Oamaru quartet Andrew MacGregor, Bill Kingan, Bill Jenson and Brett Cairns won the Clubs New Zealand 2026 National Men’s Outdoor Bowls Tournament in Whanganui last week.
All four are Awamoa Bowling Club members but were representing the Oamaru Club at the tournament.
Skip Jenson said the team were pleased to bring the Moase Trophy back to Oamaru.
‘‘It was a pleasure with the boys. Five weeks of hard work on the greens paid off.
‘‘The team are pretty proud to represent Oamaru and the club.
‘‘This trophy doesn’t come down here very often, I think it’s only been twice ever in its history.’’
The five-day tournament did not get off to the greatest start for the team — in more ways than one.
The first day was rained out and then the Oamaru men struggled early.
‘‘We actually started out pretty rough, we lost two out of our first three games.
‘‘Then we knew we had to win very other game to win it and we ended up winning nine straight.
‘‘We just clicked.’’
The final was a thriller with Oamaru beating defending champions Porirua 14-12.
‘‘The final came down to the last two bowls. We had the shot, the opposition took it off us and then I drove their shot bowl out to give us two shots for the win.
‘‘[It was] as close as it could be, the way a final should be.’’
