Team fail to advance in tournament pool play

The Bowls Wanganui Under-8 teams did not advance out of their pools at the National Intercentre tournament at the Naenae Bowling Club in Lower Hutt at the weekend.

The national tournament is for centres' development teams, for players with eight years experience or less.

Wanganui's men's team was looking good in section one against Marlborough, Southland and North Harbour, having four wins out of their opening six games.

However, manager Mike Morgan said they could not reel in North Harbour in the latter stages of those singles, pairs and fours matchups.

"Peter [Cassidy] ... was holding his own until Rory [Soden] finished like a champion and closed Peter out. Both the pairs and fours teams were equal up to halfway in the game and then it seemed that the luck left us in both games."

The men's pair was Kelvin Francis and Gary Johnston, while the fours were Colin Field, Desmond Pirere, Kevin Willis and Colin Wright.

North Harbour won the pool and would go on to make their way through post-section play to claim the final againstTaranaki.

The Wanganui women's team finished in a three-way tie for second in their pool, but fourth overall on net totals, with Wellington advancing ahead of Wanganui, Dunedin and Waikato. "They had a bad round - the first round - no one just seemed to fire," said coach Chris Waterson. "Then they stormed home, which was pleasing."

The fours team of Judy Johnson, Wendy Black, Margaret Blinkhorne and Shelma Ward finished with two wins from three games, while singles competitor Debbie Wildermouth and the pairs of Jill Rohloff and Denise Taylor got one win each.

Most of the team are still in just their fourth and fifth seasons, and so will be eligible for this tournament for the next few years.