The Composite team of Mandy Boyd, Kirsten Griffin, Leigh Griffin and Angela Boyd beat the star-studded four of Jo Edwards, Val Smith, Sharyn Renshaw and Marie Watson 20-13 in a tense game.
It was an epic battle on the final day of the national open championships lasting three hours 50 minutes with neither side able to get a winning break until Boyd scored four on the second-last end.
The 15th end was critical.
The scores were level at 13-13 after 14 of the 18 ends. Mandy Boyd nipped one of her own bowls out with a drive with her first bowl and was six down.
That would have given double World Bowls champion Jo Edwards and her team a 19-13 lead.
It was a test of Mandy's temperament. She kept her nerves in check and played a draw shot that nestled beside the jack.
It gave the Boyd composite team the lead for the first time in the game by one point, 14-13.
The Boyd team had drawn level three times but had not been able to hit the front. It was level at 2-2 after two ends, 9-9 after 10 and 13-13 after 14 ends.
"We knew it would be tight and we just tried to hang in there,'' Mandy said in a media interview after the game.
"It was an awesome feeling to win the title.''
The Boyd team stretched the lead to two shots with a single on the next end and then inflicted a crushing blow on Edwards with a four on the penultimate end.
Bowls is a family game for the Boyds and the intention is to enter a family team with her mother and other sister joining Mandy and Angela at Taranaki next year.
Mandy, who started serious outdoor bowls at 15, displayed early promise by winning the New Zealand secondary schools singles title in 2008 and 2009.
She won her first title in the fours at Dunedin in 2011 at the age of 19 to become the youngest female to win a New Zealand open title.
There was another milestone for Mandy yesterday because at the age of 24 she became the youngest women to win five New Zealand open titles and her gold star.
It was an outstanding championship for the Boyd sisters, of Christchurch, who won the pairs and the fours.
It was the fourth open title for Angela who was lead yesterday.
Mandy displayed a cool temperament and should have cemented a spot in the New Zealand team for this year's World Bowls.
The Griffin mother-and-daughter combination from Wellington filled the middle spots in the four.
It was the second national title for Leigh, who won the singles title last season, and the first for her daughter, Kirsten.
The men's final was one-sided with the Kaiapoi-based composite team of Tony Andrews, Kerry Becks, Darren Redway and Paddy Stewart outclassing the Canterbury composite team of Lionel Shaw, Mark Lewis, Terry Stewart and Murray Shaw 24-5.
Becks, who played for the Kaikorai club for two years after the Christchurch earthquake, skipped the team in the final and his attacking play gave his team a flying start with a five on the second end to lead 7-0.
Another five was scored on the ninth end and the Kaiapoi-based team led 17-4.
The Kaiapoi team continued to add points and the game was called off after just 15 ends when it led 24-5.
Stewart grew up in Alexandra and was a talented Otago junior middle-distance runner and later played premier rugby for Harbour and coached premier rugby in Dunedin.
The New Zealand team for the Trans Tasman test series against Australia and the Six Nations contest will be announced on Monday. Both events will be held in Christchurch.
NZ championships
Fours winners
Women: Mandy Boyd, Kirsten Griffin, Leigh Griffin, Angela Boyd (Composite) 20, Jo Edwards, Val Smith, Sharyn Renshaw, Marie Watson (Composite) 13.
Men: Tony Andrews, Kerry Becks, Darren Redway, Paddy Stewart (Composite) 24, Lionel Shaw, Mark Lewis, Terry Stewart and Murray Shaw (Composite) 5.
