Auckland Indoor Bowls representatives have won the 68th Welch Trophy, the symbol of supremacy in New Zealand Indoor Bowls at the Pukekohe Cosmopolitan Club at the weekend.
After an exciting and close competition over five sessions Auckland emerged the winners for the ninth time in their history. Auckland previously won in 1963, 1964, 1975, 1982, 1984, 1992, 2007 and 2017.
Final Standings were Auckland 103.5, North Taranaki 100, Otago 96, Hutt Valley 86.5, Canterbury 82.5 and Tauranga 71.5.
The winning team was captained by Simon Poppleton.
Seven of the eight players that were in the 2017 team, Paul Wright and Rodney Mills won their third medals while Steve Fisher, Neil Gash, Simon Poppleton, Alex Reed and Colin Williams won their second medals. The player who was recalled to the team this year is Gary Taiaroa and he won his first.
No changes were made to the team that won this year’s Paterson Trophy. Taiaroa was a regular member of the team in the early 2000’s and last played in 2005. He played two in the team skipped by Simon Poppleton along with North Island representative Alex Reed and North Island Academy representative Colin Williams. North Island representative Steve Fisher skipped the A team with Mat Black Paul Wright at three, Rodney Mills at two and Gash leading. Fisher was third equal in the Open Pairs this year while Wright won two Australasian titles with the successful Mat Blacks. Fisher and Reed were members of the successful North Island team and won the Inter-Island medal in the men’s singles and triples respectively.
The player of the tournament was Rodney Mills, Auckland who won eleven games was awarded the Edgar Family Trophy.
The tournament was played over five sessions of fours, singles and pairs with four points awarded for a win in the fours, three points for a win in the pairs and two points for a win in the singles.
At the end of the second day Otago was leading with 83 points followed by Auckland 82, North Taranaki 80, Hutt Valley 69.5, Canterbury 63 and Tauranga 54.5.
Going into the final session the overnight leaders Otago lost both games of fours which was a huge set back while North Taranaki won both games and Auckland one. NT 88, AK 86, OT 83, HV 73.5, CY 71, TG 54.5.
In the final round of singles Auckland scored 10 pts, North Taranaki 6 and Otago 4 which propelled Auckland into the lead with just the pairs remaining.
AK 96, NT 94, OT 87, HV 86.5, CY 78, TG 62.5.
In the pairs Otago scored 9, Auckland 7 and North Taranaki 6 giving Auckland an exciting and nail biting win overall.
Final Standings: AK 103.5, NT 100, OT 96, HV 86.5, CY 82.5, TG 71.5
Welch Trophy Inter-district Final
Results:
Abbreviations: Auckland (AK); Canterbury (CY), Hutt Valley (HV), North Taranaki (NT), Otago (OT), Tauranga (TG).
Round 1: Fours
Paul Smith (TG) bt Marcus Trlin (HV) 11-3;
Grant l’Ami (NT) bt Daniel French (OT) 9-6;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Simon Thomas (CY) 12-7;
Mark Ridley (NT) bt Simon Poppleton (AK) 12-3;
Joseph Zino (HV) bt Chris Matthews (CY) 11-10;
David Webb (OT) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 13-6.
Scores: NT 8, TG 4, HV 4, OT 4, AK 4, CY 0.
