THE Bowls Wanganui representative teams could not get out of their pools at the Bowls NZ Intercentre tournament in Auckland at the weekend. It was a disappointing result for the men's team, who were semifinalists at last year's intercentre nationals in Christchurch, yet finished a disappointing fifth in section 3 againstTop 8 qualifiers Northland and Southland, along with Marlborough, Hawke's Bay and Taranaki. However, the Whanganui women's team were desperately unlucky to just miss out on the quarter-finals, finishing third narrowly in their section 4 against South Canterbury, North Harbour, Waikato, Southland and Gisborne/East Coast respectively. Women's coach Chris Waterson said in the singles game during the fixture with North Harbour, Dianne Patterson drew the jack beautifully but the bowl just pushed against it, therefore missing the three points which proved the difference after two days on the Howick and then Hillsboro BC greens. Whanganui finished on 24 points, and North Harbour with 27 went through with South Canterbury (28). "They played well. The singles player didn't perform to expectations I thought, with one win," said Waterson. "The pairs got a couple of wins and the fours were brilliant - five wins. The girls were a credit to Whanganui bowls and proved they deserved the top eight." Leslie Bourke and Anne Loveridge were the pair while the unbeaten fours team was Pam Burgess, Marlene Foster, Marilyn Constantine, and Rene Stratford. The men played first at Hillsborough BC and then Howick and finished on 18 points, well behind qualifiers North Harbour (27) and Southland (25). "This is disappointing, however I am sure they gave their best as the inclement weather made it difficult for all players," said spokesman Mike Morgan. The pair of Ian Porteous and Gavin Scrivener had three wins, while singles player Bernard Anderson had two and the fours (Ray Park, Alan Dickson, Phil Corney, Tony McCrae) had one win. Auckland won the men's title, while Northland claimed the women's crown. Next on the Bowls Wanganui representative calendar is the women's development team, who will be playing in Wellington this weekend. The team: Singles: Debbie Wildermoth; Pairs: Jill Rohloff, Denise Taylor; Fours: Judy Johnson, Wendy Black, Margaret Blinkhorne, Shelma Ward.
