Bowls: Taranaki finish third at nationals

Grant Hassall

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.