The selection of four women and seven men to play in the four test matches against the first South African team ever to tour New Zealand must have been rather difficult for selectors Greg Gloyn, Bruce Reynolds, John Cooper and Ann Swan.
 
In recent years, there has been a lucrative overseas market for our best polocrosse ponies thus leaving some of our top players without the top horses necessary for consideration for selection. So, the selectors were faced with a slight shortage of internationally experienced players and horses.
 
Whatever their dilemma might have been, they ended up with teams that looked well balanced and, while five of the players were new caps and two of those were under 21, they were all experienced in national competitions.
 
The players selected were: Sue Hill, Megan Gilbert, Shane Hill and Wayne Hundley (Waikato), Pascale Gower and Dean Gower (King Country), Calley Mullany (Poverty Bay), Shaye Williams and Jamie Morice (Auckland Provincial), Tony Schrafft and Russell Tye (Central Plateau).
 
The four tests were played over two weekends and the mixed game kicked off the competition on the first Saturday afternoon. The New Zealand women lined up with Sue Hill at one, Megan Gilbert, two, and Pascale Gower was the three, reserve Calley Mullany. The very experienced South African ladies were Julia Pilbeam, Anneli Cooper and Liesel Du Plessis with LeeAnn van Wyk reserve.

 South Africa took an early 2-0 lead but the New Zealand ladies came back at them to end the chukka 3-4 down.
 
The line up for the men's chukka was, Dean Gower, Russell Tye and Shane Hill, Jamie Morice reserve. The South African's fielded Charl Du Plessis, Keith Mason, Sean O Sullivan and reserve, Brent von Benecke. The South African's scored first again, but then a serious infringement by a South African player, and the resulting successful penalty, seemed to give the New Zealand players confidence and New Zealand were ahead by 7-6 at the end of the second chukka.
 
The New Zealand ladies won the third very low scoring chukka but the men lost their way a little in the fourth and also gave away a vital penalty goal and the South Africans led by 12-11.
 
The fifth chukka was another very tight one for the women and, by this stage, both the New Zealand chukkas were struggling to gain domination in the line outs. The number three horses just were not getting off the back quickly enough to stop the South Africans getting the ball, and they had no show of picking it up themselves, and the South Africans were adept at sweeping the ball out of the line out. The South Africans had a two goal lead at the end of this chukka.
 
The sixth chukka was a disaster for the New Zealanders and they only had one successful attempt at goal against South Africa's five. The New Zealand number three must have been absolutely disgusted when he put in so much good defence work in the area only to have the one put in sneaky overhand throws at the goal. The final ladies chukka came on to try and make up a six goal deficit, not impossible, but a big ask, and they certainly had enough ball to make a dent in the score. It was unfortunate that they were not able to convert this into enough goals and all they could manage was to draw the chukka at two all. The New Zealand men gave it their best shot in the final six minute chukka and were able to peg back one goal to finish with the final score at 24-20 to South Africa.
 
South African manager, Gary Scanlon, rather tempted fate when he promised at the Saturday evening function that his team would win the series 4-0.

 Shaye Williams, Russell Tye, Shane Hill (1st chukka), Jamie Morice, Tony Schrafft and Dean Gower lined up for New Zealand against James Hackland, Gordon Shaw, Tikkie Van Eerden, Charl Du Plessis, Brent Von Benecke and Sean O Sullivan, in the men's game the next day.
 
South Africa again took the early advantage and scored the first goal but New Zealand looked far superior and went to a 5-2 lead. The second chukka played the same way; the New Zealanders were on to the loose ball and did not allow themselves to be unsettled by the South African tactics. South Africa held their own in the third chukka, aided by some loose play by the New Zealanders and some silly penalties, and New Zealand were still holding a five goal lead.
 
The fourth chukka proved a disaster for New Zealand, they were just not able to get the ball and, at the end of it, they held a slender one goal advantage.
 
