The men's team won three of its four games but the North Island dominated the women's games to beat Otago 13.5-10.5 at the Otago Indoor Bowls Stadium on Sunday.
French, and the Otago men's four of Craig Cowan, John Williams, Ross Garner and James Horton, remained unbeaten after their three games.
French (31), a Dunedin painter, beat 2015 New Zealand singles champion Avon Compton 18-4, 14-12 and 10-5.
``It was the first time I've played Avon and it was good to beat him,'' French said.
``I kept the pressure on, was consistent on the draw, and didn't give him much room.''
The second game was the closest. Compton had the chance to win when he closed the gap to 11-9 with two ends left after French had led 7-1 after four of the 12 ends.
French held his nerve on the 11th end and put the pressure back on Compton with a toucher with his first bowl and a bonus shot with his fourth to have a five-shot cushion before the final end.
The only other Otago team to get the better of its North Island opponent was the men's triple of Daniel Sinclair, Kristen Gould and Jonty Horwell.
It lost the first game to Grant Rayner, Paul Wright and Alex Reed 12-2 but came back strongly to win the next two games 12-8 and 9-7.
The third game took a dramatic turn on the last end when North Island skip Grant Rayner attempted to remove the Otago shot bowl and killed the end.
It gifted Otago an automatic three points and the lead 8-7 before it added another shot when the end was replayed.
The best Otago women's performance came from the four of Ann Cottrell, Jean Cox, Stephne Joyce and Lynn Baird which drew with its North Island opponent.
The first game was drawn 3-3, Otago won the second 7-3 but lost the third 1-12.
The men's pair of David Webb and Nic Sinclair won its first game 8-5 but lost the next two 5-13 and 9-11.
It was only a superb rescue bowl by North Island skip Sheree Holmes that stopped the Otago women's pair of Lyn Rance and Raewyn Keighley from gaining its first win in the third game.
North Island had a comfortable 19-5 win against the combined South Otago-Central Otago team at Cromwell.
The best performed local team was the South Otago women's four of Eileen Grant (skip ), Biddy Craig, Marilyn Paterson and Shona Preddy which had a 2-1 (6-8, 8-5, 7-3) win.
The only other local winning team was the Central Otago four of John Leyser (skip), Colin Robson, Kevin Hurley and Dave Moreton which beat the North Island 2-1 (11-1, 5-8, 5-4).
The South Otago men's triple of Stephen Preddy (skip), Graeme Hill and Barry Gray won the first of its three games 13-11, but lost the next two games 3-11 and 4-11.
The North Island beat the combined North Otago-South Canterbury 18-6 at Oamaru. It was tighter in the match against Southland in Invercargill with the North Island winning 14-10.
