning in our game against china. Our next two games on the second day were disappointing losing to Japan 12-3 and then to Korea 14-1 after such a close game on day 1. Our second last day of the tourney started better with a tough tussle with New Zealand in the second of our trans-Tasman games. We stole 1 shot on the first end before giving up a 3 on the second. We then took another 1 with the hammer and were able to steal 1 on the fourth with a well buried stone on the button. We stole another after the halftime break before New Zealand struck back with 1 on the sixth. With the hammer on 7 we were able to make 5 consecutive hits and eventually blank the end to maintain hammer for the last. The last end was played well by both teams with New Zealand taking full advantage of the free guard zone. Our team made a number of peels before the Kiwi Skip, Kris Miller, executed two consecutive short guards, making our last shot a tough back house weight tap up. Unfortunately we were unable to convert giving the Kiwi’s a steal of 1 and the game. In our evening game against china we found our self 8-1 down after 4 and finished with a final score of 11-4. Our last game of the tourney was against the local team (and eventual silver medalists) from Japan. This was our closest game of the tournament taking Japan to an extra end with a final score of 7-6 in Japan’s favour. Eventually the tournament went the way of China in both the men’s and women’s sections. Our friends from across the ditch left with a bronze medal for the second year running in the men’s division. Despite not winning a game in the Championships the team was pleased with what we were able to achieve, pushing some of the best teams to their last stone. Given more practice over the next year we are looking forward to a strong showing in next year’s Pacific Juniors to be held in New Zealand. Until next time,

Cheers,

Angus