Bowls Taranaki are looking for a new Selector/Manager for our Under 26’s side. We would like to thank Simon Rowe for his efforts over the past 3 years and congratulate him on his success with our side.
This year our Under 26 side will be travelling to Wellington to compete in the National Under 26 Tournament, starting Friday 21st of August and finishing Sunday 23rd of August, 2026.
We are looking for someone who will select and manage the side, with input and feedback from our Men’s and Women’s Selectors. They ideally would relate well to younger players, and be prepared to be involved with any coaching of younger players. If you are interested and think you would make a good candidate, please fill out the following form and return to the Centre Office. Applications close 1st of May.
Under 26’s Selector/Manager Application Form
Lawn Bowls
Te Maunga Taranaki Bowls have announced that the 2027 Aotearoa Māori Bowls National Tournament will be hosted in the South Taranaki Region, with Hāwera Park Bowling Club as Headquarters.
Bowls Taranaki would like to acknowledge the work of the Te Maunga Taranaki Bowls Committee and wish them and our southern clubs the best in hosting such a prestigious tournament.
Aotearoa Maori Bowls National Tournament
Venue: South Taranaki
Headquarters: Hāwera Park Bowling Club
Date: 5th – 8th February 2027
For more information check out the Te Maunga Taranaki Bowls Facebook page or contact the committee.
Nominations for President, Vice President and Board Member for Bowls Taranaki close on the 1st of May.
If you are interested in being a part of common sense governance of the sport in Taranaki and are interested and available to commit to being involved with the board, please consider a nomination. If you have any questions about what being on the board looks like, feel free to give the Centre Office a call on 027 757 8800
Please see the following nomination forms.
President or Vice-President – Nomination Form
Board Member – Nomination Form
Our Suchy & Co Champion of Champion’s events are soon to be played over March and April.
The following venues have been confirmed. Please check your entries are correct and if any substitutes/changes are required please contact the Centre Office before draws are completed on Monday the 23rd.
Men’s Fours – Tower
Women’s Fours – Tower
Men’s Junior and Senior Singles – Stratford-Avon
Women’s Junior and Senior Singles – Tower
Men’s Triples – West End
Women’s Triples – West End
Men’s Pairs – Rahotu
Women’s Pairs – Opunake
Entry Lists:
Fours
Singles
Junior Singles
Finals will be played at West End, which will see the completion of the First Year Singles, Open Triples Tournaments and Hugh Moss, will be played on Sunday the 26th April, and if required Monday 27th April.
Pairs and Triples entries close Monday 6th of April.
Grant Hassall
sportsnewstaranaki.co.nz
Taranaki finished with a bronze medal in the New Zealand men’s intercentre bowls event in Auckland on Sunday.
After topping its group in section play, Taranaki beat Nelson 2-1 in a dramatic quarterfinal on Saturday evening.
However, three-time defending champions Wellington could not be contained on Sunday, with Taranaki losing out 2-1. Wellington’s reign, however, was in turn ended 3-0 in the final by Canterbury.
The pair of Darren Goodin and Craig De Faria won five and drew one from seven games. After an opening loss to Gisborne-East Coast, Goodin went to lead, with De Faria skipping, the change yielding the impressive results.
De Faria, in the quarterfinal live on Sky Sport, drew the jack with his last bowl to beat Nelson’s Mike Carter and Robbie Reed, 15-12 and secure the match for Taranaki.
The duo also beat Wellington’s Robbie Bird and Finbar McGuigan 17-15 in the semifinals.
Camron Horo took over skipping the four, also after an opening loss to Gisborne-East Coast. With Adam Collins, Bart Robertson and Daryl Read, Horo’s side won its four remaining section play games, plus it trounced Nelson 20-6 in the last eight. However, they fell 15-9 to Ben King’s Wellington in the semis.
In the tough singles berth, Dean Elgar won three in section play, before losing to Nick Tomsett (Nelson) and Raymond Martin (Wellington).
A 2-1 loss to Thames Valley was the difference between qualifying and missing out for the women, who won two matches and drew one out of five. The two game losses to Thames Valley were by narrow margins.
Maree Gadsby’s four of Susan Cottam, Cindy Gray and Irene Taunt proved their doubters wrong. They won four games from five.
Alethea Rowlands started off leading the pairs, drawing one with Trish Howard on the first day. She then transferred to the singles, winning two from three, as did Rhonda Adams and Howard in the pairs.
The women’s title went to Wellington, after it beat the 2025 champions Bay of Plenty 3-0 in the final.
Meanwhile, in the Hugh Moss junior pairs, a record entry of 66 combinations was whittled down to just four over the weekend.
The four pairs, who survived three post section rounds at Stratford-Avon on Sunday, includes defending champions Joel Chard and Shae Fleming (Rahotu). They will meet another favoured pair, Ian Dawson and Andrew Gadsby (Fitzroy), in the semifinals, which will be held on finals weekend in late April.
The other semifinal will be an all-Lepperton affair between Dennis Turner and Mihi Hona against Colleen Hodges and Craig Metcalfe.
Bowls Taranaki and TSSSA (Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports Asociation) are holding their Taranaki Secondary Schools Bowls event Thursday the 5th of March at West End starting at 1pm.
Please see the conditions of play and programme for the afternoon.
