Report – Champion of Champion Men’s Pairs 9 & 10 August 2025
It was a case again of reflected glory for Bowls North Harbour when the national champion of champion events continued at the weekend with the men’s pairs in Hamilton.
Harbour’s representatives, Browns Bay’s Neil Fisher and Llyod Sinton, won only one of their four qualifying games and so missed out on post-section play.
But five bowlers with past ties to the Harbour centre were in the play-offs, though in the case of one of those, Steve Posa, the connection was a fleeting one. When he won the national pairs championship with Kevin Robinson 20 years ago, Posa was listed as a member of the Takapuna club.
However, his intended transfer to the North Shore did not eventuate and Posa was no more than a token Takapuna member.
Posa played at the weekend as a member of Thames Valley’s Thames Coast club with Adam Haywood, who a few seasons ago picked up a Harbour gold star while a Browns Bay member.
In the quarter-finals Haywood and Posa beat Birkenhead club members Tony Granthan and Randall Watkinson, who were representing Auckland’s Mt Albert 19-8, but suffered a heart-break loss in the semi-finals to Southlanders, Craig Merrilees and Craig Tinker.
Coming to the last end, Haywood and Posa led 17-14, but dropped a three to leave the game tied and with an extra end needed, they then dropped a decisive single.
The other former Harbour player in the play-offs was Daryl Read, who was with Belmont Park and Takapuna not too long ago. Now back in his home province, Taranaki, Read and his Paritutu partner went down to eventual champions, James Cameron-Powell and Jordan Keene, from Wellington’s Stokes Valley.
In a quality final Cameron-Powell and Keene, both in their 20s and among the country’s most promising players, came with a late run when trailing 16-12 with only three ends left to beat Merrilees and Tinker, from Invercargill’s Waihopai club, 18-16.
Though only winning the one game, Fisher and Lloyd performed gallantly in what was a tough draw. Two of their losses were against Black Jack Grantham and Watkins, who is a Harbour gold star, and Haywood and Posa, and their other loss was by a single shot.
The champion of champion events will move next weekend to Auckland’s New Lynn club for the women’s pairs. Harbour will be represented by Wendy Jensen and Jeni Hart, who will be in the colours of the Wellsford club. Trish Croot, up until recent years a Birkenhead and Harbour stalwart and now a national selector, will play with Lisa White for Kapiti Coast’s Raumati club.