The 17th & 18th January saw the annual NZ Junior and Intermediate Polocrosse Championships at Turangi hosted by the Tuwharetoa Club.

The Intermediate Division was electric from start to finish with all teams playing to win. Wanganui were determined to bring home the red ribbon as the last two years they have been the bridesmaid. With their first game against King Country 2 they hiked to a fairly easy victory followed by another easy win over Rangatikei Manawatu. This meant that the final on Sunday was against their familiar rivals King Country who had also gone through undefeated.

The game was played in damp cool conditions in front of a vocal and enthusiastic crowd and excitement was high. King Country got off to a 4 – 3 start in the first chukka but Wanganui Waimarino answered back in the second chukka with a resounding 5 goals over King Country’s 2. From there, Wanganui Waimarino dominated each chukka with excellent shooting from the No1 players, strong mid sections and rock hard defence ending the game with a resounding 28 – 16 victory.

 Best No 1 Mitchell Anderson – Wanganui Waimarino
Best No 2 Danielle Kenny – King Country
Best No 3 Jessee Kereopa – Wanganui Waimarino
Best pony – Shiloh Gloyns Renegade Lee – Auckland

 The following players were named in a NZ Intermediate squad to play against a Presidents selection at Hastings at the Horse of the Year Show.

The junior competition was equally exciting with a visiting NSW Maitland junior team included in the draw. This extra competition helped create action packed games as all teams were trying hard to defeat the visitors. During the weekend, Maitland had two wins and one loss.
The final was between a determined King Country side that was still smarting from a previous defeat by Maitland and a Combined Team who had beaten the visitors.
King Country started off strong but Combined quickly closed the gap with some good hard marking up. The first few chukkas were scrappy but then the game settled into some excellent structured polocrosse. The final few minutes, the crowd were on their feet as Carey Cornelius in the No1 position was able to close the gap thanks to the intense defence work from both Katie Wills and Kiriana Butler. Unfortunately time was against Combined and the whistle blew with a 19 – 18 win to King Country.

The NZ Junior Team to play against the visiting NSW Maitland Team at Otorohanga on January 24th was named.

On Saturday both teams had been put into the B Grade draw so had played some pretty strong polocrosse.

Manager Ashlee Anderson said of her Maitland Junior Teams Saturday games “Both sections played well and we experimented with positions in preparation for the test against NZ”.

NZ Junior Coach Paddy Cornelius said” We had a couple of hard games on Saturday but the team are working well and looking forward to the test. I am hopeful of a good result. We have a mixture of both experienced juniors who have played international junior polocrosse before and some fresh faces in the team.”

The test match was played in blazing hot conditions on Sunday. Maori TV were conducting interviews with players, managers and coaches and an interesting fact was that both coaches, Paddy Cornelius and Maitland’s’ Mitchell Anderson, had actually played together the entire weekend in the A grade competition  and had played themselves into  the final.

Maitland got off to a 3 – 1 lead in the first chukka and then continued dominance in the second chukka. Coach Cornelius made a few strategic changes to the NZ side and by the fifth chukka the lead had narrowed to a one goal difference in favour of Maitland.

With the crowd support NZ managed to sneak in three quick goals, unanswered by Maitland to a final score of 11 - 9 in favour of NZ.

Best No 1 Jarrod Richardson - NZ
Best No 2 Racheal Aylward – Maitland
Best No 3 Kylie Horrell Maitland
Best pony Shoupa ridden by Kylie Horrell and owned by Dean Gower.

Coach Paddy Cornelius and manager Nicky Cornelius are taking a team of  junior players to Albury Australia in April.

Please watch the Maori Television Te Kaea program and click on the link to watch interviews with Ashlee, Mitch and Paddy, and the juniors playing at Otorohanga.

tekaea@maoritelevision.com

A huge thank you to Amos and whanau for your excellent coverage of the Juniors vs Maitland game.