05/06 Mixed tourney 2

NZU mixed tourney 2

The weekend of January 28th and 29th saw 9 teams – 5 of them from outside Auckland – converge on Auckland Grammar Boys High School for the second national mixed tour event of the 05/06 summer season.

Auckland turned on some scorching weather and put everyone’s fitness to the test as well as taking a number of casualties to sunburn – including your humble tournament director. Fortunately there was some relief available from the school pool which a number of players made use of between games.

The Saturday of the tournament saw the seeding rounds with two pools each playing a round robin. At the end of the first day the top pool consisted of Bluefish, Black Star, Credo and Kia Mataara. After some discussion between captains and the tour co-ordinator it was decided to change the draw for the second day so that the teams played within their pools resulting in more evenly matched and enjoyable games.

The Sunday of the tournament saw some exciting play. Kia Mataara faced off against Blue Fish in the semi’s for the second time in the weekend and came out storming with a real fire in their bellies – aided by the enthusiasm of their Australian import sporting a dodgy, tequila induced haircut from the night before. Kia Mataara led Blue Fish into half time by one point and it looked dicey for a while but Blue Fish were able to take away the win 15 – 12. The other semi between Black Star and Credo resulted in a win for Black Star meaning a final between Blue Fish and Black Star – their second face-off of the tournament and for the day.

The final was a tight game all the way through with both teams pulling ahead only to be brought back. With turn-overs and dodgy throws galore, the crowd had plenty of heckling ammunition. The highlight of the final was most likely John Fouhy’s seemingly effortless catch of a Dave Campbell desperation hammer without seeming to even look at the disc – he just reach out and snatched it out of the air like a coiled snake… too bad it didn’t count because of a call that stopped play!

The final went to time cap with game to 14 points. Blackstar led 13 – 12 but Blue Fish was able to equalise and bring the game to sudden death point. But in the end, Black Star showed they could handle the pressure and scored the golden point to put the game in the bank.

The surprises for the tournament didn’t end with the final though. For the first time in a number of years, Kia Mataara did not take out the most spirited team prize. This award went to Auckland team The Budgie Smugglers, whose captain, Jack Turner in an ironic turn of events actually made the spirit prize – a concrete disc (Jack is a civil engineer and consequently likes concrete) with an inscribed plaque. The most valuable female player award went to Carli from Wellington team CBC and the most valuable male player award went to Tom from MUA.

Check out the full results (xls 36k) &

Mixed tour results (xls 20k)