The victorious Poverty Bay team with the Peck Shield for women’s senior interclub: Deborah Hancock (left), Jessie Davis-Law, Jenny Amor (manager/reserve), Kathryn Flaugere, Cheryl Jenkins, Dianne Phillips, Lesley Seymour and Anita Vaotuua.
The victorious Poverty Bay team with the Peck Shield for women’s senior interclub: Deborah Hancock (left), Jessie Davis-Law, Jenny Amor (manager/reserve), Kathryn Flaugere, Cheryl Jenkins, Dianne Phillips, Lesley Seymour and Anita Vaotuua.
Gisborne’s men were convincing victors but Poverty Bay’s women were a class apart for drama in Bowls Gisborne-East Coast’s senior interclub contests last weekend.
Gisborne Bowling Club’s men dropped only one game out of nine – and that was by just a point in the pairs – as theygathered 16 points and a differential of +96 to win the Fisken Cup on their home greens.
They wrapped it up in one day. Four teams entered, compared with the five who vied for the women’s title.
Poverty Bay Bowling Club’s women led at the end of the first day’s play, but only by a point, and they had to withstand strong challenges from Tolaga Bay and a fast-finishing Kahutia to retain the Peck Shield.
“Lesley Seymour’s 21-13 singles win against the Kahutia club’s Dayvinia Mills in the second round gave us the boost we needed to keep going on the first day,” said Poverty Bay’s Jessie Davis-Law, whose Facebook posts informed this report.
Rather than one club playing another in singles, pairs and fours, and then moving on to their next opponents, the games were jumbled. It made for complicated scenarios.
Poverty Bay lost all three disciplines – singles, pairs and fours – in Sunday’s fourth round.
Going into the final round, Poverty Bay, Tolaga Bay and Kahutia all had a chance.
In Davis-Law’s words: “If Tolaga Bay fours beat Poverty Bay, they would take the shield. If Kahutia won all their disciplines and had a good differential, they would take it.
“Poverty Bay needed to win all three disciplines to secure victory.
“The tension was sky-high as results came in. Poverty Bay’s singles player Lesley Seymour took a brilliant win over Gisborne’s Ginny Sherriff, keeping their hopes alive.
“Meanwhile, the pairs playing Kahutia and the fours playing Tolaga Bay trailed for most of their games, but in the final few ends both teams dug deep and turned the tables.”
Kahutia won their singles and fours against Te Karaka, but to win the shield they needed their pairs to beat Poverty Bay and Tolaga Bay to lose their fours against Poverty Bay.
On the last end in both of those games, Poverty Bay held shot as their opponents’ skips tried to disturb the head ... unsuccessfully.
Tolaga Bay were runners-up with a team who were mostly juniors in bowls terms, while Queenie Takurua came out of retirement to show the “youngsters” a thing or two.
Poverty Bay women ended the tournament with 17 points and a differential of 55; Tolaga Bay had 14pts and a +25 differential; Kahutia had 14pts and a +10 differential; Te Karaka had 8pts and a -65 differential; Gisborne had 7pts and a -25 differential.
The triumphant Gisborne men’s team with the Fisken Cup for men’s senior interclub, back (from left): Chris Bunyan, Steve Goldsbury, Warren Gibb and Shaun Goldsbury. Front: Andrew Ball and Malcolm Trowell. Absent: Charlie Ure and Arthur Hawes.
Gisborne Bowling Club won the men’s interclub with a dominant performance.
Shaun Goldsbury, an Auckland-based “junior” player in terms of bowls experience, won all his games for Gisborne. Along the way, he beat brothers Don Williams of Tolaga Bay and July Hoepo of Kahutia, the match against Hoepo in doubt until the last bowl.
The final standings were Gisborne 16pts, +96 differential; Kahutia 12pts, +16; Tolaga Bay 8, +3; Poverty Bay 0pts, -91.
The Poverty Bay women’s team and the Gisborne men’s team will represent their clubs at the national interclub sevens tournament in Canterbury in April.
