Bowls: Unbeaten NZ doubles power ahead

A switch in the playing order paid dividends for the New Zealand triples team at the world bowls championships today, leading to two straight wins after yesterday's horror start in Ayr, Scotland.

After an opening 18-18 draw against unfancied Philippines and an 11-18 loss to Namibia, Sean Johnson was moved up to lead and Rowan Brassey to two today.

This switch produced two steady performances for skip Gary Lawson who guided the team to a 19-10 win over Hong Kong and a strong 25-15 showing against Canada.

The pair of Russell Meyer and Paul Girdler continued on their unbeaten way, beating Samoa 25-16 in the morning match, and made sure of a place in the second phase with one round robin game to spare, with a 22-14 victory over previously unbeaten Zimbabwe in the second session.

Meyer and Girdler had beaten Spain 15-10 before holding off a strong challenge from Fiji 21-19 yesterday.

The New Zealand triple still need to win their fifth and final pool match tomorrow (NZ time) to be sure of qualifying. Israel stand in their way in an untidy group still far from decided.

Manager Peter Shaw said the change following the opening day draw and loss made sense for two reasons.

"Sean was struggling for line and the thought was to give him a couple of games with a clear run at the target and no bowls in the way."

The move also strengthened the team by linking the experience of Brassey with Lawson on the head.

The change proved successful immediately as Lawson went to 9-4 at the halfway stage, before Hong Kong under Loy D'Souza first levelled and then edged a shot clear.

A similar thing had happened against the Philippines, but this time New Zealand responded to win all the last five crucial ends including two closing threes to close out the game at 19-10.

Meyer and Girdler won only seven of the 18 ends against the unpredictable Samoans, often laying big counts before raking drives from skip Leautuli disturbed the head.

But his misses were costly, the New Zealand scoring including three counts of five, two of those in the last three ends, as they converted a slim 15-14 advantage to a 25-16 scoreline over the last three ends.

Meyer and Girdler next face Wales, also unbeaten in their final pool match, with both sides already confirmed for the second round involving two groups of six teams each.

The top of each group will play off for gold and silver and the second placed teams will claim a bronze.

NZ results:

Pairs - Russell Meyer and Paul Girdler (NZ) bt Harry Porter and Ieremia Leautuli (Samoa) 25-16; bt Adrian Mellows and Roy Garden (Zimbabwe) 22-14.

Triples - Sean Johnson, Rowan Brassey and Gary Lawson (NZ) bt Adam Poynton, Jimmy Chui and Loy D'Souza (Hong Kong) 19-10; bt Lyall Adams, Wayne Wright and David Anderson (Canada) 25-15.

- NZPA