Father-son duo part of champion Taieri side
The club had a father-son duo in their team that won the New Zealand champion of champions men's fours title in Dunedin at the weekend.
Andy McLean and father Grant were joined by Otago bowls great and national coach Mike Kernaghan and Geoff Griffiths.
The Taieri four swept through unbeaten at the tournament, which attracted the champion club fours teams from all the Bowls New Zealand districts.
They faced a significant challenge in the final from the Elmwood Park club four of Gary Lawson, Nathan Glasson, Liam Eathorne and Ricky Cook.
After Elmwood grabbed a shot on the first end, Taieri won three on the second and two on the third to leap to a 5-1 advantage.
Taieri banked four shots on the eighth end to take a commanding 12-4 lead, but Elmwood chipped away, and when the Christchurch bowlers claimed four shots on the 13th end, Taieri's lead was slashed to 13-12.
The Taieri quartet held their nerve to claim three shots on the 14th end and held on to win 16-13.
Taieri had smashed the Martinborough team 19-4 in the semifinals, and thumped Fitzroy 16-3 in the quarterfinals.
They had wins in the early rounds by scores of 18-11, 18-8, 21-11 and 17-4.
The Dunedin Bowls Stadium will now host the New Zealand champion of champions women's fours this weekend.
• Dunedin bowler Keanu Darby has been named in the Blackjacks squad for the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in November.
Darby, who made his New Zealand debut in the transtasman series in February and played at the world indoor championships, will compete in both the singles and the pairs.
The Forbury Park bowler is joined by fellow youngster Finbar McGuigan at the new event, which will be played on portable indoor rinks and uses the sets-play format, and is seen as a prelude for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Seasoned Blackjacks Shannon McIlroy and Ali Forsyth will be strong contenders for Glasgow but the selectors have decided to give the younger brigade a chance.
"We know what Shannon and Ali are capable of — they're world-class," New Zealand coach Mike Kernaghan said.
"But we agreed that it was time to be brave and give newer Blackjacks the opportunity to gain experience at this level."
Similarly, selectors faced a tough decision in selecting the women's squad for a world cup that has only singles and pairs competition.
They went for the established pairing of Katelyn Inch and Selina Goddard, meaning world singles champion Tayla Bruce misses out.
"This was a really tough decision," Kernaghan said.
"How often do you leave the world singles champion out of your team?
"Ideally, we would have preferred the team composition to mirror what we expect for Glasgow — three men, three women, two para men, two para women, and a vision-impaired mixed pair — but World Bowls has determined the format, and we have to select accordingly.
"With Glasgow in mind, we needed to take a close look at our pairs combinations, and this selection reflects that priority."
World champion para women's player Teri Blackbourn will skip transtasman partner Kurt Smith in the para mixed pairs.
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