Wanganui's neighbour's strong in bowls

Gaylene Reid bowls for Wanganui against Hawkes Bay at the Gonville Bowling Club on Sunday.

The Manawatu and Hawkes Bay teams were the dominant sides at the annual Bowls Wanganui Academy Hexagonal Bowls tournaments over the weekend.

Contested annually by the lower North Island representative development squads with five years or less experience, in recent years it has been Taranaki teams who have been the standouts.

The Taranaki women were coming in as defending champions of their grade, while the men's team were looking to get back the title they lost narrowly to Kapiti Coast in 2015.

However, at the Wanganui Bowling Club, it was the Manawatu men who were the clear winners after two days of play finishing on 28 points, eight points clear of Hawkes Bay and Kapiti Coast.

The result was flipped in the women's competition at the Gonville Bowling Club, with Hawkes Bay winning by a superior differential to Manawatu and Kapiti Coast after some very close matchups.

It was not a great weekend for the Wanganui teams, with the men's squad introducing six new players to this tournament, while the women's team had four of their regulars playing their last year at academy level.

"The Wanganui teams found the opposition too good and did not achieve the result expected," said men's manager Mike Morgan.

"It was noted that the standard of play seemed to be at a higher level than last year and augurs well for the future of the sport."

Weather in town held for most of the event despite overnight rainfall, allowing the teams to get through their full programmes.

"The men's results show how close the games were judging by the low differential," said Morgan.

"The Wanganui team were lying fourth before the last round, only winning one game. Had they won three games they would have finished second."

"Women's results show a different picture with three teams vying for the top position and with Hawkes Bay winning because of the better differential.

"It has been a learning curve for our new players and I am sure they have enjoyed themselves and will come away with some satisfaction."

Results
Men's: Manawatu 28 (+40); Hawkes Bay 20 (+22); Kapiti Coast 20 (-30); Wellington 19 (-5); Taranaki 17 (-13); Wanganui 16 (-14).
Women: Hawkes Bay 24 (+151); Manawatu 24 (+71); Kapiti Coast 24 (-2); Taranaki 20 (+7); Wanganui 18 (-59); Wellington 10 (-168).