Bowls: Northland rep bowls teams struggle at Auckland intercentre

Roger Kerr-Davis sends one down at the Onerahi green on Saturday. Photo / John Stone

It was a disappointing weekend for Northland intercentre representatives teams when they took on Auckland, Counties-Manukau and North Harbour in the open and development divisions and against Auckland, Waikato, North Harbour in the one to five year division in Auckland.

The bright light was the Northland men's development team who finished second to Auckland, with the one- to five-year women also finishing second in their division.

With the NZ Intercentre competition only a week away, the open squads, who used the event as trials, have some work to do to achieve the results that they did last year.

Open men and women finished fourth with North Harbour winning both events.

In the one to five division, the overall winners were North Harbour (men) and Auckland (women). The development division was won by Auckland in both the men and women.

Entries closing

Entries close for the Centre Champion of Champion events on Wednesday, March 20. Please complete your entry form and send it in, even if you have not completed you championships yet.

This year, the winners of the singles, pairs and fours will be eligible to compete in the NZ Champion of Champion events to be played in July. Venues are: singles - Naenae, July 5-7, pairs - Dunedin, July 12-14, fours - Hastings, July 19-21 (men) and Frankton Railway (women). Centres must notify Bowls NZ of their entry into these events by May 1.

President's Day

The Centre President's Day (any combination fours) will be played at Bowls Whangārei on Wednesday, March 27. Entries close with the events manager - telephone: 437 3050 or email: gwen.northbowls@slingshot.co.nz on March 20. Clubs please enter your teams now. Please do not send them to the office as our centre manager will be on annual leave.

Schools pairs

The annual secondary schools tournament (any combination pairs) will be played at the Kamo Greens on Friday, April 4. Schools please enter your players via the Sport Northland website. Schools can also approach local bowling clubs for help with a bit of coaching for the students who are interested in having a go at bowls prior to the event.

Bowls3Five

Kensington Parahaki Dare Devils will represent Northland in the Bowls3Five next competition round after Kerikeri Club forfeited the event to them. Unfortunately they had difficulty forming a team.

Kensington will now play the winner of the North Harbour section of the competition on a date yet to be finalised.

Open tournaments this week

Saturday/Sunday, 16-17 - Onerahi AC Triples; Sunday 17 - Arapohue 2x4x2 women's pairs; Monday 18 - One Tree PT AC Triples; Wednesday 20-Whangārei AC Triples; Thursday 21 - National North vs. South competition at Howick followed by NZ Intercentre competition over the weekend.