The two morning matches were a close affair with all four teams vying to give themselves a chance of a medal. 

The feature match, the replay for which is available on our YouTube channel, was Orkney vs Falkland Islands. Four shots were exchanged in the first four ends, and this first quarter theme set the tone for the remainder of the match. 

Falkland Islands seemed to break away on the fifth end by picking up a two, followed by a further 1 on the sixth end, picking up a further two shots on the eighth end meaning that they achieved a five shot increase with only a shot lost to Orkney over those four ends.  

Orkney picked up a two on the ninth end and seemed to be back in the game at 5-7 down. Falkland Islands didn’t let them rest long however, picking up again on the tenth end showed their intention, before picking up a three and springing ahead of their opponents on the eleventh end. With a further two ends to go it didn’t seem out of reach for Orkney who were trailing 7-11 at this point, that was until skip Mark Causer pulled his firing shot slightly wide allowing Falkland Islands to secure another two shots on the 14th end. The bell sounded and Falklands knew they mustn’t drop a big count. A fire from Orkney saw the jack bounce into the ditch with both skips then looking to draw out to the corner of the rink. Mark Causer from Orkney got there with two shots, but that wasn’t enough to close the gap. Falkland took the two points from this game meaning that they top their group and will play the final on Tuesday morning. 

The other morning match between Guernsey Men and the Jersey Ladies was an equally close affair. Guernsey got off to a great start picking up a three on the first end before picking up a further two points over the next three ends dropping just one to Jersey. Jersey rallied on the fifth end however, scoring 1 on the fifth, 1 on the sixth and then taking the lead by scoring a 3 on the seventh end. Guernsey having wobbled against the Falkland Islands looked vulnerable at this point. Trading shots, Guernsey picked up a 2 before dropping 1 to Jersey and then pulled ahead by picking up a very important 4 shots. One point each on the 11th and 12th ends and Guernsey just had to hang onto their four point advantage until the end of the session.  Jersey looking to make up ground picked up two shots bringing the score to 12-10 in favour of Guernsey with just a handful of minutes remaining on the clock. The bell sounded with Jersey needing a three to take the win and Guernsey hoping to rely on their lead, Dave King’s opening two bowls which were right on the jack to see them through. That didn’t last long however and the jack was moved to the back of the rink and a measure for shots, Guernsey did enough taking three shots on that end and the two points for the game.