This year’s polocrosse invitation side was an under-21 mixed team from New South Wales (NSW), Australia who were to play two separate test series over two weekends against a NZ under-21 team. The venues were the Horse of the Year Show (HOY) and the 40th anniversary of the Kaitieke Polocrosse Club at the home turf of Kaitieke in the King Country.

The NSW team members were Ashlee Anderson – captain, Jessica Grills, Carlie Peek, April Leggett, Scott Jones, Bradley Parkins, Daniel Jones and Mitchell Anderson.
They were accompanied by coach Arch Anderson and arrived in NZ on March 5th.
The NZ team players were Jessee Kereopa – captain, sisters Laura and Nadine Dempster, Sarah Holmes, Caron Mouat, Jono Eales, Anaru Kururangi and Toby Richardson. In Trans-Tasman tradition the horses were pooled to allow a more even competition.

At the first weekends’ play The Domhealth Horse of the Year Challenge Trophy, donated by Ken and Alison Wrigley, was once again up for grabs. The NSW team members received their horses on Friday afternoon and had several hours to ride them to match players to horses.

The first test was played on the polo fields opposite the HOY showgrounds on Saturday March 8th. The game got off to a bit of a slow start with hard marking by both sides and some excellent passing by NSW.

The game then settled and by the 6th chukka the score was 15 – 14 to NSW. Three quick goals from the NZ women in their final chukka, answered by only 1 from NSW gave a one goal lead to NZ, and another quick shot from NZ in the men’s final chukka gave a two point difference, with a final score of 18 – 16 to NZ.

The second test was on Sunday at the Equestrian Park in Hastings, with a much better start for the Kiwis, and by the 3rd chukka the score was 8 – 3 to NZ. NSW answered back in the 4th chukka ,with five sharp goals to NZ’s one, again giving an intense and exciting match with a half way score of 9 – 8 to NZ.

Excitement built and NZ just managed to keep ahead in every chukka, and 3 goals from NSW in the last chukka were not enough. Final score 17 – 15 to NZ.

An excellent result for NSW as they have not ridden since their season ended in August – but even better for NZ!

Best No 1 Nadine Dempster – NZ
Best No 2 Scott Jones – NSW
Best No 3 Jessee Kereopa – NZ
Best Horse ridden by the NZ team: Manu Kereopa’s Gumpy, ridden by Jessee Kereopa.
Best Horse ridden by the NSW team: Richardson family’s “Curly”, ridden by Scott Jones.

Hastings Polocrosse Club hosted a tournament that weekend and provided excellent facilities, an awesome atmosphere topped off by a wonderful evening meal. The NZ Polocrosse Board commended Hastings on the running of the weekend and urged more clubs to support them.

The second series of tests got under way at Kaitieke, and after losing both games to the Kiwis the week before, NSW was determined to even the score. As per polocrosse tradition, the pool of horses was swapped from the previous weekends games.

NSW dominated both games, with some excellent work by Mitchell Anderson in the No 1 position and Scott Jones, No 3 for NSW. Laura Dempster, playing in the No2 spot for the NZ side, worked hard in centre field, but the NSW team got stronger as the weekend progressed.
Final score on Saturday NSW 21 – NZ 17 and Sunday NSW 24 – NZ 19.

This weekend trophies were presented by Ken Malcolm, life time member of the Kaitieke Club.
Best No 1 Mitchell Anderson, NSW
Best No2 Laura Dempster, NZ
Best No 3 Scott Jones, NSW
Best Horse and Rider Combination: Mitchell Anderson riding Lawrence Tye’s Moose.

Kaitieke Club also hosted an open carnival and the veteran’s tournament, which this year had ‘winners take all’ prize money of $300. Veterans’, which is always played in chukka format as opposed to teams, is a hugely popular and fun tournament and guaranteed to give the spectators a great show, as the cunning old timers pull out all the tricks in the book!

The winners were Kakatahi players Paddy Cornelius and Stephen Marshall with assistance from Arch Anderson, coach of the NSW under -21 team.

The Matthew Wenn Memorial Trophy for Most Promising Player was presented to Jenna Mulooly from the Kakatahi Club.

Ends