Auckland won the team event at the National Masters championships which finished in Dunedin yesterday.
It was the 15th time Auckland had won the event since it began in 1985, although Canterbury had dominated in recent years, winning five times since 2007.
Canterbury was the top seed and had five individual titleholders in its line-up but was beaten in the semifinal by Waikato. The tie hinged on the clash between Paula Hamer and Shayle Pringle in the women's 35 grade.
Pringle had a match point in the fifth set but Hamer eventually prevailed 16-14 and was pivotal in the 6-5 overall score in Waikato's favour.
Auckland also clinched its semifinal 6-5 against Bay of Plenty.
The Auckland team made no race of the final and won six of the first seven matches, their efforts spearheaded by regular New Zealand masters reps Gary Duberly and Mark Waldin.
Otago, which played off for seventh and eighth, lost 6-5 to Northland.
Otago has only been an occasional participant in the masters format but the players enjoyed the well-run event and will hopefully compete more regularly in the future.
All the players acquitted themselves well with Alby King (men's 55) and Rangi Clark (women's 50) unbeaten in the team event and Mark Fairweather winning two of his three matches.
