Ali Forsyth and Gary Lawson, pairs champions in different teams, are now national champions together, after winning the pairs title at the national championships at the Taieri Bowling Club yesterday.
The final — against Peter Belliss and Lance Tasker — featured four of the most decorated players to have played at the national championships, who collectively boasted 33 national titles, six world titles, two world championship silver medals, seven world championship bronze medals, two Commonwealth Games bronze medals and an MBE.
Bellis and Tasker shot out to a 14-7 lead after 12 ends, but the final six proved fatal for the composite pair that last won the title together 23 years ago in New Plymouth.
On the 13th end, Belliss and Tasker were holding two shots on the head when Forsyth, in his role as skip, stepped up to the mat and drove, forcing both shot bowls from the rink to draw two shots for himself for a 9-14 deficit.
From then on Forsyth and Lawson shut Belliss and Tasker down, keeping them scoreless for the remainder of the match.
The fatal blow came on the 15th end, when Forsyth and Lawson scored five shots to take the lead at 16-14.
They then drew a further three shots on the 16th and two more on the 17th, and that was the ball game for Belliss and Tasker, with the Forsyth and Lawson combination locking in a 21-14 victory.
Belliss said he and Tasker struggled to get back in the game after their opponents’ five shot end.
"You always look back at these and wonder what might have been. What could have been. At the end of the day they deserve their victory."
For Lawson, going back-to-back in pairs at the national championships will be something special.
He won the title last year with Neville Rodda. Yesterday’s was his fifth national pairs title and 12th overall.
Forsyth (38) won the title with his father, Neville, in 2016 and in 2013 with Matt Gallop. But in winning his third yesterday against two legends of the game, Forsyth was full of praise for this opponents.
"Look, they played great out of the blocks," he said.
"We were just scrapping around trying to play close. Gary was doing a reasonable job but I couldn’t find it early on. Things weren’t looking too good.
"We knew we played the back end of every game pretty strong so we hung tough. Pete got desperately unlucky on a couple of ends there and put us back in the game."
Forsyth was full of praise for the lead role of Lawson.
"I’d rather play with him than against him. He did a great job out there."
Meanwhile, for defending champions Blackjack Dale Rayner and New Zealand development player Ashleigh Jeffcoat, their time on the green turned pear-shape in their defence of the women’s pairs title.
They held their own briefly with the games locked up at 3-3 after five ends, but from then on it was all one-way traffic, as the Elmwood Park pair of Bev Morel and Sherrie Cottle marched to a one-sided 19-6 victory.
"Bev played outstanding," Rayner said of her opposing skip.
"Ashleigh would set it up and she came in and just turned it around."
Morel said the secret to their success was taking one games at a time.
"We’re just really thrilled to be the winners," she said.
