BQR has received little news recently and mostly from Australia. Possibly the most interesting is that concerning the progress of a young player from Queensland.
This event resulted in a win for Brendon Smith by 424 to 320 over Stuart Lawler. Smith, who is only eleven, had a break of 74 and six over 30. Lawler is fifteen and had won the last U/18 event, he had three breaks over 50 and seven over 30. In the Semis Lawler beat S. Budd 492 - 478, and Smith beat A. Fitzgerald 529 - 297. Shawn Budd, primarily a snooker player, averaged 325 points per hour. There were twelve young players entered. It looks as though billiards in Sydney has a bright enough future.
Brendon Smith won this one as well defeating R. Budd in the Final by 533 - 256 (90 minutes.) In the Semis Smith beat S. Worth 626 - 192, and Budd beat I. Barber 356 - 305. It is not stated whether or not R. Budd is related to S. Budd. The organisers expressed some disappointment at the entry - 10. BQR reckons that is not all that bad. The National Boys championships in England do not attract many more than that. Boys of that age generally have snooker balls where their eyes should be, it is encouraging that there are some youngsters who are interested enough even to turn up to play the game.
The death is reported of Mr John Reece. Mr. Reece died at his home in Tasmania aged 68. John was the Australian Amateur Champion in 1974. He was runner-up to Jim Long in 1975, and again to George Gamin in 1978. In 1980 he had the best break of the championship - 218.
This young man from Queensland, aged fifteen, is considered to be an outstanding prospect at both billiards and snooker. He has won many titles and is the holder of all Queensland junior titles and two national titles. He holds the Australian record break for Under/18 billiards - 128, and the Australian record break for Under/15 snooker - a 120 total clearance. In the Queensland A grade inter club snooker he has not yet lost a frame, many top amateur players compete in this league. Rhys was awarded the, "Courier Mail," Junior Sports Person of the year and is to receive special coaching from the great Bob Marshall.
They used to say that proficiency at billiards was the sign of a miss-spent youth. It is hardly so in Rhys's case. He won his school's award for the outstanding cricketer, and is highly regarded, for his age, as a swimmer and chess player. His academic progress is also first rate. He is being spoken of as a second Lindrum. That is, of course, newspaper talk. Nevertheless, this boy would seem to have a bright future in more than one field.
How do Cochrane's billiards achievements compare with, for example, those of the Teesside boys? At Rhys's age, 15, the highest break recorded in the Teesside Boys League stands at 108 by Lee Cuthbert made in a half-hour score of 404 which is quite something. At 16 Mike Russell had a 167 and a half-hour 334. A year later Russell had made a 307 break and a half-hour score of 426. That break is the highest and likely to remain so. The next best is 201 by Paul Reeve when aged 18. But many of the Teesside boys were making fairly regular century breaks in competition when aged only 16 or 17, amongst them Peter Gilchrist, Mike Dunn, John Murphy, Stephen Naisby, Jonathan Birch, Martin Goodwill, as well as Russell. All these players are now professionals with the exception of Goodwill who has been Amateur Champion for the last two years.
Rhys Cochrane may, or may not, eventually prove to be better than some of the Teesside lads. If he does then he will do well - Good Luck to him.