University games

The 2005 University Games were held 24 to 27 April, and ultimate was hotly contested. This years venue was the Akoranga Campus, AUT (on the North Shore).

Top seeds triumph in epic final

Canterbury took out the New Zealand University Games Ultimate ensuring the trophy remains in the South Island.

Nine teams from eight universities around the country arrived at host campus AUT to compete for the Ultimate trophy. There were 5 teams from the Auckland region – Auckland University, Tamaki, Massey Albany, AUT A and AUT B plus travellers Lincoln, Victoria, Waikato and top seeds Canterbury. The Auckland teams dominated the competition overall, but it was the Cantabrians who came away with trophy, defeating Tamaki in the final by 13 points to 9.

The competition began on Monday afternoon, after the Anzac commemorations, and the top 4 teams showed out strongly from the start. The early games were won by large margins as the more experienced teams from Tamaki, Auckland, AUT A and Canterbury showed their skills. While outclassed, the teams at the lower end of the seedings took in the experience and their teams full of beginners showed a substantial improvement over the course of the competition. For Massey Albany, Waikato and AUT B, this event could mark the beginning of a real Ultimate club on campus and the players definitely enjoyed themselves.

Tuesday brought the first big match-ups, as the top two teams in each pool played each other to determine the seedings for the semi-finals. In one of the best games of the tournament, close friends and rivals Tamaki and Auckland University faced off. The loser of this game would have the unenviable task of meeting Canterbury in the semi final, and the game was hotly contested. However in true Ultimate style the game was also played with great spirit in front of a partisan sideline crowd. Tamaki finally emerged the victor 11-6. In Pool A, AUT A could not keep pace with a very solid Canterbury, the final score,

Wednesday was finals day, with crossovers matches in the morning and playoffs games in the afternoon. The wind was very strong, as it had been all week, which made those upwind points crucial. Lincoln and Victoria had looked to be the best teams from the second group, but it was AUT B who caused the upset, using the wind to their advantage and defeating Lincoln in their cross over game, before going down to Victoria in the 5th/6th play-off. While not quite in the same league as the top four schools, Victoria were clearly ahead of the rest and deservedly finished in 5th spot.

The semi-finals were close contests with the factor in both games. Canterbury took an upwind point early in their game against Auckland University, and despite their best efforts, Auckland ran out of time in their effort to get it back. Tamaki started strongly in the other semi final, marching the length of the field upwind on the first point of the game against AUT A to establish a lead. AUT mounted a mid-game comeback scoring an upwind point, but Tamaki took it straight back, and then hammered home the advantage going downwind after the half-time break.

A good crowd gathered on the sideline in cold, windy conditions for the final. Tamaki had the home town advantage and the sideline reflected that with their huge support. The Canterbury team were well drilled, able to work the disc upfield into the wind methodically, while Tamaki countered with a looser offence, using several short passes to get in a position to huck upfield and hope the wind didn’t affect the throw too much.

The conditions favoured the Canterbury style though, and they slowly crafted out a lead of 4 points. Tamaki closed the gap to two points when they finally got an upwind point, but with a depleted squad they ran of energy. Canterbury edged away again as time cap closed, and when Tamaki star Ben Cochrane had to leave to sit a test, the result was sealed. Canterbury were deserved champions winning the final 13-9.

The University Games recognises the best players from the tournament with the Tournament Team. The stars of the tournament were as follows:

Tanya Waisbrod — Victoria

Summer Brines — Tamaki

Grant Mitchell — Canterbury

Volker Grun — Canterbury

Alan Macfarlane — Auckland University

Bryan Holyoake — Tamaki

Ben Cochrane — Tamaki

Special mention goes to Adam Lothian from Tamaki who, with a careful mix of layout-Ds and safe dump passes, won Fantasy Ultimate in the final with a terrific score of +7.

Ultimate has become a big part of the University Games, gathering supports and participation as other major sports slip. Netball had only 5 teams at the competition, while no rugby competition was available at all. New Zealand Ultimate will look to work closely with New Zealand University sport to further grow this aspect of the sport and look to raise the profile of University Ultimate in the sporting community. There is the added incentive of a standing invitation to send a New Zealand team to the Australian University Games each year.

New Zealand University sport would like to thank Auckland Ultimate and particularly Iain Stewart who took leave from work to run the competition and ensured everything ran smoothly.

Final standings

1. Canterbury

2. Tamaki

3. Auckland University

4. AUT A

5. Victoria

6. AUT B

7. Lincoln

8. Massey Albany

9. Waikato

Full results can be found here >>>