24 January, 2007

Mistral Polo South Island Team
Dean Geddes (3)
Daniel Loe(3)
Andrew Gould (3)
Sam Hopkinson (5)

Vs.

England
Corrin Gibb (3)
Ollie Tuthill (4)
Davie Allen (4)
Julian Appleby (3)

Christchurch polo fans were treated to a thrilling weekend of polo at the Christchurch Polo Club grounds as well as generous hospitality from Noel Gillman of Priority Finance. Roddy Wood of the South Island Polo Association was "delighted to be able to attract major sponsorship to the event with hundreds of spectators making this a very special weekend for South Island Polo."

The England team, who are all based in Canterbury for the NZ season, were very grateful for the excellent strings of ponies generously provided by local players and despite an even match throughout a couple of dynamic sprints from Julian Appleby resulted in two goals in the final minutes of the last chukkas to bring them victory. Julian may well have to grovel to get practice chukkas in Christchurch for a while!

Having flown in for the event Sam Hopkinson added great strength to the South Island team sponsored by mistralpolo.com. Also competing were children from Roddy Wood's Interschool Teams and the Colts, showcasing the talent of our young players.

With new sponsors eager to become involved in next years event, International Weekend looks set to become a highlight in the South Island polo season.

April, 2006

Schools polo has finished for the season but will be starting up again early in Term 4. We are planning two interschool tournaments in term 4, one during Christchurch's show weekend, and the other at the end of the term, in December.

Several of the players from the inter-schools tournament have also played in the main South Island Tournaments last season, and several have had their handicaps increased. Congratulations to all those who have improved their game!

Roddy will be assisting the NZ team to prepare for the Coronation Cup in Windsor Park, England, on Cartier International Day, in late July.

December, 2005

Schools Polo results

A Grade
Christ's College 'A' beat the NZ Combined Schools team by 5 to 1. Top scorer for the College team was Ben Finney who put in 3 goals. Best playing pony was Drew Harris's Helana and the MVP was Charles Wood.

B Grade
Won by Christ's College 'B' and the runners up were the Christchurch Combined Schools team. This grade was won on goal differences and CC'B' had to win their last game by 3 goals which they managed to do which put them one goal ahead of the Combined team.

C Grade
This was won by Rangiora High which beat Medbury by one goal in their final game.

School's Polo would like to say thanks to CRT, D J Clarke Saddlery and Susan Hagaman for all their support for this tournament.

November, 2005

FIP World Cup

New Zealand has been allocated the zone final for the FIP World Cup. The event will take place in 2007 in Auckland, and will be the biggest polo event in New Zealand. A 14-goal New Zealand team will be selected to play against teams from five other countries. From this tournament, two teams will quality for the World Cup finals, in Mexico.

NZ invited to play for Coronation Cup

A New Zealand team has been invited to play for the Coronation Cup in England. The 27-goal team will play a test match against England in July 2006. In the past two renewals of the Coronation Cup, Australia won last year, and England beat a team from Mexico.

Schools polo strong

School polo in North Canterbury is kicking off again, with the inter-school tournament on November 27, here at Waireka Polo farm.

Last year there were teams and players from St Margaret's College, Christ's College, Rangi Ruru Girls School, Christchurch Boys High School, Burnside High School, Medbury Boys School, St Bedes College, Middleton Grange and Geraldine High School. These schools and other will be represented this year, and if a school cannot put a team together, combined teams can also be arranged. Pony club tournaments will be held throughout the summer holidays with tournaments on December 21 at Port Hills Polo Club and January 11 at Waireka Polo farm Sefton.

For more information on joining, please contact Roddy.