by Crackerjack

Bowls Gisborne-East Coast representatives lost to the best of the best at the national champion of champions men’s triples in Dunedin.

Kahutia Bowling Club’s July Hoepo-Williams (skip), Leighton Shanks and Willy Murray were knocked out of the competition in the quarterfinals. They finished seventh out of 24 men’s teams.

Their run came to an end when they lost 20-10 to eventual winners Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (s), Thomas Cockerill and Elliot Mason, of Gore Bowling Club.

“We had great bowls from my two team mates, who played awesome throughout the tournament,” Hoepo-Williams said.

“We were unlucky to lose our first game in post-section play . . . to the eventual winners.”

The Kahutia team had a bye in the first round, and then lost 11-9 to Owen Sutton (s), Noel Sutton and Liam Peeters, of Putaruru Bowling Club.

In the third round, they beat Martin Webb (s), Neil King and Patrick Lewis of Arapohue Bowling Club near Dargaville, then had another bye in the next round.

In Round 5, they had a 19-15 win against Scott Johnson (s), Vassist Prasad and Kit Chu, of Tawa Bowling Club.

Kahutia also won their next game, 16-10, against Pat Golder (s), Neil Barron and Tony Terry, of Bowls Hastings.

With three wins, they qualified for post-section play but were eliminated by Bagrie-Howley’s Gore team, who went on to win the tournament. The Browns Bay Bowling Club team of  Neil Fisher (s), John Walker and Colin Rogan were runners-up.