David Lippard and Christian Fouquet, from the Herne Bay club, of Auckland, beat fellow club members Joanne Lippard and Pam Jenkins 13-9 in the final of the New Zealand open petanque doubles at Forbury Park Raceway.
No women's team has won an open title since the national petanque championships were first held in 1994. But it seemed on the cards, because Joanne Lippard and Jenkins were the only unbeaten team before the final. They beat the men 13-5 in the preliminary round on Saturday.
They led 7-0 early in the final, forcing the men to change tactics.
''We knew the girls were playing well and we had to make a change in our team to upset them,'' David Lippard (48), an Auckland project director, said.
''We knew we had to point well to force them to attack us.''
They switched positions. David Lippard became pointer and Fouquet shooter. Lippard had missed his first four shots as shooter.
''I froze in the final,'' Fouquet (59), an Auckland baker, said.
''The change took the pressure away from me and I began to shoot well.''
The change psyched out the women and they started to miss the boules. The men quickly made up the deficit and led 9-7 before the women scored again. It was 9-all when the men scored three shots to lead 12-9, adding one more on the next end to win the game.
David Lippard was accurate with his point shots and that put pressure on the women.
Fouquet took out the women's second shot to give his team the three shots on the second-last end and on the last end he hit out the shot bowl.
The Lippards immigrated from England 16 years ago.
David Lippard was picked for the English world championship team in 1996 but had already decided to shift to New Zealand. He has won two bronze medals at Pan Pacific championships. It was his fourth New Zealand title.
Fouquet started playing petanque in France at the age of 6 and emigrated to New Zealand 36 years ago. He won a gold medal at the Oceania championships in 2005 and a bronze medal at the Pan Pacific championships last year. He has won five New Zealand titles.
In the semifinals, Joanne Lippard and Pam Jenkins beat Lee Taffard (Nelson City) and Bob Bridge (Masterton) 13-5 and Fouquet and Lippard beat Ray Pierce (Vikings, Auckland) and Bill Peachey (Hibiscus Coast, Auckland) 13-3.
The Consolation Trophy was won by Craig McKenzie (Christchurch) and Dirk Winnie (Wellington) 13-12. They beat Neville Frost (Caversham, Dunedin) and Graeme Morris (Masterton).
