The Rance trio included Lesley Dabinett and Margaret Hoad. They defeated the North East Valley combination of Brooke Craik, Vicki Robinson and Shona Mann 16-15 in what proved to be a cliff-hanger of a final.
A nagging wind made life on the green difficult for both teams as they battled to find the right weight to play with. Added to this was that Rance was playing on her unfancied rink four.
"I always say that rink four on any green is a bit rubbishy", she said afterwards.
Rance led her team out to a seven-shot advantage and appeared to be cruising to the title with some ease, when the Craig-skipped combination clawed its was back into contention.
The two teams then went shot for shot for the remainder of the 18-end contest.
"It was anybody's game right up until the finish," Rance said.
Earlier in the competition the Rance trio progressed through section play with a string of impressive victories, then in post section picked up where it left off when dispatching two of the tournament favourites.
In quarterfinal play the Rance’s triple eliminated the North East Valley trio of Sarah Scott, Bronwyn Stevens and Ange Francis with a convincing 16-10 victory, then knocked out a second tournament favourite in Green Island clubmates Sarah Ibbotson, Shannon McEwan and Lee Grigg 18-11.
For Rance it was her 26th title, and the ninth for both Dabinett and Hoad.
The triples final for the men is set to be played on March 10 at Taieri between the Blair Barringer-skipped Taieri trio and Andy Callander's Forbury Park triple.
- Wayne Parsons
