Quadrangular Report (updated) – Sat 28 & Sun 29 September 2024

 North Harbour’s women’s premier development team gained the centre’s only success in the quadrangular representative series played on Auckland greens at the weekend.

 But the overall results were encouraging for Harbour with both the premier men’s and women’s teams coming frustratingly close in finishing second to Auckland in the men’s and to the Bay of Plenty in the women’s.

 A 5-1 win over Auckland clinched the win for the Harbour women’s development team. Though level with Bay of Plenty on four match points Harbour had 11 rink points to the Bay’s 10 and a better differential.

 Adele Ineson won two of her three games and team managers Grant Keats and Penny Wakelin made effective use of their squad. The four of Jamie Chen, Judi Farkash, Sharon Parker and Jan Calcott had a win, then a loss. Michelle Macdonald and Judy Smith lost the first-round pairs but in their place for the second and third rounds came Gaye Horne and Hanaan Shahwan who won both of their games.

 Michelle and Judy then came into the four joining Jamie and Sharon for the final round match, which was drawn. It was a fine all round performance with all squad members contributing.

 Harbour finished with four match points, the same as Auckland, in the premier men’s but with 10 rink points was just shaded by Auckland’s 11. In the pairs the experienced duo of Neil Fisher and Bart Robertson finished with two wins from their three games.

 The first-round clash with Bay of Plenty proved to be Harbour’s undoing with a 4-2 loss, the only winner being Steve Hoeft in the singles. But in the pairs Fisher and Robertson lost by just the one shot as did the four of Carlson Barnett, Steve Cox, Gordon Smith and Mark Rumble.    

 The margin between eventual victory and narrow miss was indeed a fine one. Had either of these games been won, as could easily have been the case, then Harbour would have taken the tournament.

 Ironically, the Bay of Plenty four was skipped by former Harbour representative Graham Skellern and spearheading the Auckland team was Black Jack Tony Grantham, who of course has played most of his illustrious career out of the Birkenhead club.

 The women’s premier team of Elaine McClintock (singles and fours for the last two rounds),  Colleen Rice (singles for the last two rounds), Wendy Jensen and Lauren Mills (pairs) and Sheryl Wellington, Robyne Walker and Elaine, Millie Nathan and Keiko Kurohara (fours), in finishing a close second to Bay of Plenty, did have the satisfaction of beating Auckland 4-2 in the third round.

 A first-round loss 4-2 to Bay of Plenty proved to be costly, though there was a second round recovery to whitewash Northland. The men’s development team was also in strong contention right up until the final round, too, only to lose 4-2 to Auckland.

 In Saturday’s one-to-five quadrangular both Harbour teams did well against strong opposition, only to each narrowly miss first places.

 In the men’s tournament at New Lynn the team’s 6-2 loss to Auckland in the final round saw it edged by the Aucklanders in the overall result, 20-18, finishing in runner-up spot, well ahead of Bay of Plenty and Northland. Harbour beat both these sides, eight-nil.

 In what team manager Ian McKenzie described as a brave effort he especially praised Willie Tonga and Shaun Goldsbury who won all three of their matches. The four, too, had come agonisingly close to beating Auckland in what proved the decisive match.

 The women’s competition was tight, with little between any of the sides. Harbour gained a 5-3 win over Northland, had a 4-all draw with Bay of Plenty, but lost to Auckland 6-2. Team manager Graham Dorreen pointed out that most of the squad were first, second and third year players and so did well to be actually leading after the first two rounds.

 Though letting the intensity slip against Auckland, and not getting enough bowls on the head, there were several positives, with every player securing at least one win.

 Auckland made it a junior double by finishing top on14, two ahead of Bay of Plenty with Harbour only one back on 11, shading Northland also on 11 for third place with a better differential.

 Carol Voshaar had the best Harbour record with two wins.