Bowls: Defending fours champs into semis

Defending champion Peter Belliss produced a thrilling fightback to earn a place in the national bowls championships fours semifinals at the Hutt Valley Bowls Club today.

Belliss, Kevin Robinson, Steve Posa and Justin Goodwin were 5-16 down with five ends to go against Andrew Kelly and his team of Lance Pascoe, Nick Buttar and Dave Good in their quarterfinal.

But the Bellis four produced some superb trail shots and accurate draw play to win five unanswered ends, scoring a one, two twos, a four and a three to win 17-16.

In another quarterfinal, Blake Signal's team defeated the formidable combination of Shannon McIlroy, Dwayne Cameron, Iain Dalton and Paul Anderson 19-10 to line up a semifinal meeting with Bellis.

On the other side of the draw, Gary Ruane ended Auckland youngster Gregory Ruaporo's run with a 15-10 win and will meet Pat Horgan in the other semifinal.

Horgan accounted for the Ken MacKenzie four 18-11.

Tomorrow's women's four final will see Barbara McGregor-led Nelson team of double world champion Val Smith, Dianne Potts and Dale Bourke into battle against Gale Fache, Nellie Hewson, Faye George and Loralie Hawkes.

McGregor defeated Paula Meredith 14-11 while Fache beat Verna Veint 21-15 in today's semifinals.

Results: Men's quarterfinals: Blake Signal bt Shannon McIlroy 19-10, Peter Belliss bt Andrew Kelly 17-16, Pat Horgan bt Ken MacKenzie 18-11, Gary Ruane bt Greg Ruaporo 15-10.

Women's semifinals: Barbara McGregor bt Paula Meredith 14-11, Gale Fache bt Verna Veint 21-15.