Bowls: Alexandra wins national sevens

The Alexandra bowls team that won the national sevens title in Palmerston North last weekend. Pictured (from left) are Marty Geary, Ewan Kirk, Marty Kreft, Bill Clements, Trevor Ludlow, Pat Houlihan, Graeme Allison (manager) and Trevor Drake. Photo suppli
The Alexandra bowls team that won the national sevens title in Palmerston North last weekend. Pictured (from left) are Marty Geary, Ewan Kirk, Marty Kreft, Bill Clements, Trevor Ludlow, Pat Houlihan, Graeme Allison (manager) and Trevor Drake. Photo supplied.
The Alexandra men won the New Zealand interclub sevens last weekend and now have equal bragging rights with the women.

Alexandra's leading women won the event two years ago, and the club has become the only one in zone six to have won both the men's and women's titles.

The national club sevens started in 1991 and Alexandra is only the third Otago club to win the men's title. Fairfield won in 1998 and 2002 and North East Valley in 2011.

Alexandra won a closely-fought contest in Palmerston North with 18 points (differential plus-10), followed by home club Northern (17, plus-7), Wanganui's Aramaho (15, plus-42), Belfast (15, plus-23), Manurewa (13, minus-33) and Hikurangi (12, minus-49).

Singles player Bill Clements won four of his five games and played a key role in the win.

A key game for Clements came in the final round when he beat former New Zealand singles champion Kelvin Scott (Belfast) 25-20.

His only loss was to former New Zealand representative Jamie Hill (Manurewa) 25-18.

''There were no easy games,'' Clements said.

''Against Jamie I had three shots on the head on three ends and he drove them off.''

It was the second national teams title for Clements, who won the Super Eights a decade ago as part of the Southern regional team.

Clements, who started playing bowls in 1981, has won a record 64 Central Otago titles, the second highest number of titles for any centre in New Zealand. Only former international David File (Gisborne) has won more centre titles.

The pair of Pat Houlihan and Trevor Ludlow won two games, drew two and lost one. The four of Marty Geary, Ewan Kirk, Marty Kreft and Trevor Drake won two games and lost three.

The win was important to Geary (71), because it was his first national title.

''Having my godson, Marty Kreft, in the team was special for me,'' he said.

There were a number of New Zealand's elite players in the tournament, including international Phillip Skoglund jun (Northern) and three-time world champion Peter Belliss (Aramoho).

There is a new format for the intercentre sevens starting in Wellington today. All centres that enter the event play in the national finals.

Three centres in Otago - Dunedin, Central Otago and South Otago - have entered men's and women's teams.

Three members of the Alexandra team - Houlahan in the pairs and Drake and Kirk in the fours - are playing for Central Otago. The other members of the team are Robert Reed, Allan Brash, Howard O'Donnell and Maurice Keith.

Dunedin will be defending the national title it won last season. The team is Shaun Scott (singles), Kerry Becks, Craig McCaw (pairs), Mark Watt, Andy McLean, David Archer, Mitchell Will (fours).

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