Round 2: Singles
Joseph Zino (HV) drew Simon Poppleton (AK) 6-6;
Rodney Mills (AK) bt Ross Wright (NT) 6-4;
Ivan Phipps (NT) bt Neil Gash (AK) 10-8;
John Zittersteijn (NT) bt Paul Wright (AK) 8-7;
Chris Matthews (CY) bt David Webb (OT) 12-4;
Brandon Williams (OT) bt Anthony Ouellet (TG) 9-4;
Hugh Bosman (OT) bt Fiona Keegan (TG) 9-4;
Mark Jacombs (HV) drew Blair Spicer (CY) 9-9;
Mark Ridley (NT) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 9-5;
Kylie Gould (CY) bt Lois Randall (HV) 9-7;
Denise Clarkson (HV) bt Gary Ashby (CY) 8-4;
Raymond Webster (OT) bt Mike Phipps (TG) 9-7;
Paul Smith (TG) bt Daniel French (OT) 9-6;
Shelley Jacombs (HV) drew Gary Taiaroa (AK) 7-7;
Dennis Behrent (NT) bt Val Hagan (TG) 12-6;
Mike King (CY) bt Daniel Sinclair (OT) 9-6;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Grant l’Ami (NT) 6-4;
Sean Ridley (NT) bt Lorraine Phipps (NT) 9-3;
Dave Philpott (CY) bt Keri Te Tamaki (OT) 10-4;
Alex Reed (AK) bt Shelley Jacombs (HV) 8-4;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Simon Thomas (CY) 7-6;
Nicholas Sinclair (OT) drew Rob Osborne (CY) 6-6;
Jordan Keene (HV) bt Colin Williams (AK) 10-7;
Alister Wilson (NT) bt Roger Bartosh (TG) 7-5.
Scores: NT 12, HV 9, OT 9, CY 8, AK 8, TG 2
Aggregate: NT 20, HV 13, OT 13, AK 12, CY 8, TG 6.
Round 3: Pairs
Blair Spicer (CY) bt Raymond Webster (OT) 9-6;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt David Webb (OT) 12-3
Paul Wright (AK) bt Mark Jacombs (HV) 7-6;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Marcus Trlin (HV) 8-6;
Mike Phipps (TG) bt John Zittersteijn (NT) 8-7;
Grant l’Ami (NT) bt Paul Smith (TG) 11-5;
Mike King (CY) bt Roger Bartosh (TG) 13-5;
Daniel French (OT) bt Simon Thomas (CY) 8-6;
Daniel Sinclair (OT) bt Alex Reed (AK) 8-3;
Mark Ridley (NT) bt Joseph Zino (HV) 8-5
Alister Wilson (NT) bt Brett Holden (HV) 6-5;
Geoff Coughey (TG) drew Chris Matthews (CY) 8-8.
Scores: NT 9, AK 9, CY 7.5, OT 6, TG 4.5, HV 0
Aggregate: NT 29, AK 21, OT 19, CY 15.5, HV 13, TG 10.5.
Round 4: Fours
Chris Matthews (CY) bt Mark Ridley (NT) 8-4;
Simon Thomas (CY) bt Paul Smith (TG) 11-3;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Daniel French (OT) 7-5;
Joseph Zino (HV) drew David Webb (OT) 5-5;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Grant l’Ami (NT) 9-6;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 9-7.
Scores: CY 8, AK 8, HV 6, OT 4, TG 0, NT 0
Aggregate: NT 29, AK 29, CY 23.5, OT 21, HV 19, TG 10.5.
Round 5: Singles
Shelley Jacombs (HV) bt Lorraine Phipps (TG) 11-3;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Paul Smith (TG) 8-7;
Mark Jacombs (HV) bt Raymond Webster (OT) 6-3;
Denise Clarkson (HV) drew Hugh Bosman (OT) 7-7;
Nicholas Sinclair (OT) drew Sean Ridley (NT) 7-7;
Mark Ridley (NT) bt David Webb (OT) 12-6;
John Zittersteijn (NT) bt Blair Spicer (CY) 9-4;
Jordan Keene (HV) bt Val Hagan (TG) 8-4;
Rob Osborne (CY) bt Gary Taiaroa (AK) 9-6;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt Chris Matthews (CY) 9-3;
Roger Bartosh (TG) drew Brett Holden (HV) 9-9;
Neil Gash (AK) bt Fiona Keegan (TG) 10-4;
Brandon Williams (OT) bt Lois Randall (HV) 8-6;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Daniel French (OT) 9-8;
Mike King (CY) drew Alex Reed (AK) 7-7;
Colin Williams (AK) bt Dave Philpott (CY) 8-5;
Anthony Ouellet (TG) drew Rodney Mills (AK) 6-6;
Joseph Zino (HV) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 9-8;
Mike Phipps (TG) bt Paul Wright (AK) 8-6;
Ivan Phipps (NT) bt Deanne Osborne (CY) 8-7;
Ross Wright (NT) bt Kylie Gould (CY) 10-6;
Simon Thomas (CY) bt Grant l’Ami (NT) 8-3;
Daniel Sinclair (OT) bt Alister Wilson (NT) 7-4;
Dennis Behrent (NT) bt Keri Te Tamaki (OT) 10-4.
