Game one of the Ridley Polocrosse World Cup New Zealand v Ireland at the end of the first chukka NZ 3 Ireland 2. NZ continued to dominate in the second chukka pulling ahead to 7 goals to 4. The Irish ladies won the third chukka with an impressive display of polocrosse. Yet NZ experience showed in the final chukka. They got much more ball and ran away with the game with a final score of 26 goals to 12. The compare felt the ladies were very even each side scoring 8 goals during the game and he saw a big improvement in the Irish play since 2003.

Winning New Zealand Captain Tony Schrafft said, “the first half was what the team had expected, we knew the Irish were tough. We bought fresh horses on and were able to pull away in the last two chukkas. We were very happy with the win at the end of the day.”

Irish Captain Seamus McDonagh said, “the women on the Irish side were absolutely outstanding, they played their hearts out. We didn’t get the ‘hop of the ball’ in the last two chukkas, but we will keep on fighting”. .

The second game of the Ridley Polocrosse World Cup between Australia and USA saw Australia dominate possession from the line ups and then with their superior ball handling skills they were able to score plenty of goals.

Andrew Rose for Australia came off bench in chukka 4, and threw 8 goals. This was a turning point in the game. Jane Cooper played number 1 for two chukkas and scored 10 goals for Australia. Rob Shuttle USA captain, scored 4 goals but was starved for possession, by Australia’s experience. Hayden Turnbull was outstanding in chukka 6 wearing the number 3 shirt. Australian versatility and skill really came to the fore as the game progressed with the final score of 33 – 7 to Australia.

Victorious Australian Captain Tanya Hollow said, “we were very pleased with the result. We came here to win and wanted to stamp our authority on the game first up. The score was not an indication of the game, it was tough out there.”  

Rob Shuttles Captain of the USA team said, “it was a ‘bit choppy’ out there! We can match them on aggression and effort, but struggled to match them on the scoreboard. It was a hard game first up to draw the world champions. Australia is really experienced and we can only improve on today’s effort”.

South Africa’s players gave a fine demonstration of centre-field combination and superb goal throwing in beating Canada 29-6 in the third match played at the 2007 World Cup. Sisters, Dawnay and Celicia Jacobs, excelled for SA while Charl du Plessis threw 14 goals and was unchanged by his coach in the No 1 spot throughout his three chukkas. Canada showed a huge improvement in skill from their last outing at the 2003 World Cup, but were starved of possession in centre-field due to the hard rucking play of the Rainbows. Bruce Greenslade, the Maple Leafs number 3, played with enormous passion and quickly became the crowd favourite with his furious racquet cradling and barging runs up the centre of the field.

Winning South African Captain Gavin Cocker said, “I was pleased with the way we played. Our young women players showed great maturity. Canada has improved hugely since the last World Cup in 2003. Now that more countries are getting involved in international polocrosse competition, our sport will only improve.

Pam Bergen Canadian Vice Captain said, “we ‘got beat’ quite considerably. But it was the most competitive game I’ve ever played. Even though we ‘got beat’ it felt great! We have only 20 players in Canada and eight are playing here. We usually play each other, so it is good to have other competition and we’re learning from Bruce Greenslade and coach Charlie Grills. We’ve had lots of support from Australia.”

The final game of the day proved to be the most exciting match so far. Shelley King scored 13 goals for the UK, as she got a lot of ball through Debbie Harris and Sarah Simkin. Shannon Burbridge scored 14 goals for Zimbabwe and going into the last chukka it was 14 all. The good ball skills of Hamish Michael and Martin Brookes and the cool head of Guy Robertson helped to clinch the game by scoring 5 goals. A jubilant UK crowd added to the excitement of the final game of the day.

Winning team Vice Captain for the UK, Shelley King said, “it was a very exciting game. In our first game at the last world cup in 2003 we met Zimbabwe and lost, so we were ‘real hyped up’. To get in the top four we needed to win this game and the men really pulled it out in the last chukka.”

Shannon Burbridge Zimbabwe Captain said, “obviously we were disappointed with the result, our congrats to the UK, particularly the ladies, they were very dominant. We got the momentum going in the boys in the beginning, but lost it in the last chukka.”