RUTHERGLEN'S A1 bowls side struggled to establish itself away at Wangaratta at the weekend, falling three to one as the home side kept its slim finals hopes alive.

Chris Langdon, Darren Simpson, Claire Megarrity and Michael Dickins suffered a heavy defeat (28 to 13) to begin proceedings, and while Phil Peers, Trev Ronnfeldt, Ross Rankin and Geoff Tozer fought back to win 20 to 16 on the second rink, five shot losses for teams three and four (18 to 13 and 22 to 17 respectively) left Rutherglen with too big of a mountain to climb.

Rutherglen will return home this weekend to host Kiewa.