Bowls: Cream starting to rise at National Intercentre

Canterbury Women continued their winning ways this morning with Mandy and Angela Boyd taking out wins over Manawatu (19-18) and Northland (25-10).

These wins saw Canterbury remain a head of the pack as they went into a tough third round on day two. A stellar performance by the Canterbury Fours (Sandra Keith, Jan Shirley, Katelyn Inch and Julie Adams) taking a great win against Nelson 20-10 this afternoon.

Jo Edwards kept Nelson in fighting form this morning having two strong wins 25-20 against Marlborough's Glenda Bishop, and 25-6 against Thames Valley's Lindsay Nicholls. The Nelson Pairs, Val Smith and Kirsten Griffin are still undefeated after five rounds.

Despite the Pairs loss this morning, Northland Women remain top contenders as they race to the finish to decide who will make it to Post Section Play. Northland end the day a close third with 27 points. Canterbury and Nelson are also in contention.

Counties Manukau Women are a force to be reckoned with as they trumped all three disciplines this morning. After three rounds today they are 9 points clear of Taranaki and Bay Of Plenty who are tying for second place.

Men's Section 1 is looking tight at this stage with Dunedin being the current front runner with 28 points amassed. At this stage it's far too close to say who will be joining them in post section play with three other centres within two points of each other.

Blackjack Shannon McIlroy helped keep Nelson Men's ahead of their section, continuing to dominate the Singles after defeating West Coast, Taranaki, South Canterbury, Manawatu and Far North.

Home advantage is definitely the case for the Auckland men as they sit comfortably in the lead on 18 points in Section Four. They have had some tough matches today against Gisborne East Coast, South Otago and Waikato.

South Otago are on their tails with 15 points, both teams having both had their byes.
Taranaki Men are holding on by a thread with mixed results today over all three disciplines. The defending champs on 15 points after day two of section play.