Bowls: Men's four, women's triples the best of the Kiwis

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The third day of the Six Nations tournament in Christchurch started with fine balmy weather but by the end of the second round of games a fine drizzle had set in, fortunately this did not disrupt play and the players adjusted well to the damper conditions.

New Zealand men's singles player Ali Forsyth won his first outing on Day Three against Ian McLean from Scotland. McLean struggled with his line and length which Forsyth capitalised on and took the game 21-14. In his second game against Malaysia's Izzat Shameer the pair were neck and neck, sitting at 20 all on the final end, Forsyth attempted to drive the jack into the ditch but missed. He drew the shot with his second bowl but the Malaysian wrested the shot back with his third bowl. Forsyth attempted to draw with his last bowl but pulled up just short to hand the game to the Malaysian 21-20.

The men's fours of Shannon McIlroy, Paul Girdler, Blake Signal and Mike Nagy lost their first game to Wales who are sitting in second place on the men's fours table. In the second game the foursome were pitted against top of the table Australia. They dropped a four on the first end, but the Black Jack men hit their straps and dominated the rest of the game. Australia attempted to make a comeback towards the end but it was a little too late and the opposition handed New Zealand the game 17- 15. New Zealand has finished in second place at the end of round robin play and will play off for gold at Bowls Papanui on Thursday morning.

The New Zealand women's pairs had a disappointing two rounds, losing both games. The first to Australia, 19-12, and the second narrowly to Scotland 18-15. Angela Boyd and Val Smith teamed up for the final round of the women's pairs for the final qualifying game against Malaysia. The lead changed regularly throughout the match, but New Zealand failed to hold off a strong challenge and more consistent bowls from their
opposition in the last few ends. The final score was 20-15 to Malaysia.

In contrast the women's triples, Mandy Boyd, Val Smith and Serena Goddard notched up a good win against Australia in the first round of the day, 15-11. A slightly altered team of Boyd, Kirsten Griffin and Goddard scooped the second game against Scotland 19-16. In the third round against Malaysia, which is the final round of qualifying, the New Zealand trio of Boyd, Griffin and Katelyn Inch started well. At the end of the game the women had been renamed by a spectator as the "Golden Girls". The score line of 22-6 indicates how well they performed with Inch playing a blinder off the front and Griffin and Boyd adding to the tally.