Paritutu men successful in regional playoffs

Paritutu have won the regional men’s interclub playoffs in Wellington in convincing style.

From the nine games played, Paritutu won seven and lost one while the ninth wasn’t completed as the overall outcome of contest had been decided.

However, Paritutu managed only four wins in the women’s section, finishing third, with Naenae taking the honours on its home green.

In the men’s group, Paritutu beat Paekakariki 3-0, a side which was almost identical to the Kapiti intercentre seven, Wellington’s Victoria 2-1 and Wanganui East 2-1.

Darren Goodin beat Stacey Thomas (Paekakariki) 21-18, lost 21-17 to Raymond Martin (Victoria) and secured the deal with a 21-17 win over former Wanganui open singles champion Garry Petersen.

Daryl Read and Hamish Kape formed a formidable pairs combination. They won 21-9 over Nicky Morgan and Geoff Bovey, thrashed Laurie Guy and Robbie Bennett 26-12 and completed the emphatic display 21-8 against the Pinker twins, Warwick and Cary.

Adam Collins skipped the four with Don Christensen and Rodger Hassall up front and Aidan Zittersteijn at third.

They beat Peter Thomson (Paekakariki) 17-9 and Ben King’s Victoria quartet 18-9 – a crucial result achieved on the Victoria green. Its final round clash against Les Smith (Wanganui East) was called off as the game became academic. Wanganui East led 11-7 at that junction.

In the women’s section, Paritutu was edged 2-1 by Wanganui in the first round, a disappointing outcome after Gale Fache’s four of Barbara Batley, Barbara Harvey and Jackie Moeahu had posted a resounding 30-3 victory. But both the singles and pair were nosed out. Briar Atkinson went down 21-20 to Dianne Patterson, while Cathy Andrews and Heather Johns lost 15-10 to Wendy Stuthridge and Lesley Bourke.

Paritutu kept its hopes alive in the second round, beating Naenae 2-1, with the pair and four winning.

But the side fell 2-1 to Paraparaumu Beach in the last, with just the pair winning.

Naenae came from behind to deny Wanganui after the host club won its last round clash. However, in the final wash-up, had Paritutu gone clear in the last round, differential would have been required to split it and Naenae in a close calculation.

The national finals, which will involve six clubs in each gender, is tentatively scheduled for November 12-13.