Paritutu took the much favoured Burnside out of the competition winning the pairs and the fours. This meant that the singles did not need to be completed. Burnside, who have three Blackjacks in their team (Ange Boyd, Mandy Boyd, Tayla Bruce), were outclassed by a fine performance by the ladies from Taranaki.
For the Men's National Division 1 Interclub Eastbourne was pitted against Taradale, and while the fours went Taradale's way the pairs went to Eastbourne and the finals berth came down to the singles.
The game was close all the way with Taradale's Richard Hocking against the experience of Gary Lawson. At 20-20 the time was running out and the final end went to Lawson and Eastbourne were through to the final.
Their opposition in the final is Tauranga who were up against Palmerston North in the other semifinal. The pairs and the singles went to Tauranga but it was not a clean sweep as Palmerston North took the fours.
The women's final was a great watch. The singles was neck and neck in the beginning and after 10 ends Paritutu was only up by a single shot 9-10. Over the next few ends Paritutu would stretch out the advantage and eventually win 20-25. The pairs and fours were also decided by small margins, Ngongotaha winning the pairs by three 19-16
and Paritutu winning the fours 9-14 to give the Taranaki side the title.
The men had everyone entertained from start to finish. Former Blackjack Gary Lawson (Eastbourne) won his singles match against John O'Shae (Tauranga) in what was a very short game. Gary winning by an astounding 25-2 and only needing 13 ends to get there. The pairs and fours were much tighter. It was a see-saw battle in the pairs,
Tauranga up 10-3 after the 6th end although Eastbourne had a late flurry to claw back the margin. Tauranga eventually winning 16-18. This meant it all came down to the fours.
In the men's fours it was Eastbourne who made early advantage, leading from the front 10-3 after 7 ends.
Tauranga would gain a couple of three's and advantage looked like it was shifting on the second to last end when they also got two shots to level the game going into the final end. This last end was truly incredible. As the skips went to the other end Eastbourne was holding one, Tauranga's Steve Hughes drove with his second bowl and hit the jack which hit another bowl and stayed on the green - giving Tauranga the shot. In the last bowl of the match Eastbourne's Mike Soloman played a yard on shot, picking up the jack and trailing it into the ditch. An incredible sight to see and a great way to finish a great event.
