Bushmere turns on the action

GOOD CONTACT: Cody Clark, of Kirkpatrick Farm Feeds, gets his mallet to the ball ahead of Paul Kirkpatrick, of Kaharau Angus, in Lane Trophy play at Bushmere polo grounds on Saturday. Competition continued on Sunday with the Kirkpatrick Cup. Picture by Paul Rickard

Honours were shared when Poverty Bay Polo Club held two tournaments at Bushmere over the weekend.

The E.J. Gordon Livestock team of Jenny Shanks, Marcus Shanks, Neville Clark and Angus Kelly won the Lane Trophy on Saturday, ahead of runners-up Kirkpatrick Farm Feeds.

On Sunday the roles were reversed. The Kirkpatrick Farm Feeds team of Amelia Shotter, Jo Kirkpatrick, Scott McNeil and Cody Clark won the Kirkpatrick Cup, ahead of runners-up E.J. Gordon Livestock.

Both tournaments were played on a round-robin basis. Kaharau Angus were the other team taking part.

Club captain Neville Clark said a good turnout of spectators enjoyed “two beautiful days” of polo.

“It was short notice, because of the weather we've had,” he said.

Originally, teams were to travel north from Gisborne for other tournaments, but dates were clashing as clubs staged their postponed events.

“We have our main tournament, the Poverty Bay Open, this weekend,” Clark said.

“Ten teams will take part. Four of them will be local.

“Teams are coming from Hawke's Bay and Central Hawke's Bay. Normally we'd have 12 or 14 teams, with some teams coming from the north, but our tournament days clash with those of Waikato tournaments that we'd normally attend.

“The way the weather has been, we have to get on and go ahead with a tournament that's a bit smaller than usual.

“The grounds are looking phenomenal and it'll be a great weekend of polo.

“We have four four-goal teams and six low-goal teams playing in two divisions.”

The tournament is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, but Clark said that if the weather was expected to turn ugly on Sunday, the tournament might start on Friday afternoon.

The Lane Trophy and Kirkpatrick Cup offered good warm-up competition, he said.

Players to shine included Amelia Shotter, a Gisborne veterinary nurse originally from England, and Cody Clark. Both were in the Kirkpatrick Farm Feeds team that shared the weekend honours with the E.J. Gordon Livestock team that included Cody's father Neville.

In the Lane Trophy, E.J. Gordon Livestock beat Kirkpatrick Farm Feeds 3½-2 and Kaharau Angus 4-1. KFF beat KA 4-1.

In the Kirkpatrick Cup, Kirkpatrick Farm Feeds beat E.J. Gordon Livestock 2½-2 and Kaharau Angus 4-1. EJGL beat KA 5-1.