Having narrowly lost the final match of last season away to Ross-on-Wye Golf Club, it was sweet revenge for The Rolls, who hosted the South Herefordshire men in the first match of the new campaign on 1st March.

Although tightly fought, The Rolls comfortably overcame the visitors by the wide margin of three-and-a-half to two-and-a-half.

The seemingly endless rain of the winter miraculously gave way to a gloriously sunny and warm St David's Day and, although the course was wet in places, it was a pleasure for both teams to play on greens that were wonderfully prepared by head greenkeeper Mike Powell and his team.

Led from the front by club vice-captain and team coach Alastair Beedie, The Rolls were always in control.

Beedie and his playing partner, Lyndon Richards, set off at a blistering pace and annihilated the Ross opening pairing of club captain Eric Snape and Clive Whitson by 5 and 4.

In the second fourball, The Rolls' Dick Bull and young father Trev Curphey came up against the in-form and big hitting pairing of Steve Walbank and Danny Gear. Despite the gulf in raw talent, the Rolls' duo battled almost to the end before going down by the slender margin of 6 and 5.

The next two fourballs were extremely close affairs. Rudge Bowen and David Goldthorpe of The Rolls were never behind against Ross stalwarts Dave Hart and Steve Philips and a half was probably a fair result.

Russell Webb, ably encouraged by the tall frame of Lyn Powell, sunk crucial putts to pull back from three down and halve unexpectedly against Ross' former county golfer James Morgan and his partner Geoff Thomas.

Roger Lord and David Hey made it a miserable return to The Rolls of Monmouth for veteran Ross pair, Gwynne Morgan and Harold Beach.

Having been beaten in both the home and away fixtures last season, Morgan and Beach had a score to settle this time around.

Unfortunately, they were second best due to some superb golf by The Rolls men, who were an amazing one over gross when they crushed their opponents 6 and 5.

Search parties were almost mustered to hunt for the final fourball of Mike Maguire and Adrian Clark (Rolls) and Colin Bennion and Kevin D'Lonra (Ross) that had slipped well behind the field.

At twilight they reached the 18th green, where D'Lonra played the shot of the day to chip in for a birdie two and deny The Rolls' Morecambe and Wise pairing the last laugh.

Beedie was pleased with his selections and the overall quality of the team performance but warned that not one member of the team should believe that they are an automatic choice for the next difficult fixture against the Bristolians from The Kendleshire Golf Club.

He has players recuperating from injury and others ready to return from their winter warm weather training camps, who will be vying for places in the team.