Scores: HV 12, NT 11, AK 10, OT 6, CY 5, TG 4
Aggregate: NT 40, AK 39, HV 31, CY 28.5, OT 27, TG 14.5.
Round 6: Pairs
Roger Bartosh (TG) bt Daniel Sinclair (OT) 11-5;
Joseph Zino (HV) bt Chris Matthews (CY) 9-7;
Alister Wilson (NT) bt Alex Reed (AK) 6-4;
David Webb (OT) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 10-5;
Mike King (CY) bt Brett Holden (HV) 10-4;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt Mark Ridley (NT) 9-4;
Paul Wright (AK) bt Blair Spicer (CY) 11-6;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Paul Smith (TG) 13-3;
Mike Phipps (NT) drew Mark Jacombs (HV) 8-8;
Daniel French (OT) bt Grant l’Ami (NT) 12-9;
Raymond Webster (OT) bt John Zittersteijn (NT) 9-7;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Simon Thomas (CY) 13-5.
Scores: AK 9, OT 9, TG 7.5, HV 4.5, NT 3, CY 3
Aggregate: AK 48, NT 43, OT 36, HV 35.5, CY 31.5, TG 22.
Round 7: Fours
Geoff Coughey (TG) bt Mark Ridley (NT) 13-11;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt Joseph Zino (HV) 11-8;
David Webb (OT) drew Chris Matthews (CY) 7-7;
Grant l’Ami (NT) bt Steve Fisher (AK) 9-7;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Simon Thomas (CY) 9-8;
Paul Smith (TG) bt Daniel French (OT) 12-7.
Scores: TG 8, HV 4, NT 4, AK 4, CY 2, OT 2.
Aggregate: AK 52, NT 47, HV 39.5, OT 38, CY 33.5, TG 30.
Round 8: Singles
Simon Thomas (CY) bt Daniel French (OT) 8-6;
Nicholas Sinclair (OT) bt Gary Taiaroa (AK) 11-9;
Colin Williams (AK) bt Keri Te Tamaki (OT) 9-8;
Alex Reed (AK) bt Daniel Sinclair (OT) 10-7;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Steve Fisher (AK) 9-4;
Rob Osborne (CY) bt Lorraine Phipps (TG) 11-4;
Denise Clarkson (HV) drew Neil Gash (AK) 5-5;
Mike King (CY) bt Roger Bartosh (TG) 9-5;
Grant l’Ami (NT) bt Paul Smith (TG) 12-3;
Sean Ridley (NT) bt Shelley Jacombs (HV) 15-2;
Ivan Phips (NT) bt Fiona Keegan (TG) 9-6;
Alister Wilson (NT) bt Brett Holden (HV) 13-4;
Geoff Coughey (TG) bt Chris Matthews (CY) 9-4;
Brandon Williams (OT) bt Kylie Gould (CY) 8-6;
Hugh Bosman (OT) bt Deanne Osborne (CY) 14-4;
Raymond Webster (OT) drew Blair Spicer (CY) 8-8;
David Webb (OT) bt Simon Poppleton (TG) 8-7;
Lois Randall HV) drew Rodney Mills (AK) 8-8;
Dennis Behrent (NT) bt Jordan Keene (HV) 7-4;
Mike Phipps (TG) drew John Zittersteijn (NT) 7-7;
Joseph Zino (HV) bt Mark Ridley (NT) 11-3;
Ross Wright (NT) bt Anthony Ouellet (TG) 10-5;
Dave Philpott (CY) bt Val Hagan (TG) 7-3;
Paul Wright (AK) bt Mark Jacombs (HV) 9-3.
Scores: NT 13, OT 9, CY 9, AK 8, HV 6, TG
Aggregate: NT 60, AK 60, OT 47, HV 45.5, CY 42.5, TG 33.
