Feilding fight into pennants semifinals
Feilding and Taihape have both scraped into the A pennants semifinals at the expense of Foxton after final round in Levin.
All three clubs finished equal on 12 points which was good enough for third place.
But with only the top four making the playoffs, total games won came into play with Taihape half a game ahead of Feilding, who were 14 games clear of Foxton.
Top qualifiers Manawatu will take on Feilding in one semifinal, while Taihape will be looking to repeat their performance from their upset win over Palmerston North earlier this year when they have a rematch.
The matches will be played on May 21 at a yet-to-be-named neutral course.
Feilding had to fight to make the cut.
Heading into the final round, they had to win against Taihape to have a chance given that Foxton were set to face competition strugglers Tawhero.
Feilding ended up with the win by a solitary game 6 1/2-5 1/2.
There were positive signs from the start for Feilding as they went 2 1/12-1 1/2 up after the foursomes.
That lead proved crucial as they spilt the singles four apiece.
Duane Dick, Denny Thompson, Koke Cashell and Ben Cribb picked up wins for Taihape, while Rob Lowry, Liam Finlayson, Tony Chettleburgh and Mike Atkins had success for Feilding.
The tight nature of that match stole the limelight from the fixture of title favourites Manawatu and Palmerston North which the former won 8-4.
It was a further blow to Palmerston North’s hopes of knocking off the perennial champions, who are on track for their fifth consecutive title and 11th in 13 years.
The singles were all close matches aside from Greg Shaw’s 6/5 win against Scott Sutherland.
Regan Cording, Damon Burt and Bradley Mcsherry had wins for Palmerston North, but Manawatu answered back with wins to Micah Bremner, Guy Perry, Regan Mcconaghty and Angus Findlay.
As Foxton took on Tawhero, they knew they had to win and then hope results in other games went in their favour.
They took care of their own business with a 8 1/2-3 1/2 win to ensure Tawhero’s stint in the A-grade lasted just one year with no wins.
Anton Ilton-maher, Jason Easton, Mike Brown, Tom Ratima and Khalil Peta picked up wins in the singles.
But Riki Kauika,tony Henry and Ben Potaka ensured that not everything went Foxton’s way.
Wanganui and Levin squared their battle 6-6 for the minor placings in the competition.
Both clubs were clear of relegation threat, but also well outside of the playoff battle.
Wins to Caleb Tuck, Mike Tafilipepe, Stuart Gillespie, Keith Johnson and halves to Fergus Smith and Rick Harding ensured Wanganui shared the spoils with Levin.