MATTHEW Flapper could hardly have hoped for a better start to his Commonwealth Games debut.
Flapper and his teammates Nathan Rice and Wayne Ruediger stretched their unbeaten run to three in the lawn bowls men’s triples on Friday night.
They proved to be in another class to Papua-New Guinea in a 20-10 win triumph.
This followed wins over Pakistan and Falkland Islands on day one of competition on Thursday and the early hours of Friday (AEST).
Although yet to face other major contenders, the three wins put the Flapper-skipped Australia in a strong position to challenge for a medal in Glasgow.
Australia defeated Pakistan 19-12 in 18 ends to launch its Games campaign.
Pakistan jumped away to a 6-2 loss after four ends.
Australia then won five shots on the fifth end and the match developed into a head-and-head battle.
It was 12-all after 15 ends, then Australia made its move – getting two and four shots to seal the deal in its opening game of the round-robin preliminary rounds.
Flapper’s outfit was even more convincing against Falkland Islands, 23-5.
Falkland Islands stuck with the Australians for the opening five ends, with the score all square at 3-all
Australia then went on a 17-0 run over nine ends to lock the win away.
It was a similar story against PNG.
Australia quickly went out to a 5-1 advantage and was always comfortably placed.
The triples backed up against England on Saturday 12.45am and will play their five match against Malaysia on Saturday at 5.45pm.
Flapper grew up and launched his bowling career in Ballarat.
He Is now based at Ocean Grove, where he is head coach.