The Terminator Mallets Under 21 GC Championships were held at the New Plymouth CC in Taranaki from 12 to 16 December. The doubles event was held on Friday and Saturday 12 and 13 December with the Singles running from Sunday 14 December to Tuesday 16 December.
In the doubles event eight pairs played a block in a double round robin format. Top seeds Mattie Clarkson (Counties Manukau) and Ethan Gumbrell (Australia) finished with 13 wins from 14 games, dropping only one game to Isaac and Patrick Conolly (Canterbury). Last year’s winner Jessica Bullen (Wellington) and new doubles partner Luke Francis (Central Districts) finished on 11 wins from 14 to claim second place ahead of siblings Emma and Max Philpott (Southland). This is the first national title for both Clarkson and Gumbrell in New Zealand.
Twelve players competed in the Singles event starting with a single round robin block on Sunday, and the top eight placed players qualifying for the knock-out. Doubles winner Gumbrell and runner-up Bullen both finished on ten wins from twelve, closely followed by Francis on nine wins and Max Philpott on eight wins. Emma Philpott and Clarkson also qualified on six wins and Katie Zentveld (Central Districts) and Patrick Conolly rounded out the eight qualifiers with five and four wins respectively.
The remaining four players Skye Robinson (Northland), Emily Zentveld (Central Districts), Fynn Byers and Cohen Jones (both Taranaki) competed in the Plate event. The Plate event was run as a block of best of three matches. Unfortunately the last round was washed out and Cohen Jones on two match wins and better net games was declared the winner.
The first round of the knock-out saw the favourites stepping up with Gumbrell beating Patrick Conolly , Bullen beating Katie Zentveld, Francis beating Emma Philpott and doubles winner Clarkson winning against Max Philpott. All four matches were won in straight games. This meant that the doubles winners as well as the runner-up pair were facing each other in the semi finals. Clarkson and Gumbrell competed in a tightly fought match where both players took their chances and taking the match to three games. Gumbrell ultimately prevailed 7:3, 5:7 and 7:5, to secure his place in the final.
In the second semi-final Bullen, last year’s finalist, and doubles partner Francis were facing each other as well. Francis won game one 7:4 and followed that up with a 7:5 win in game two to reach the final.
Unfortunately the final day was interrupted by heavy rain just after lunch which lasted for several hours and flooded the lawns. This resulted in the Championship Final as well as consolation events having to be abandoned. Without the opportunity to compete for the title Luke Francis and Ethan Gumbrell were declared joint winners of the 2025 Terminator Mallets U21 GC Championship.
Some new young players were competing in their first CNZ tournament and gaining valuable experience, with sisters Skye and Isla Robinson from the Kerikeri Croquet Club in Northland; Charlie Ainsworth, Fynn Byers and Cohen Jones from Park Croquet Club in Taranaki, and Isaac Conolly from the Cashmere Croquet Club in Canterbury.
CNZ would like to thank the tournament manager, volunteers, referees, supporters and the players for another successful tournament. Congratulations to all the winners!
