The National Province Championships took place at Greenacres on 10-12th November 2017.
East Lothian Province was represented by Haddington, who won the ELKO last season. Yester were also awarded a place as Runners-up.
Below is a report provided by Haddington:-
The 'Prize' for winning the East Lothian Province Knockout is the
opportunity to represent the Province at the National Championships held
every year at Greenacres. This year, the honour befell to our
victorious team of James Pate, Dave Munro, Sandy Nicoll and Andy
Aberdein. The actual formation of the team caused many headaches with
the event clashing with weddings and rugby matches, as each team is
restricted to a pool of six players. The Nicoll family stood up to the
mark and the team for Saturday was, Morgan, James P, Sandy and Andy,
with Dave coming in to skip on Saturday and sister Lindsey replacing
Sandy. History does not relate who would be playing on the final day.
Our
first game was against Cupar, a very strong team. Nerves were settled
taking a single in the first end and losing it again straight away in
the second. However a run of 1, 4, 2 and 1 against in ends two to five
saw the end of our challenge and we went down 9 - 4 against our eventual
group runners up. Our second game of the day was against Upper
Strathearn, which was a much more cautious affair. The opposition stole
a 2 in the first end and after that all the ends went on singles.
Going in to the last end we were 5 - 3 up but a tactical error saw us
lose a four and the game 5 - 7.
The second day dawned with us on a
played 2, lost 2 record and perhaps the strongest team in the group
against us first. Refreshing our playing pool must have helped with
Dave and Lindsey joining the team. The game was poised at 3 - 3 after 5
ends, including our first blanked end ot the championship however Angus
took a, possibly decisive 3 in the fifth end. Fighting back we scored a
2 in the seventh end and managed a steal of 2 in the final end to take a
7 - 6 win (against the eventual group winners). Our first points were
on the board and the fightback had started. Next up, Selkirk,
representing the Borders.
We were against more familiar
opposition, which seemed to help. Despite a come back with a 3 in the
seventh and and a steal of 1 in the final end, Haddington had done
enough to record a 10 - 7 win and leave qualification a (small)
possibility.
The final group game and third game of the day, was
against Inverness. The decisive moment was a steal of 3 in the third
end which laid the foundations for a relatively easy 7 - 2 win, leaving
Haddington on 3 wins and 2 losses.
Unfortunately this left us third in our group and failing to qualify by 1 point.
It
should be noted that the two teams that topped our group, one of which
we had beaten, both won their quarter final games and lost in the
semi-final round.
Well done to our six players, who certainly did not disgrace themselves or our club.
As
a final note, Yester were also taking part as a 'reserve' entry. They
also finished third in their group with three wins from five. Yester
tied with Renfrewshire on both points and ends but missed qualification
on 'shots-up'
East Lothian is one of the smallest
Provinces and to produce two teams that were close to qualification is a
testament to our abilities. Well done again to both Haddington and
Yester teams.