Round 9: Pairs
Mark Jacombs (HV) bt John Zittersteijn (NT) 10-7;
Chris Matthews (CY) bt Mark Ridley (NT) 8-5;
Roger Bartosh (TG) bt Alex Reed (AK) 7-3;
Simon Thomas (CY) bt Paul Smith (TG) 7-6;
Daniel Sinclair (OT)bt Brett Holden (HV) 9-5;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Grant l’Ami (NT) 8-6;
Mike Phipps (NT) drew Blair Spicer (CY) 9-9;
David Webb (OT) bt Joseph Zino (HV) 12-7;
Alister Wilson (NT) bt Mike King (CY) 15-2;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 14-5;
Raymond Webster (OT) bt Paul Wright (AK) 12-5;
Daniel French (OT) bt Steve Fisher (AK) 7-4.
Scores: OT 12, CY 7.5, HV 6, TG 4.5, NT 3, AK 3.
Aggregate: NT 63, AK 63, OT 9, HV 51.5, CY 50, TG 37.5
Round 10: Fours
Joseph Zino (HV) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 7-5;
David Webb (OT) bt Mark Ridley (NT) 10-6;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt Chris Matthews (CY) 14-7;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Paul Smith (TG) 7-3;
Daniel French (OT) bt Marcus Trlin (HV) 8-7;
Grant l’Ami (NT) bt Simon Thomas (CY) 15-4.
Scores: OT 8, AK 8, HV 4, NT 4, TG 0, CY 0
Aggregate: AK 71, NT 67, OT 67, HV 55.5, CY 50, TG 37.5.
Round 11: Singles
Geoff Coughey (TG) bt David Webb (OT) 12-2;
Rob Osborne (CY) bt Shelley Jacombs (HV) 14-3;
Jordan Keene (HV) bt Dave Philpott (CY) 8-6;
Mark Jacombs (OT) bt Mike Phipps (TG) 10-2;
Mark Ridley (NT) bt Simon Poppleton (AK) 8-4;
Sean Ridley (NT) bt Gary Taiaroa (AK) 9-6;
Val Hagan (TG) bt Keri Te Tamaki (OT) 8-6;
John Zittersteijn (NT) bt Raymond Webster (OT) 7-2;
Chris Matthews (CY) bt Joseph Zino (HV) 10-2;
Nicholas Sinclair (OT) bt Lorraine Phipps (TG) 10-4;
Dennis Behrent (NT) bt Colin Williams (AK) 11-4;
Paul Wright (AK) bt Blair Spicer (CY) 10-9;
Simon Thomas (CY) bt Steve Fisher (AK) 6-4;
Anthony Ouellet (TG) bt Lois Randall (HV) 10-8;
Fiona Keegan (TG) bt Denise Clarkson (HV) 7-6;
Alex Reed (AK) bt Alister Wilson (NT) 12-8;
Paul Smith (TG) bt Marcus Trlin (HV) 8-7;
Brandon Williams (OT) bt Ross Wright (NT) 16-3;
Ivan Phipps (NT) bt Hugh Bosman (OT) 8-7;
Roger Bartosh (TG) drew Daniel Sinclair (OT) 6-6;
Daniel French (OT) bt Grant l’Ami (NT) 7-5;
Rodney Mills (AK) bt Kylie Gould (CY) 12-4;
Neil Gash (AK) bt Gary Ashby (CY) 8-7;
Brett Holden (HV) drew Mike King (CY) 6-6.
Scores: TG 11, NT 10, AK 8, OT 7, CY 7, HV 5
Aggregate: AK 79, NT 77, OT 74, HV 60.5, CY 57, TG 48.5
Round 12: Pairs
Brett Holden (HV) bt Alex Reed (AK) 10-5;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Grant l’Ami (NT) 7-6;
Mike King (CY) bt Daniel Sinclair (OT) 12-10;
Daniel French (OT) bt Paul Smith (TG) 10-7;
Alister Wilson (NT) bt Roger Bartosh (TG) 11-8;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Simon Thomas (CY) 9-8;
Raymond Webster (OT) bt Mike Phipps (NT) 8-7;
Geoff Coughey (TG) bt Mark Ridley (NT) 9-7;
John Zittersteijn (NT) bt Paul Wright (AK) 10-6;
David Webb (OT) bt Chris Matthews (CY) 12-11;
Blair Spicer (AK) bt Mark Jacombs (HV) 14-5;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt Joseph Zino (HV) 16-5.
