Royal Leamington Spa duo exit in second round of National pairs

Playing a pair from Bedfordshire in the first round, the Spa duo took control in the early stages and maintained their lead throughout to run out winners by 25 shots to 11.

Unfortunately, in the next round the following day, facing a pair from Northamptonshire, the positions were reversed, with the Spa pair making a disappointing start and being forced to play catch-up as the match progressed.

Despite a spirited performance, Horne and White could not repeat their performance of the previous day, eventually going down by 25 shots to 13.

Spa’s ladies lost out by three shots in a three-rink, triples friendly match at Rugby.

With never more than a couple of shots between the sides, it was fitting the match should end with both sides winning on one of the rinks, with the third tied.

However, the shot difference on Rugby’s winning triple was three shots better than on Spa’s, meaning that overall victory went to Rugby 59-56.

Vi Palmer was Spa’s winning skip, with Sonia Stranks drawing 18-18 and Wyn Jackson going down 25-20.

On Saturday, in a six-rink encounter at near-neighbours Whitnash, Spa’s men were edged out by 12 shots.

Spa started brightly enough and were ahead in the early stages but by the halfway point there was little between the two sides.

Despite excellent performances from Spa skip Mike Wallace (25-10) and Dave Gardner (26-15), Whitnash gradually eased ahead over the other four rinks to take the match by 130 shots to 118.