Victoria win the French-Holbrook Test Series at Devonport
Victoria started strongly to win the first three Tests in both the women’s and the men’s competitions to retain the French Holbrook Test Series which concluded yesterday at the Devonport Country Club.
Heavy overnight rain that continued throughout Friday morning forced Test 1 inside at the Devonport Country Club. The Victorian women got off to a flying start in Test 1, with strong performances across all three rinks winning by 31 shots. The result in Test 1 for the men resulted in a mixed bag, with a big win to Tasmania’s Taelyn Male who defeated Matty Flapper by 19 shots, a loss, and the final rink of Mark Nitz and Craig Mills finishing in a nail-biting draw, with the Victoria men narrowly winning overall by two shots.
Victoria was too good in Test 2 on the Friday night with its women winning by 40-shots overall, despite Mikayla Gibson recording a great one-shot win for Tasmania over Victoria’s Brooke Edwards. The Victorian men also won all three rinks winning by 18 shots overall.
Test 3 on Saturday morning again saw the Victorian’s continuing their strong form, with both the men and women’s sides winning to retain the French-Holbrook trophy. The Victorian women won by 26-shots overall, with Amity Bickley scoring three shots on the final end to defeat Victoria’s Brooke Edwards by two shots. The Victorian men won overall by ten shots, with Dylan Fisher being Tasmania’s only winner defeating Criag Mills by nine shots.
The weather picked up and by Saturday afternoon, play was switched outside to the grass greens for the last two Tests and the move certainly paid dividends for Tasmania.
In Test 4, the Tasmania women won on two rinks to win overall by seven shots with Makayla Gibson defeating Lisa Phillips by eight shots and Courtney Hobbs beating Brooke Edwards by five shots. The Tasmanian men also won on two rinks to win by nine shots, with Dylan Fisher defeating Nathan Lynch by eight shots and Taelyn Male finishing four shots in front of Matty Flapper.
The final Test on Sunday morning again saw Tasmania victorious. The Women’s Test was a close one, with the overall score level at 48-all going into the last end. Tasmania’s Coutrtney Hobbs picked up one shot on the final end to win 49-48, with Hobbs being the only winner for Tasmania beating Sammy Atkinson by four shots. The Tasmania men also finished on a high winning by 12-shots overall, with Taelyn Male defeating Craig Mills by seven shots, Dylan Fisher beat Matty Flapper by five shots and Mark Nitz scored two shots on the final end to record another draw this time against Nathan Lynch.
It was pleasing to see the Tasmanian teams improve over the weekend against strong Victorian teams that get plenty of experience against the bigger States. The experience our Tasmanian players gained at the Test Series will be invaluable when Tasmania takes on all States and Territories in the Open Sides National Championships which will be held at the Devonport Country Club from 20 – 23 November 2025.
Congratulations to Joy Voss who was named the Tasmanian Women’s Player of the Series and to Cameron Windram who was named the Tasmanian Men’s Player of the Series.
Thank you to the Devonport Country Club for hosting the Test Series, and thank you to all the volunteers, club staff, umpires and ITOs who put in the hard work the past three days.
For all the results click here.
