Bowls: Power of pairs equals awesome foursome

FAMILY AFFAIR: Mandy Boyd (left), Kirsten Griffin, and her mother, Leigh Griffin, both of Wellington, and Angela Boyd after winning the fours in Christchurch yesterday. PHOTO/BOWLS NZ

SISTERS and former Napier Girls' High School students Mandy and Angela Boyd cleaned up their second title of the week in a history-making women's fours final lasting almost four hours at the national bowls championships in Christchurch yesterday.

The two triumphs made 24-year-old Mandy Boyd the youngest person in the history of New Zealand lawn bowls to win five national titles and thus claim her first Bowls New Zealand Gold Star. Angela Boyd, 29, has won four national titles.

Together in Mandy's first national title success in the fours in 2011, the Bay-born Christchurch-based sisters won yesterday's title in a composite team with Wellington mother-and-daughter Leigh and Kirsten Griffin, whom they had beaten in Monday's pairs final.

From Christchurch last night, barbecueing at home with friends, Mandy Boyd, the four's skip, told of the special moment, winning a national title with "best friend" Kirsten Griffin. They met during national secondary schools tournaments, flatted together when Mandy was at university in Wellington, and in April she will be bridesmaid at Kirsten's wedding.

While Leigh Griffin won the singles title last year, it was the first national title yesterday for Kirsten, who now lives in Nelson.

"This one's pretty special," said Mandy Boyd.

It was a major triumph as the Boyd four came from 10-13 down in the tightest of matches in warm and windy conditions on the Boyds' current home club green at Burnside.

They did not concede another point, taking a three to draw level, with Mandy - according to her elder sister - setting up the game, picking a single when it looked like they were going down six after drawing and the helping seal the game-breaking four shots on the penultimate end, for a 20-13 win over a four skipped by Commonwealth Games champion Jo Edwards, supported by three other Games medallists.

Mandy Boyd said she had not given any thought to the potential for a Gold Star until after Monday's pairs win, which meant she was on the championships' honours board for the third year in a row, retaining the title the sisters won in Auckland last year and having claimed a fours title in Dunedin in 2013.

"Someone asked me in an interview how many titles I'd won," she said.

Next up it's the Burnside Pairs which will lure most top players from Australasia and pit men against women, but the sisters await the naming of a seven-strong national squad to prepare for the World Champs, in Christchurch in November.