ON the surface of it, Jersey’s performance in the men’s world outdoor bowls championships in Ayr yesterday was disappointing – until their four defeats are put into perspective.

As team manager Cyril Renouf pointed out on Monday, the five Jersey players did well to achieve their primary objective by qualifying for the second phase round robin in pairs and triples.

‘Anything else would be a bonus,’ he said, ‘Although I have to say a few wins at this stage would enable us to climb the league table, and finish in a higher position at the end of the week.’ It was the Jersey pair of Derek Boswell and Allan ‘AQ’ Quemard who earned special praise from Renouf, after two gutsy displays that left them marginally short of what would have been historic wins.

Boswell and Quemard looked on course to pull off a shock win over top New Zealanders Russ Meyer and Paul Girdler in the morning session, when they raced into an 8-1 lead after six ends.

The Kiwis were soon level at 8-8, and they went on to compile a devastating 3-4-1-1-1-1-1-1 sequence between the seventh and 14th ends to lead 14-8 with only four ends left to play.

Not to be denied, Derek and AQ chalked up a double and a single, then frightened the Kiwis with a well-taken count of four on the penultimate end to lead 15-14.

The Jersey duo played well on the last end, but, in a cruel twist of fate, just when it looked as if they were going to tie, 15-15, the umpire awarded a second shot to the Kiwis on a measure – and the match was lost, 16-15.

After lunch, the opposition came from South Africans Donny Piketh and Gerry Baker, who are among the favourites for the title, and the Channel Islanders made a dreadful start, dropping a five on the very first end.

Trailing, 16-6 after 13 ends, they pulled themselves together to put pressure on the Springbok stars, outscoring them by nine shots to three over the last five ends, and reducing the margin to just two shots, 19-17.

‘I was proud of them,’ said Renouf.

‘It has to be noted that the draw has not been kind to our lads, who are grouped in Section B with Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and Israel’.

Renouf pointed out that, if they had found themselves in Section A, they would have met Canada, Philippines, Zimbabwe, Canada, Namibia and Wales.

‘Having said that,’ he said, ‘the teams that got through in Section A must be playing well because they actually kept out such top performers as England and Australia!’ Jersey’s task today is no less daunting than yesterday’s: they face the defending champions, George Sneddon and Alex Marshall, from Scotland, and Ireland’s Noel Graham and Jim Baker, who defeated the Scots yesterday.

In the triples, Alan Shaw, Lee Nixon and David Le Marquand must have felt a bit shell-shocked last night, after two bruising defeats.

Going down to New Zealand, 26-13, was no disgrace, because the Kiwis are the defending champions, and, after they trailed 17-1 at eight ends, the Jersey trio recovered well to close the gap to 20-13 after 15 ends.

The big surprise was the scale of the humiliating 27-7 defeat at the hands of the Philippines after lunch – because the Pacific Islanders are hardly rated in the top echelons of world bowls.

The Jersey trio’s hopes of avoiding a whitewash in this round of the triples depend on them snatching a win against Kenya or South Africa.