Tough start to pairs for defending champs

There will be plenty to play for when the opening rounds of the women’s pairs gets under way  at the national championships on bowling greens in and around Dunedin this morning.

Defending pairs champions Dale Rayner  (Johnsonville) and Ashleigh Jeffcoat  (Frankton Junction) have a tough start to proceedings, drawing Blackjacks Jo Edwards and Val Smith in a first-round game in section two at the North East Valley Green that could prove an indicator to the final outcome on January 8.

Rayner (46), a Commonwealth Games triples representative in Delhi in 2010, and junior Commonwealth Games representative Ashleigh Jeffcoat (18), who at the age of 17 in New Plymouth last year became the youngest New Zealand bowler to win a national title, have not played together since. But they will not be a pairs combination to be taken lightly, as they get their defence of the national title under way at the North East Valley green at 8.30 this morning.

Last year’s final proved a cliffhanger as they claimed a see-saw battle which went down to the wire. An extra end decided the title 19-12 over the Whanganui pair of Denise Taylor and Dot Belliss.

Jeffcoat, a bachelor of sport health and human performance from Waikato University, displayed maturity beyond her years, taking the lead role in last year’s title race, and it will be Jeffcoat and Rayner’s ability to rise to the occasion that will have them a force to reckon with again this year. The pair are all too aware that getting past the first hurdle of Edwards and Smith would give their chances of going back-to-back an immense boost.

"It’s a little sooner, rather than later," Rayner said of their first-round clash with Edwards and Smith.

If there is one thing in the defending champions’ favour, it is the second-life factor of the qualifying rounds, but with six rounds to get through any loss could results in an early exit.

With Edwards and Smith playing most of their lead-up matches in Australia, Rayner and Jeffcoat are slipping into the defence of their title a little undetected. Although Rayner has shown good form of late having won the Wellington open singles in late November,

she is all too aware of the task ahead of her in Dunedin over the next two weeks.

"We’ll just rock on up and try to hit the ground running," she said of the first-round match-up with Edwards and Smith.

"We want to give them a good game."

Besides a first-round match-up with Smith in the pairs, Rayner has also drawn her in the first round of qualifying singles games starting on Sunday. The two are drawn in to play in section 12 at Outram and, while Smith is set down for four games, Rayner has drawn a bye in the second round before playing Kerry Heffer (Te Rangi) and Kirsten Rowe (Burnside). Jeffcoat is drawn in section two to play at Taieri and is up against Blackjack Sandra Keith (Allenton) in her second-round match.

First up, she plays Carrie-Jane Hargrave (Bekenham), while her third and fourth-round matches are against Bev Morel (Elmwood Park) and Shannon McEwan (Green Island) respectively.

Rayner and Jeffcoat continue their association in the fours starting on New Year’s Day. They have teamed up with New Zealand development players Nicole Toomey (Wellington) and Rachael McDowall (North East Valley) in section one to play the first day at Taieri.

"I think we have a nice balance in this team," Rayner said of her fours team.

But it is McDowall’s North East Valley clubmates Sarah Scott and Joanna Cooper, who  form a composite fours team with Blackjack Katelyn Inch (Broadbeach) and Bronwyn Stevens (Te Rangi) that could be a surprise package in this section.

In the pairs today, Scott is paired with Stevens in section six, while Inch is in section three paired with fellow Blackjack Tayla Bruce (Burnside).