Herefordshire lost their opening match of the season 137-106 against Monmouth-shire at Whiteheads, Newport.

On the heavy green, the home team started the better, taking a 13-shot lead after five ends.

This was reduced to seven shots with 15 ends played but Monmouthshire finished strongly.

President Ray Walker's rink struggled for most of the game. They were 18-3 down after 15 ends but won all the remaining ends to reduce the gap to 18-12. Unfortunately, this was cancelled by the rink skipped by Colin Reading who were 17-9 up on 13 ends but lost seven of the remaining eight to go down 18-23.

Top rink of the day was John Beavan, Tony Hoare, Bill Wheatley and Frank Harwood who won 28-22 after being 5-12 down on eight ends.

Herefordshire rink scores: H Wall, Keith Edwards, W Cole, G Jones 10-24; P West, P Day, D Pugh, R Brown 20-19; P Hope, D Chewter, R Warburton, R Walker 12-18; MJ Powell, D Begg, DL White, K Price 18-31; A Carter, Glyn Williams, M Hoffman, C Reading 18-23; J Beavan, T Hoare, W Wheatley, F Harwood 28-22.

In a rink-reduced match, Herefordshire gained their first win when they beat Gloucester VPs 105-91 at Kington.

For the second game running the president staged a late rally to finish with a 24-18 win but, with 16 ends played, it was looking so different. The rink were 17-8 down but then picked up six, six, two, two to finish with a win.

This switch in form turned what was looking like a tight finish for the County into a comfortable 14-shot victory.

David Holloway's rink started well, taking an 8-0 lead on five ends but the VPs then started to pull back to pick six of the next eight ends to take 12-16 lead which Herefordshire were unable to close.

Top rink of the day was David Knight, Ken Edwards, Tony Hoare and Les Merredy who won 26-13, which included a sixth on the ninth end.

Herefordshire rink scores: M Simpson, T Collier, T Knight, R Walker 24-18; J Beavan, R Murdoch, W Wheatley, D Holloway 17-23; W Cole, H Millichamp, R Brown, B Powell 17-20; P Hope, G Goodwin, J Bates, R Bithell 21-17; D Knight, Ken Edwards, T Hoare, L Merredy 26-13.

NASH ROCKS LEAGUE

KINGTON have made it four wins out of four this season in the Nash Rocks League with recent victories against reigning champions Leominster and last year's runners-up Hay.

Their match against Leominster went to the very last ends of the last rink to finish before Kington were able to claim the match.

With two ends to play, Paul Pritchard's rink for Kington needed seven shots to win the match. After Kington took a four on the 20th end, Leominster thought they were two down with the last bowl to play to draw on the last end. But, with the jack off-line, the nearest Leominster bowl was found to be outside the rink, giving Kington a third shot and the match.

Kington then entertained Hay and, although rink honours were shared, R Bithell's score of 23-11 proved decisive for Kington.

Wellington posted the first 100 match score in the League this year when they overwhelmed Weobley 120-65. Captain Ken Hancock led the way with a 42-8 win.

Results: Leominster 75, Kington 76 (home rinks W2 L2); Wellington 20, Weobley 65 (W3 L1); Kington 77, Hay 72 (W2 L2); Kingsland 83, Wellington 67(W2 L2).