Last Saturday both men’s teams were defeated in their first competitive games of the season, reports JOHN WHOMERSLEY.

They lost in the Carruthers Cup at Blackwood and suffered a loss to Blaina in their first GBL game.

However, the ladies manage to gain a victory against Beechwood Blues in the SW&ML league earlier in the week.

Beechwood Blues visited Abergavenny Ladies as one of the two teams entered in the league by Beechwood BC.

Although each team was successful on one rink, Abergavenny managed to seal an aggregate victory by 36 shots to 22 to gain the majority of league points on offer.

The rink of Clare Morgan established an early 15-shot lead which eventually enabled them to register a comfortable victory by 23 shots to five.

Although the rink of Mary Evans fought back from an early deficit, they were unable to gain the upper hand, thus losing by 17 shots to 13.

After a bye in the first round of the Carruthers Shield, Abergavenny were given a difficult task when drawn to play away at Blackwood in round two.

As expected, on a tricky green, the home team proved too good on the day, winning on three of the four rinks to win the game and qualify for the third round of the competition.

The only successful rink for Abergavenny was that of Jack Vale, who carried on their good form from last season.

The rink managed to score five shots over the final three ends to secure a win by 21 shots to 19.

The other three rinks of Gethin Hill, Matthew Vale and Robert Poynter all suffered defeats.

Rink scores were 17-32, 10-27 and 11-30 respectively.

The Abergavenny GBL team also played their first league game of the season when they visited a very wet Blaina last Saturday.

Unfortunately, they were beaten on all three rinks to lose the game by 67 shots to 38.

The rink of Maurice Padfield was in contention until the last quarter of the game, during which their opponents pulled away to secure a win by 19 shots to 12.

The rink of John Whomersley had a 12-shot deficit halfway through their game, but became much more competitive during the second half but could not quite gain parity with their opponents, eventually losing by 18 shots to 13.

After dropping six shots on the first three ends, the rink of Clare Morgan never got into the game.

Although they won nine of the 21 ends, their opponents scored more heavily on their successful ends, the result of which led to defeat by 30-13 for the Abergavenny rink.

This weekend Abergavenny have two GBL games.

On Friday Abertillery will visit Avenue Road with a 6pm start and will be followed by Beechwood visiting our green on Saturday for a 2.30 pm start.

Also on Saturday, a friendly fixture has been arranged for the MBA team at Panteg House.

This Thursday the Ladies will play a league game at Caldicot and will welcome St Julians for a league fixture next Tuesday.