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By Ben Donaldson
The Warkworth Bowls Club is on a roll. Club teams recently won both the Cadness Cup in Takapuna and the Champ of Champs Triples in Browns Bay. It’s the first time in 19 years that Warkworth has won the Cadness Cup, outplaying 17 other clubs. The winning side comprised Ken McGregor, James Newlove, Francois Loubser and skip Steve Cameron. The tournament consisted of three preliminary rounds followed by a round robin final in which Warkworth downed Birkenhead, Manly and defending champions and hosts Takapuna.
“I put our success down to the quality of our greens at Warkworth,” Mr Newlove says.
“When we go to places like Takapuna, where the greens are of a good standard, we are already used to the conditions.”
The team initially lost to Takapuna in round one of the competition.
“We played as well as we could in that game so in the final we knew we would be up against it.”
Mr Newlove says the finals rematch was the defining moment of the tournament, a game which Warkworth won comfortably in the end. To get to the finals Warkworth beat other Rodney competitors Mahurangi East. As a result of winning the tournament, next year’s Cadness Cup finals will be held in Warkworth. At the Champ of Champs Triples, Mike Beretta, Eddie Edwards and skip Rossco Edwards beat Northcote 21-5 in the final.
“It was much of a one sided game in the end,” Rossco says. “We got off to a great start, jumping out to a 10-0 lead. “Northcote managed to score five points, but we were playing so well that we never allowed Norhtcote back into the game.”
Warkworth’s toughest game was against Manly in round three where they were three down with two ends remaining. Skip Rossco managed to pull it back to level the score at 15-15 before a composed final end that saw Warkworth reach the semi-finals. Rossco says the key to the team’s success was that they played well under pressure.
“We played very well as a team with great support for each other.”
Rossco also praised the quality of the greens at Browns Bay.
