Domhealth was once again the proud sponsor of NZ polocrosse at the inaugural Sponsors Tournament held at Taupo on February 23rd and 24th.

With the 2011 Polocrosse World Cup to be held in the United Kingdom only 3 polocrosse seasons away, Domhealth has got right behind the NZ Polocrosse Board assisting with not only fund-raising but also supporting the development of the pool of players and coaches.

The NZ Coaching panel in conjunction with the Board selected three development teams to play a round robin competition with the objective for this weekend to build a larger pool of top level players for the future, by playing up and coming players mixed in with older more experienced players. The NZ players were selected on performance throughout the season and included seven players from the 2003 and 2007 Polocrosse World Cups and other emerging players.

The teams playing in this competition were Canterbury NZ, Ruapehu Equine Dentistry, King Country Saddlery and an open mixed team of four women and four men from New South Wales (NSW.) Australia. Each NZ team was required to supply three horses each for the visiting side to play on.

Included in the NSW team was Tanya Hollow, captain of the victorious Australian World Cup Team in both 2003 and 2007. Other members were Lyric Anderson, Erin Nisbet, Lynda Dryden, Lance Anderson, Sam Amey, Russell Flanagan and Brian Johnson.

Playing for Ruapehu Equine Dentistry were Gary Malcolm, Matthew West and Wayne Hundley, Tracey Swan, Megan Staples and Gemma Murray.

Riding for Canterbury NZ were Russell Tye, Steve Watson, Manu Kereopa, Casey Mullany, Laura Dempster and Debbie Phillips.

Riding for King Country Saddlery were Shane Hill, Dwayne McKay, Rick Murray, Nadine Dempster, Nicky Schrafft and Cally Mullany. 

Maori TV once again followed the fortunes of Casey Mullany – Poverty Bay and Manu Kereopa – King Country both playing some very good polocrosse throughout the weekend.

Mullany has been a NZ representative since she was about 12years old, first at junior level, then intermediate, ladies and mixed.

Kereopa first played for Wanganui-Waimarino, and currently is a provincial King Country representative and last year rode exceptionally well at the HOY in the Presidents Selection Team.

Some others to have good games were the two Dempster sisters who are currently in the NZ under 21’s to play NSW under 21’s.

Nikki Schrafft at no3 and Shane Hill & Russell Tye also had good weekends.

Overall the weekend was a success with some players trying out new positions.

The winners of the weekend were Canterbury NZ with three wins and Runners up King Country Saddlery with two wins.

Best Horse and Rider Combination went to Steve Watson from Canterbury NZ and his horse Benje.

The manager of the NSW Team Graeme Bennett presented Ken Wrigley from Domhealth with a polocrosse ball signed by the NSW team.

Running concurrently with the Sponsors Tournament was a club competition consisting of 24 teams from throughout the North Island plus sub juniors. These teams have been meeting at weekend carnivals since January so there is arch rivalry between them on the field.

Te Mata won the A Grade; the team has been placed consistently at the top of the leader board, with Putaruru-Tirau as runners up.

The B Grade was a hard fought battle between Te Mata Combined and Otorohanga with Te Mata Combined coming out on top.

Kakatahi 2 took out the C Grade with Putaruru Tirau 3 runners up, and the Learners Division was won by Kaitieke 4.

ENDS