Taranaki find going tough in Wellington

Taranaki was unsuccessful in its bid to qualify in the New Zealand Intercentre bowls event in Wellington over the weekend.

Both the men’s and women’s sides found the going tough to finish third and sixth respectively in their sections. Only the top two provinces from pool play advanced to the quarterfinals.

The Revital Fertilisers Taranaki men were left to rue a dreadful opening day when they lost all three games – Southland (2-1), Auckland (3-0) and Northland (2-1).

They rebounded to clean-sweep victories over the West Coast and South Otago on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough.

Darren Goodin managed three wins in the singles, as did the pair of Daryl Read and Hamish Kape.

Auckland experienced similar frustrations on Sunday, when beaten by Southland in the final. It was Southland’s maiden victory in the competition.

Taranaki opened with a 2-1 win over Marlborough in the women’s division. However, the remaining four games were all lost – Manawatu (3-0), Canterbury (2-1), Nelson (3-0) and Thames Valley (2-1).

The pair of Sue Winter and Anne Duggan had two wins, coming in rounds one and three, while the singles and fours had one win each. Nelson took out the women’s title with a 3-0 victory over Dunedin in the final.

Meanwhile, Tower’s Kerry Mullan claimed the Paul and Sharon Spiers-sponsored Taranaki first year singles at Stratford-Avon on Sunday. Mullan won the final 21-15 over former provincial rugby rep Jimmy Quay (Okato). Paritutu’s Sandra Feek and Stratford-Avon’s Kevin Sullivan shared third place. The event attracted a record number of entries.

In the Radius Care-sponsored Taranaki men’s Shield final, Rahotu took out the title for 2021 when it was decided at Ha¯ wera’s Tower Club on Saturday. Rahotu, the western division winner, finished on three wins from six games, the same as Waitara and Manaia. But Rahotu had the superior differential to reclaim the shield that it had last held in 2016.

Differential was also required to separate the finalists in the Patron’s Egmont Shield when that was concluded recently. The women’s competition was a repeat of the past two seasons, with Lepperton and Hawera Park again battling it out.

After each club had won one game each, Lepperton got the nod on differential to retain the shield.