Napier women's trio finished their campaign on a high note by defeating Alexandra 20-1 to finish fifth in their section.

Taradale's men finished third in their section - see charts below...

A commendable effort by both teams.

National Triples - penultimate section round:

Men, Taradale lost to Aramoho 8-17 - and would need to win next game (v Masterton) by 23 points to qualify for post-section play. In section one, four teams have 9 points and all will be merciless in striving for one of the two places available in post-section.

Napier women defeated Masterton 17-11 for their first win in the event, and realistically have no chance of qualifying with only three games points - 9 differential.

  Barry (Skinny) Wakely, Bryan Godber with Bruce Ferrick (Taradale), will play at North East Valley in section three. Among their opposition in that section, will be the proven trios of Ian Monaghan, Mark Morete and Scott MacKenzie (Masterton), and Aramoho’s Ian Porteous, Keith Sleight and Kevin Coombe. It is interesting to note that Monaghan will represent his club in three of the four disciplines at this year’s National Clubs Championships - Pairs, Triples and Fours.

Two former HB players’ names feature in the list of names for this event. Richard Hocking is Lead in the Burnside team with Mike Small and Barry Williams, and Paul (Kumera) Selby - will join Neville Turnbull (s) and last season’s HB Singles winner Daryll Johnson (Levin).   Exceptionally skilled players listed elsewhere in the draw are: the ‘Ollifs’ from Thames, our near neighbours Love/Jensen/Sinclair (Johnston Park), Fisher/Walker/Rogan (Brown’s Bay), and more near neighbours and last year's winners of this event - File/Goldsbury/McPherson (Te Karaka).

It notable that there is a particularly solid representation from within our Central Zone, including most of those aforementioned – plus Goodin/Shaaw/Goodin (Paritutu), and perhaps the Wellington winners which have chosen not to enter the finals, this demonstrates that the Central Zone is (arguably) among the strongest in the country.

Mary Evans, Elizabeth (Liz) Campbell with Elizabeth (Liz) Fitch (Napier) in section one at Taieri, will have a tough game against United’s Barbara McGregor/Yvonne Closey and Dianne Potts – multiple winners of National events. However with two teams to qualify for the quarterfinals, the Napier trio is more than capable of reaching this position.

Cut-throat section two, features several strong triples: Mere Eden (s), Ngongotaha, Val Symes, Riverside, Tayla Bruce’s Burnside combination (which includes former HB secondary schools player Tessa Hocking), Mere Fryer’s Terrace End team – and Wanganui trio.    Mere Fryer (Terrace End) showed the ultimate in consistency by qualifying in all five National Club Championships, including the Mixed Pairs – that takes a bit of doing!

In addition, teams skipped by Wendy Mackie, Bev Corbett, Audrey Stevenson and Valda Rowan have a good chance of making the final eight teams.

We send our players the very best wishes for a successful campaign.

Opinion - cdf