Riverhead’s ability to box above its weight was again shown in the North Harbour 3-5 final at Takapuna on Thursday night when it entered the next round of the national competition.

 Riverhead, one of the smallest clubs in the centre but stacked with quality players, completed a clean sweep 3-0 over the powerful and highly successful Browns Bay line=up.

 Riverhead thus will now play off in a zonal final against the winner of the Northland-Far North centres, either Kensington or Kerikeri, at Warkworth on March 28.

 The winning Riverhead team was Grant Goodwin, Laura Mills and Zay Ross in one triple, Steve Cox, Marion Hakaraia and Peter Signal in a second and Dwayne McDonald, Robyn Reihana and David Ross in a third.

 Despite the clean sweep the contest was much closer than that and caused much excitement among a good crowd of spectators, including representatives from Bowls New Zealand.

 Two of the matches against strong Browns Bay bowlers like former Black Jack Tony Grantham and centre representatives Adam Haywood and Scott Evans were decided only by tie-breaks.

 And the third match between McDonald and the Browns Bay line=up skipped by Pete Sheehan looked to be headed that way when with Sheehan holding two shots to win the second set he was denied only by a lucky last bowl by McDonald.

 It was a notable feat by Riverhead for at the start of the season it was without women players, so the arrival of experienced players like Mills, Hakaraia and Reihana from other centres proved opportune.