Conditions of Play and Programme – TSSSA Bowls 2026
Congratulations to Stratford High School overall winners, and the winning team from Francis Douglas Memorial College. Thanks to everyone for attending.
Results – TSSSA Bowls 2026
Congratulations to the following players selected to represent Taranaki in the Bowls New Zealand National Intercentre in Auckland.
Women’s Side:
Susan Cottam, Irene Taunt, Alethea Rowlands, Maree Gadsby, Cindy Gray, Trish Howard and Rhonda Adams.
Manager: Cathy Andrews
Selector: Chris Commane
Men’s Side:
Camron Horo, Craig De Faria, Darren Goodin, Adam Collins, Bart Robertson, Dean Elgar and Daryl Read.
Manager: Kevan Sellers
Selector: John Gray
Good luck to all those involved.
Grant Hassall
Sports News Taranaki
Taranaki can claim to be the best bowls province in the lower half of the North Island after it won three of the four central region trophies up for grabs over the weekend.
Headlining this was the senior men winning the Octagonal, eight-team title in Napier.
That was brilliantly backed up by the under-eight sides winning the men’s Hexagonal title in Levin and the women’s crown in Palmerston North.
In the senior women, who played in Gisborne, Taranaki finish sixth from seven sides, with Wellington winning.
The senior men’s triumph was something to saviour, breaking a drought that extended all the way back to 1999.
While there were a number of years when the competition wasn’t held, there was no denying John Gray’s side replicating Vic Blance’s boys this time.
Just two of the 11 players used during the weekend, Dean Elgar and Craig De Faria, were part of that squad 27 seasons ago.
Elgar had an outstanding weekend, winning six games and drawing one in the singles, which was very much Baldwin-like. Among his victories was a 25-12 win over Sean Johnson (Whanganui) and the draw was 24-all with Raymond Martin (Wellington).
De Faria won six. He started with two wins and a loss leading for Maurice Symes in the pairs, before skipping Bart Robertson to four-straight wins.
Robertson in fact won all seven games, with the first three coming in the fours, with Adam Collins, Scott Roberts and skip Daryl Read.
The four, with Symes and Kevan Sellers both playing two games each, won two of the last four matches.
In the triples, Kurt Smith, Kelly Hill and Bruce Colgan won four and drew one. Taranaki finished with 21 wins and two draws from the 28 games, well clear of defending champions Wellington which was second on 18 wins and one draw.
Taranaki took the under-eights men title with 15 wins from 20 games. Hawke’s Bay were second on 12.5 wins. Nathan Goodin won four from five in the singles, as did the pair of Ian Dawson and Ross Sinclair.
The triple of Steve Fevre, Simon Rowe and Mark Hawken won twice, while the fours side of Joel Chard, Gavin Benton, Blair Clark and Luca Dobson won all five in a mighty effort.
In the under-eights women, Taranaki took the honours with 13 wins, ahead of Hawke’s Bay on 11. Mihi Hona in the singles and the four of Shelley Clark, Colleen Hodges, Alesha Quay and Linda Kape both won four from five.
Jill Forbes and Tina Atkinson-Watt had three wins in the pairs, while the triples, which was adjusted during the weekend and comprised Lois Debique, Ashleigh Megaw, Melissa McEwen-Shepherd and Angela Debique, had two wins.
Taranaki were well off the pace in the senior women’s event. Only seven centres took part, after Whanganui withdrew. Taranaki amassed five wins from 20 games, with the last round washed out on Sunday morning.
All the disciplines managed just one win from three on Friday: Susan Cottam (singles), Alethea Rowlands and Trish Howard (pairs), Amanda Crehan, Cindy Gray and Rhonda Adams (triples) and Judy Crawford, Rita Davey, Irene Taunt and Maree Gadsby (fours).
The combinations were changed for Saturday’s two rounds, the sole win coming from Crawford, Crehan and Davey in the triples.
Entries are now open for the Youth Challenge Cup hosted by Bowls Taranaki
– Cash Prizes for Winning Teams
– BBQ/Food and Drinks
Men’s, Women’s or Mixed in a team of 3
playing 2 Bowl Triples.
One player must be 21 Years old or Under.
1.00pm Start – Monday 9th March 2026 — Venue: Fitzroy Bowling Club
2 games of a 1 hour 20min time limit.
Mufti and flat soled shoes/sneakers or crocs/jandals please.
$5 entry fee with BBQ food included.
All proceeds to go to supporting Youth Bowls around the province.
Enter here: Youth Challenge Cup Entry Form
or contact the Centre Office: email or call 027 757 8800
The Youth Challenge Cup is for us to introduce young players to the sport, so ask your family, friends or clubmates and get a team together to help us bring through the next generation of players. Open to all bowlers and non-bowlers.
Host Centres are providing live results for the Representative Fixtures this weekend.
Senior Men – provided by Hawkes Bay
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PjBHerI6JTluROLQ2d598ElrPnYJ3_8nw0cZ33gktbE/edit?gid=1818286763#gid=1818286763
Senior Women – No scoring from Gisborne East Coast
Development Men – provided by Kapiti
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xLyUj4FJSTb4x-74dVpy4I9NykKubgKtdj6HhlsuVD0/edit?gid=1249194253#gid=1249194253
Development Women – provided by Manawatu
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qrU0IuKY2X0bjrT-1lzmsDZBt3Xp4kzJGYZVFu57C8Q/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Please check the respective Host Centre website for any issues.