The duo brought their days as a gun junior bowls combination to a successful close when they won the crown at Warilla on the

weekend.

With O’Neil about to turn 18 and move out of the juniors, the event was their junior swansong and they continued their incredible record as a pair representing Central North and Zone 3.

“We played some really good, consistent bowls,” Austin said.

“Chris bowled really well the whole time.

“The biggest thing for us was getting through the first game in our section because we were down by 10 shots after three ends.

“Once we got through that we never looked like getting beaten.”

That first game was against Zone 16 and, after being down 11-1, they came back to win 18-12.

Game two produced a 28-1 thrashing of Zone 1 and game three against Zone 5 finished in a 21-12 win.

That got the boys in the semis where they convincingly beat Zone 12 side Birrong 30-12.

O’Neil played lead in the final with Austin as skip and, although Zone 15 was hard to beat, the boys took the title win a 23-16 win.

It’s not the first State title the boys have won.

They have also won a schoolboy championship and were part of a State fours championship team with Ben Ballantine and Chris Herden last year.

“We’ve played quite a lot together,” Austin said.

“We’ve only lost one game, to Chris Herden and a friend.

“We played for North West CHS at the State championship fours and won the title.

“We’ve won three now, the CHS, the fours last year and the pairs this year.”

O’Neil is a former North Tamworth player who has just moved to Coffs Harbour while 16-year-old Austin plays for Kootingal.

Austin is also a regular in the NSW junior side and this year captained it to a big win over Queensland, the first time NSW has won that series in five years.

“I’ve played for NSW 30 times and we just beat Queensland 3-nil,” Austin said.

“I captained in that and in the Test against Auckland.

“The next thing we’ve got is the zone seven-a-side in a few weeks at Roselands.

“We’re both playing in that.”

Austin is also chasing selection in an elite NSW squad to play at the national championships.