The 24-strong New Zealand team to tackle Australia in the annual transtasman petanque challenge in Rotorua this weekend features four Wanganui East Club players.
Past national triples title winner Christine Strichen and Yvonne Futcher are in the open women's division, while former national singles champion Pete (Pieman) Hamilton and ShirleySelwyn are in the men's and women's senior teams.
New Zealand senior men's and women's coach Richard Turfrey, who is also a Wanganui East Club player, said the Kiwis would go into the tournament as favourites after winning most of the transtasman challenges in the past seven years.
"New Zealand has the most wins and the team won the event last year in Australia, so going by that form we would have to be favourites in Rotorua this weekend. In fact, we won both the open and senior divisions last year," Turfrey said yesterday.
The challenge pits each team against the Aussies in triples and pairs, with the total score from the open and senior grades determining the victor.
