Selina Goddard shows the style that enabled her to help her team win the national women's fours title at the Taieri Bowling Club yesterday. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

Mandy Boyd (Burnside) wanted to throw off the bridesmaid tag after finishing runner-up in her past four national finals.

Boyd (22) won her first national title in the fours in Dunedin in 2011 but had not been able to crack it since then.

She has been runner-up on four occasions since then. In Auckland two years ago, she was a finalist in the singles, pairs and fours.

In cold conditions in Dunedin yesterday, the Composite team of Selina Goddard (Carlton Cornwall), Gemma Watts (United, Nelson), Amy McIlroy (United) and Boyd (Burnside) beat the Taieri Plains team of Beth Brown, Jean Young, Judy Robertson and Sue Hodges 20-18 in a tight game.

Boyd has brought a fresh winning style into New Zealand women's bowls. Her Composite team plays like men and has brought aggression and flexible tactics into its game.

Boyd, Gemma Watts and McIlroy have played together in New Zealand junior teams in transtasman contests and have adopted the aggressive approach of the young Australians.

In the final, the team's red shirts were covered up by the jackets that were needed in the cold conditions.

But they stood out like a beacon when they won the semifinal at the Westpac Bowls Stadium indoor rink on Wednesday.

''We wanted to break away from the usual white and put our own stamp on style,'' Boyd said.

One lesson they have adopted from the Australians is to have a conference in the middle of the green after each end.

''We look at all factors of the game and are thinking about the wind, the jack length and about who is playing well and on what hand,'' Boyd said.

The Taieri Plains team rocked them from the beginning by scoring fives on the fourth and ninth ends to lead 14-9.

On both ends, lead Brown put the early bowls close to the jack and the other players added the extra points. They were all drawn shots.

But they never felt they had the game won at that stage.

''No, not at all,'' Hodges said.

''These girls have played for New Zealand. We had to fight hard to win any end.

''But we had a good shot and gave the young girls a run for their money.''

Winning a national title is all about taking the heat. The Taieri Plains team failed to do this.

''We are very disappointed,'' Hodges said.

''When the pressure was on, we were dropping our bowls short and it cost us the win.''

Boyd's team was not concerned about the slow start.

''They got away from us at the beginning,'' Boyd said.

''But we knew we had lots of ends left.''

The Boyd team closed the gap by scoring ones on the next five ends to level the score at 14-14 after 14 of the 18 ends.

''We just played one point at a time,'' Boyd said.

''It was good fishing.''

Boyd looked to have the game safe when she drew the bonus shot and they led 17-15 with just two ends left.

On the penultimate end, Hodges had one on the head but that was not enough, so she drove the jack into the ditch and collected three shots to lead 18-17.

The wind made it difficult to keep tight heads so Boyd's team just concentrated on getting shots around, but not on, the jack.

It had three scoring shots around the head on the last end and it was too difficult for Hodges to drive them out to win the game.

Nationals
Fours champions

Men: Mike Nagy (Taren Point) and Tony Grantham (Birkenhead), Andrew Kelly (Redcliffs), Mike Kernaghan (Kaikorai).

Women: Selina Goddard (Carlton Cornwall), Gemma Watts (United, Nelson), Amy McIlroy (United) and Mandy Boyd (Burnside).