DEVELOPING a mutually beneficial sixth sense is an integral part of the religion of sisterhood.
Angela and Mandy Boyd are living proof of that after the sisters from Hawke's Bay retained their women's pairs crown at the Heartland Bank National Open Championship in Christchurch yesterday.
"Ange knows I'm a player of confidence so if I want to play a shot she lets me," said Mandy, 24, of Angela, 29, after the siblings beat the mother-and-daughter combination of Leigh and Kirsten Griffin, of Wellington, 17-10, in the final.
Neither pairing could make a break until the 16th end when the Boyds, playing on their home turf at Burnside Bowling Club, scored a four on their way to defending the crown they won last year at Northshore in Auckland.
"I know what to say to her if she's juggling a little," said Mandy. "I talk her into playing good bowls and she knows what exactly to say to lift me."
If synchronising siblings and filial formulas are the secret to success then watch out the fours contenders today because the Boyds and Griffins have combined to compete as a composite team.
"Kirsten is my best friend," said Mandy, quietly confident they would "go out and do well" today but echoing Angela's sentiments that "there are some pretty big teams and tough draws" in store.
"We've met each other in semifinals a few times so it'll be really nice to be playing together tomorrow."
The Boyds went into the pairs on a comfortable cushion of surety but they never expected it to be a given.
"It's awesome. It's so exciting and unexpected because we've had close games right through," said Mandy after they beat Val Smith and Jo Edwards 17-16 in the final end of their semifinal.
The United club pair of Smith and Edwards took an extra end to pip the composite pairing of Sarah Scott and Bronwyn Stevens 19-18.
Ditto the Griffins, from Victoria Bowling Club, needing an extra end to beat the composite pair of Sandra Keith and Serena Matthews 22-19 in their semifinal.
The Boyds overwhelmed Reen Stratford and Linda Ralph (composite) 23-14 in the quarterfinals.
The Blackjacks squad members are the first pair to win back-to-back titles since Sharon Sims and Mary Campbell in 2006 and 2007.
While it seems like a leisurely jaunt to the uninitiated when players step out on to the greens, roll out a mat and casually release a curve ball, the Boyd sisters impressed the game demanded nothing short of undivided concentration at the pairs stage, never mind the challenge of finding cohesiveness in the fours.
"The game is so mental. It's 99 per cent in the head so knowing each other at tough times helps and that's probably why we gel so well," said Mandy, a preschool teacher at Best Start (formerly Kidicorp) in Christchurch who she is indebted to for giving time off to compete during the year.
The former Bowls Taradale sisters were last night receiving a rash of congratulatory texts, especially from the Bay where parents Lynda and Doug Boyd still live.
Lynda has been watching her daughters compete at the nationals but Doug couldn't make it.
"She's really happy and was quite nervous at times but keeping in touch with family and friends from here," said Mandy of their mother who seldom ever misses their outings despite the daughters leaving home to embark on their tertiary education and now careers.
Angela said they didn't play the last end in the final.
"It was touch and go and could have gone either way so it was very exciting," said the early childhood educator who left Napier in September 2014 with the specific intent to join her sister and forge a career path in the south.
She didn't have to wait long because in July last year Bowls New Zealand thrust her into its international equation.
Angela didn't disappoint, claiming bronze medals in the triples and fours in her international debut at the Asia Pacific Championship in Christchurch from November 24 to December 6.
The elder Boyd, who has adhered to a regimented training regime that saw her shed 18kg before she left Napier, said the national selectors were expected to name the Black Jacks sides next week for the Transtasman series and the Six Nations but there were no guarantees on making the cut, let alone whether the sisters would carry on their dream form on to the international stage.
Changing her bowls from size 3 to size 4 has boosted Angela's cause, helping her counter the winds with better control on the greens of Christchurch. Angela was also presented with the domestic female bowler of the year award.
The sisters didn't progress to post-section play of the national singles but Mandy felt Angela, who is in the Canterbury singles finals next month, was unlucky.
"I'm not really a singles player," she said, preferring the camaraderie to gritty individual determination.
With more competition beckoning today, the sisters celebrated with a sing-along to the guitar tunes of fellow bowler Monty Pawa last night.
"Ange is a good singer so together they sound pretty awesome," Mandy said amid interruption of congratulatory "well-dones" from well wishers as she spoke.