Taranaki again had to be content with the minor placings as Wellington strode away with the titles in the central regional Octagonal bowls fixture in Kapiti on Sunday.
Wellington won both the men’s and women’s events with a degree of comfort ahead of the other seven centres.
Revtial Fertilisers Taranaki finished second in the women’s section with 16.5 wins, the same as third-placed Hawke’s Bay, but well short of Wellington, which took 19.5 games.
Wellington won 21.5 games from 28 in the men’s event, with Manawatu (19) and Taranaki (16.5) filling the minor placings.
In the women’s event, both the Taranaki triples and fours excelled. The four of Anne Brophy, Susan Cottam, Rhonda Adams and skip Trish Howard won five and drew two. They could not be bettered by any side, a result that should bode the team in good stead for the intercentre next month.
A brand-new triples side was used, with Ella Smailes, Anne Potaka and skip Robyn Klenner winning five from seven. One loss occurred on the last end to Hawke’s Bay, while one of the victories came over Wellington’s Nicole Toomey, who last month won the Dominion singles.
Chris Commane won three from five in the singles, before skipping the pairs on Sunday.
Anne Duggan and Jackie Moeahu had a win and a draw from the opening two days in the pairs, with Moeahu gaining another one in the singles on Sunday.
Like the women, the men started off in spectacular fashion, with four straight wins. However, aside from the fours, it was a mixed bag after that.
Selector Allan Batley took the opportunity over the last three rounds to change the team disciplines. In the final wash-up, Gerry O’Sullivan was the best performed Taranaki man, finishing with six wins and one draw. The last three victories came in the triples, after O’Sullivan had acted as director in the fours in the previous rounds.
Darren Goodin opened with four wins on the trot in the singles, but three narrow defeats followed. That included a 25-20 loss in the last game to Wellington’s Seamus Curtin who won all seven.
The original pair of Hamish Kape and Stefan McCartain had two each-way, before being tried elsewhere. McCartain won three more in the triples, while Kape had a win each in the triples and the fours.
From five outings, Dean Elgar skipped the four to four wins and a draw, with Daryl Read and Aidan Zittersteijn up front. It was one of the highlights of the side’s effort. Elgar and Read had a win and a loss when they played pairs in the last two rounds.
The triple of John Garrud, Steve Walker and Craig De Faria won one from four before being moved. De Faria finished with two wins overall, while Garrud and Walker had three.
In the under-eights hexagonal in Palmerston North, Wellington won the women’s and Hawke’s Bay the men’s section. Taranaki were third in both, with the individual highlights being the five successive wins by the women’s four of Ma Arapo, Amanda Crehan, Cheryll Sharrock and Hazel Schwartfeger, and the four-from-five effort by Briar Atkinson in the singles.