Bowls: West End claim interclub title

Grant Hassall

Paritutu’s reign as the New Zealand men’s interclub bowls champions is over.

They were narrowly beaten on differential in the Taranaki final by host club West End on Sunday.

In the Summerset-sponsored event, both clubs finished with six wins and one draw from nine games, to finish equal on top. But West End had +29 differential points, as opposed to Paritutu’s +20. And so, just as they did in 1992, West End ended the run of the previous Paritutu men’s national champion side. They now advance to the national finals in April. After competitive efforts, Opunake finished with two wins and two draws and New Plymouth with one win and two draws in the finals series.

Paul Howell won twice in the singles for West End, as did John Roberts and Craig De Faria in the pairs. Steve Walker’s four of Steve Temperton, Bruce Colgan and John Garrud had two wins and one draw.

The only combination to win all three on the day was Adam Collins and Darren Goodin in the pairs for Paritutu.

However, Paritutu managed to hold onto the Vospers-sponsored women’s division one title. Following the last round, which was played at West End on Sunday, Paritutu, with three wins, moved clear of Fitzroy to finish on 29 match points. Fitzroy managed only one win in the last round to hold onto second place with 25, followed by Tower on 24.

Paritutu’s win was achieved even without world champion Briar Atkinson. On Sunday, selector Jackie Moeahu ran away with her singles match to set up Paritutu. The pair was Tina Atkinson-Watt and Heather Johns, while the four included Barbara Batley, Cathy Andrews, Bridget Fletcher and Gale Fache.

Paritutu once again did the double, with it also winning the women’s second division title on 34 points. Manaia (24 +68) and Lepperton (24 +43) filed the minor placings.

In the other men’s interclub events, West End (15) took the second division from Hawera Park (11), Stratford-Avon (10) and Inglewood (0), while Manaia won the third division. There, Manaia beat Paritutu in a virtual final 2-1 to finish with 30 points ahead of the 27 Paritutu earned.

There was an appropriate conclusion to the Q Transport-sponsored junior interclub when Lepperton beat Paritutu 14-11 in the final. Included in the Lepperton side was Fred Quilter, the 2024 Taranaki junior singles victor, who along with wife Tina, the Lepperton president, own Q Transport. The other members of the Lepperton squad were Chris Ropitini, Nathan Eriwata, Dennis Turner and Elly Kidney, while the Paritutu squad comprised Rhys Hood, Diane Waite, Angela Parr, Pip Milne and Phil Waite.

Meanwhile, the Cross Country Rentals-sponsored mixed pairs will be an all-West End final at a date yet to be determined.

In the semifinals at Stratford-Avon on Saturday, John Garrud and Trish Howard beat Paritutu’s Alex Riddock and Barbara Batley 25-5, while Craig De Faria and Susan Cottam prevailed 17-8 over another West End pair headed by the ageless Lois Ritson.