Saturday was the day that Whitland continued their Carruthers Shield Group stage challenge down in Haverfordwest. The teams have played each other in the previous four seasons at this stage and the results have varied between the two teams.

Even though Whitland were playing away, there were some familiar faces too be had in the Haverfordwest team as three of the team (Chris Court, Tim Thomas and Ryan Thomas) have previously been members of Whitland, with another (Louis Price) not playing in this fixture. With many county players taking part in the game, and places to play for in the county team, it was always going to be a hotly contested affair. The game was suggested to be the play-off for the top spot in the group stage even with another game to go.

Rink one saw the ever-present Glyndwr Thomas and his rink of Nigel Davies, Denny Richards and Steve Morse playing against the extremely experienced PDS Jenkins. Things didn't go according to plan for the Whitland boys from the off, not scoring for the first five ends and going 14-2 down by the ninth end. According to Glyn, none of them could hit an elephant in a hallway. However, this changed dramatically, with only dropping shots on two of the next 12 ends (namely the 15th and 20th), Glyn and his troops picked up 28 shots and conceded five to win the rink by 30-19.

Rink two had Colin Wynn and his rink of Keith Michael, Aeron Thomas and Robbie Burns, playing against a familiar face in Ryan Thomas. With county team manager Colin playing, it was an opportunity for bowlers on both rinks to showcase their talents, and showcase they did. In what was an extremely tense and close up until the ninth end (8-7), Ryan and his boys picked up five ends on the bounce to increase their lead (8-16). A spirited comeback from the Whitland boys however was not enough to scupper the Haverfordwest rink who eventually won 16- 18.

Rink three contained last year's captain Dan Jenner skipping his rink of John Rees, Bob Wood and the returning Phil Wynn who played in his first game of the season. Their opposition was ex-Welsh international Gareth Jones and his rink of R. Price, K.Thorpe and C. Wills. Once again in what was a close game up until the ninth end (9-10), the Haverfordwest rink accelerated away in what was an inspirational performance from their skip. The Whitland rink tried their best all the way through, the Haverfordwest boys eventually won 13-29.

Rink four had the returning Steve Reese and Huw Nicholas teaming up with Charlie Morse and captain David Jenner in the fixture of the afternoon against Chris Court, another previous Whitland player. This was the closest of all the rinks all the way through with neither team stretching more than three ahead and the lead exchanging hands a few times. The standard of bowls was extremely high with the end result being a draw, which in fairness was a fair reflection on the game.

The match was a highly contested affair, however Haverfordwest lead all the way through, overall stretching out a 24 shot lead by the 15th end, however the comeback from the Whitland team was to be in vain eventually losing by seven shots.

With the final fixtures being played tomorrow (Saturday), with Haverfordwest travelling to Saundersfoot and Whitland hosting Pembroke Dock at 2 pm, the group is still winnable for either team.

Whitland will also play host to Pembrokeshire county's first game of the season against Mid Glamorgan on Sunday. The game begins at 2.30 with a full licensed bar open all day, with everyone welcome to come and watch.