THE first Welsh medal of day five in Glasgow came in the lawn bowls as Marc Wyatt, Jonathan Tomlinson and Paul Taylor beat Australia 16-13 to win bronze in the men’s triples competition, writes Andrew Penman.
The medal was the 19th in total for Team Wales and the trio were delighted to hold off a strong fight back from the Aussies after taking an early lead.
“It's absolutely fantastic after the disappointment of missing out on gold or silver yesterday. Thankfully we got what we came for,” said Wyatt.
“These two guys have been fantastic all week. We came here to do a job and we've done the job.”
On Australia coming back after trailing early on, Wyatt added: “Coming from the southern hemisphere, you know that they're good players.
“You know sooner or later that they're going to come back into it, so we had to hold our nerve, stay calm and make sure we played no rushed shots.
“We've got to go back out and play later (in the fours), so there are no celebrations yet, just a bit of lunch.
“I'll have a chance to bring myself back down to earth and I don't want to sound too cocky but the boys are playing well and we can win another medal.”
Tomlinson said the trio had to be on top of their game to beat Australia.
"There was nothing in it,” he said. “We were never comfortable. Australia's a great team.
“We knew if we played our game we had a great chance but playing against Australia is always going to be tough so we knew we had to play well.
“We always just had a little lead; we were always just in front. It looks comfortable but it's never settled. The rink we played on today was very good."
And Taylor said: “I’m over the moon. It's a dream come true to be honest. As a team we were confident, but you can never be overconfident, there are so many great teams here.
“Since the team was picked about a year ago, we have become really close, like a family."
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