The Gore Bowling Club champion of champion triples team survived an early scare in a cliff-hanger semifinal to go on to win the Bowls New Zealand champion of champion triples title at the Dunedin Bowls stadium yesterday.
The Gore combination, skipped by national singles champion Sheldon Bagrie-Howley with second Thomas Cockerill and lead Elliot Mason, triumphed after clawing their way to a 16-14 victory over the Mount Maungaui team of Nicholas Tomsett, Paul Anderson, Nathan Arlidge, earning a date in the final with the in-form Browns Bay three of Neil Fisher, John Walker and Colin Rogan.
Gore were down 13-5 with just six of the 15-end encounter remaining,
"We had a real scrap on our hands but Elliot [Mason] put on an absolute master class to get us across the line," Bagrie-Howley said of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in the semifinal.
The scare was all it took to spur the Gore triple combination into action and it was Fisher’s Browns Bay team that paid the price.
Bagrie-Howley, Cockerill and Mason were ruthless in piling on the points against the Browns Bay team that conceded at the conclusion of the 11th end with Gore holding an unassailable 20-2 lead.
Earlier Fisher’s Browns Bay team had denied an all-southern final when eliminating the St Kilda Bowling Club team of Murray Wilson, Reuben Silva and Owen Bennett at the quarterfinal stage, 17-10, before eliminating Cobden Bowling Club 17-5 at the semifinal stage.
But in yesterday’s final they had no answer to the drawing power of the Gore combination.
"Everything clicked right from the first end," Bagrie-Howley said of their final.
"In triples if everything is going good, it makes it really easy."
Bagrie-Howley will now prepare for a Bowls New Zealand camp for the world championship squad, to be held in Wellington next weekend.
A nerve-racking final ensued in the women’s final in which the Thames Coast team, skipped by Kaye Bunn, with lead Adele French and second Val Mathews, came back from 14-nil down after six ends to defeat the Kia Toa Timaru combination of Sharon Leonard, Julie Robbins and Janice William on an extra end, 18-17.
Kia Toa appeared to have the title in the bag as after eight ends they had appeared to be cruising, having extended their lead to 16-3.
But Thames Coast were far from done, as they clawed its way back over the remaining seven ends of the mandatory 15 to lock the game up at 17-17 to force a title-deciding extra end.
The battle of nerves on the deciding end went way of Thames Coast.
Bunn admitted afterwards it was not something for the faint-hearted to be playing in.
"It was a good team effort and I’m proud of them. The club will no doubt be celebrating back home," she said.
Earlier at the quaterfinal stage the Queenstown combination of Jane Anderson, Andrea Dowman and Kath Mann hammered local favourites Brownwyn Stevens, Brooke Craik and Ange Francis (North East Valley) 18-3, before going on to win the bronze medal.