Scores: OT 9, HV 9, TG 6, CY 6, NT 3, AK 3.
Aggregate: OT 83, AK 82, NT 80, HV 69.5, CY 63, TG 54.5.
Round 13: Fours
Simon Thomas (CY) bt Daniel French (OT) 12-6;
Marcus Trlin (HV) bt Steve Fisher (AK) 8-7;
Grant l’Ami (NT) bt Paul Smith (TG) 8-7;
Chris Matthews (CY) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 13-4;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt David Webb (OT) 12-5;
Mark Ridley (NT) bt Joseph Zino (HV) 10-9.
Scores: NT 8, CY 8, AK 4, HV 4, OT 0, TG 0.
Aggregate: NT 88, AK 86, OT 83, HV 73.5, CY 71, TG 54.5.
Round 14: Singles
Rodney Mills (AK) bt Brandon Williams (OT) 9-2;
Grant l’Ami (NT) drew Marcus Trlin (HV) 8-8;
Blair Spicer (CY) bt Mike Phipps (TG) 10-4;
Dave Philpott (CY) bt Dennis Behrent (NT) 11-5;
Gary Taiaroa (AK) bt Lorraine Phipps (TG) 9-4;
Geoff Coughey (TG) bt Simon Poppleton (AK) 10-5;
Alister Wilson (NT) drew Mike King (CY) 7-7;
Fiona Keegan (TG) bt Gary Ashby (CY) 9-6;
Shelley Jacombs (HV) bt Nicholas Sinclair (OT) 9-5;
David Webb (OT) bt Joseph Zino (HV) 8-4;
Paul Wright (AK) bt Raymond Webster (OT) 8-5;
Denise Clarkson (HV) bt Ivan Phipps (NT) 12-6;
Anthony Ouellet (TG) bt Kylie Gould (CY) 6-5;
Paul Smith (TG) bt Simon Thomas (CY) 10-6;
Brett Holden (HV) bt Daniel Sinclair (OT) 7-6;
Jordan Keene (HV) bt Keri Te Tamaki (OT) 6-5;
Lois Randall (HV) bt Ross Wright (NT) 5-4;
Chris Matthews (CY) bt Mark Ridley (NT) 7-2;
Alex Reed (AK) bt Roger Bartosh (TG) 8-6;
Colin Williams (AK) bt Val Hagan (TG) 13-4;
Sean Ridley (NT) bt Rob Osborne (CY) 7-5;
Steve Fisher (AK) bt Daniel French (OT) 8-6;
Mark Jacombs (HV) bt John Zittersteijn (NT) 12-5;
Hugh Bosman (OT) bt Neil Gash (AK) 6-4.
Score: HV 13, AK 10, TG 8, CY 7, NT 6, OT 4.
Aggregate: AK 96, NT 94, OT 87, HV 86.5, CY 78, TG 62.5.
Round 15: Pairs
Mike Phipps (TG) bt Paul Wright (AK) 8-6;
Daniel French (OT) bt Marcus Trlin (HV) 11-5;
Daniel Sinclair (OT) bt Alister Wilson (NT) 9-6;
Joseph Zino (HV) bt Geoff Coughey (TG) 10-6;
Mike King (CY) drew Alex Reed (AK) 9-9;
Rodney Mills (AK) bt Paul Smith (TG) 7-4;
Raymond Webster (OT) bt Mark Jacombs (HV) 12-6;
Simon Poppleton (AK) bt Chris Matthews (CY) 13-1;
Roger Bartosh (TG) bt Brett Holden (HV) 8-6;
Simon Thomas (CY) bt Grant l’Ami (NT) 13-2;
John Zittersteijn (NT) bt Blair Spicer (CY) 9-5;
Mark Ridley (NT) bt David Webb (OT) 12-6.
Scores: TG 9, OT 9, CY 7.5, AK 7, NT 6, HV 0
Final Standings: AK 103.5, NT 100, OT 96, HV 86.5, CY 82.5, TG 71.5