Bowls: Double bronze for Taranaki clubs at NZ event

Taranaki sides won two bronze medals at the New Zealand bowls interclub finals in Wellington at the weekend.

Paritutu bowed out 3-0 to Elmwood Park in the women’s semifinal on Saturday evening while West End lost 2-1 to Auckland in the men’s last four on Sunday morning.

Elmwood Park in turn lost the women’s decider 2-1 to Nelson, while Stoke made it a double for that centre when it edged Auckland 2-1 in the men’s final. West End had beaten Stoke 2-1 in section play.

In the women’s section, Briar Atkinson spearheaded the Paritutu challenge. She won all four games in section play, plus the quarterfinal 21-9 over Hannah Dawson (Auckland), before losing 21-11 to Mandy Boyd (Elmwood Park).

The pair of Tina Atkinson-Watt and Heather Johns managed two wins from six which included a resounding 20-6 effort in the last eight over the 2025 Dominion pairs titleholders Lisa Prideaux and Olivia Bloomfield (Auckland).

In the fours, Jackie Moeahu, Cathy Andrews, Bridget Fletcher and Gale Fache finished with three wins.

Needing to win two of the three matches against Elmwood Park, the Paritutu pair and four were both competitive but went down 17-16 and 17-13.

The outstanding result from West End came from its four of Steve Temperton, Bruce Colgan, John Garrud and Steve Walker. They won seven games from eight, which included victories in both the quarterfinals and semifinals.

With one game apiece from the singles and the pairs, the quarterfinal against Forbury Park came down to the fours, which was resolved on an extra end. Temperton drew the winner, after the opposing lead had drawn a front toucher.

John Roberts and Craig De Faria won three and drew one in section play, but lost both post section games. Paul Howell was punished 21-7 by Shannon McIlroy – who with nine wins from as many matches carried Stoke home – and 21-3 by Jamie Hill in the semis. But gave a reasonable account with four wins overall, including crucially the quarterfinals 21-13 over Roger Stevens (Forbury Park).

Meanwhile, Cyclone Vaianu restricted play on Sunday to just one hour in the popular Okato two-day men’s fours. A West End side headed by Garry Murfitt, with his brother Lindsay, Peter Bishop, and Kevin Wood on the rope in the engine room, emerged as the largest victor on day two to take the overall honours.

The Stratford-Avon/Fitzroy 10-years-and-under pairs pushed through with five rounds on Saturday after it was resolved to not roll the melamine on Sunday given the weather. Mihi Hona and Colleen Hodges, wearing Stratford-Avon colours, continued their rich recent form to take the top prize.