The fifth and sixth chukkas came on with renewed confidence and did not allow South Africa on to the loose ball. The South Africans retaliated at times with some very questionable play but New Zealand ended the sixth chukka with a six goal advantage.
 
The seventh chukka came out with Russel Tye now playing at three and Shane Hill going to two, to help conserve Shane's very tired horse. All the horses were obviously feeling the hard game and New Zealand were able to keep the chukka to a four all draw. New Zealand spectators heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that surely six goals was beyond the reach of the South Africans in the final six minute chukka.
 
How wrong they nearly were! The ball went the South African way and some silly penalties from the New Zealanders had the spectators biting their fingernails until the final whistle and a win to New Zealand 27-24.

 The New Zealanders would need to work on their line out skills during the coming week. The New Zealanders in both teams had, on the whole, been unlucky to draw mostly their second string horses for the first weekend and so most were looking forward to having their top ponies for the second weekend of games at Taumarunui.
 
The New Zealand players lined up in the same positions for the second mixed test with the exception of Wayne Hundley at reserve. South Africa took the field with Julia Pilbeam, Vanessa Williams, Liesel Du Plessis, Charl Du Plessis, Sean O Sullivan and Gordon Shaw.
 
New Zealand struggled in the first four chukkas of the game. The ball was just not coming out of the line out for both sections and Pascale Gower's horse was definitely not its usual self and Pascale was being beaten out of the back of the line out by her opposition three Liesel Du Plessis every time.
 
Pascale took the number two position in the fifth chukka and Megan Gilbert went back to three. The three New Zealand players really fired at these positions and they were able to score a 6-0 chukka against the South Africans to bring them within four goals.
 
The sixth chukka was very intense for the men but the fall of the ball still went the way of the South African's as it continued to do in the seventh.
 
The New Zealand men were able to outscore the South African's in the final chukka but, of course, it was not enough and the final score was 26-21 to South Africa.

 It was now a do or die effort for the New Zealanders. They had to win the final game and win it by more than seven to keep the challenge trophy in New Zealand.
 
Brent Van Beneoke, Keith Mason, Tikkie Van Eerden, Charl Du Plessis, Sean O Sullivan and Gordon Shaw lined up against an unchanged New Zealand side for the final mens game.
 
New Zealand went away to a rollicking start, they looked very sharp on the ball and the long throw was played to great advantage. At the end of the third chukka New Zealand had a ten goal advantage and was looking confident. South Africa held the New Zealanders to a draw in the fourth chukka after Gordon Shaw successfully robbed the New Zealand number one Jamie Morice of the ball in the area a couple of times.
 
The New Zealand horses started to look tired in the fifth chukka and the team was unfortunate in losing Shaye Williams to injury part way through the chukka. Waye Hundley came on and Russell Tye went to the number one position. South Africa pegged the goal difference back to two.
 
The ball went all South Africa's way in the line up in the sixth chukka and the goal difference was back to five at the end of it. The seventh chukka was a three all draw and the New Zealanders had swapped positions completely when the eighth chukka came on. Dean Gower went to one, Jamie Morice to two and Tony Schrafft to three. The change was not effective and they scraped in to a 26-25 win, to draw the series but lose the trophy on goal count back.
 
The South African players seemed to be much more effective in the line ups, throughout the whole series, than the New Zealand players and they also made good use of long passes right down the field, thus conserving their horses. The overhand throw at goal proved very frustrating for the New Zealanders and our players need to learn to use this more than they do. It was used very effectively by the South African number ones when they were bottled up in the area and resulted in their horses staying much fresher than the New Zealanders'.

 The New Zealand players certainly did not disgrace themselves against a very professional team and thanks go to those players who very generously lent their very precious horses to the players. The New Zealand players acquitted thamselves very well and should not feel too disappointed with drawing the series. Polocross players in New Zealand have the same problems suffered by many sports in New Zealand. They participate on a much lesser budget than that that is available to their overseas counterparts and do well in spite of it.
 
Ann Gilbert