ANENDRA SINGH
A few bumps and bruises and "paddle hacks" later, a Hawke's Bay-heavy New Zealand canoe polo team has landed its first medal at a major international competition, in Belgium.
The Scenic Circle Hotel-sponsored Paddle Ferns had the top cats of the code sitting up to take notice of their bronze medal-winning finish on Tuesday in the Flanders Cup tournament where they created history in defeating France 3-2 for the first time ever and also took world champions Britain to the wire in their 2-1 loss.
"We received a trophy but are having a few disagreements about where it's going to live in New Zealand," says an email from the team now in St Omer, France, before the side takes a ferry to England tomorrow to train for another build-up tournament at Duisberg, Germany, at the weekend in a bid for gold at the 2005 World Games on July 17-18 also in Duisberg.
Napier Girls' High School student Emma Hubbard, who received the mascot bear for outstanding play against Italy in the first 4-2 victory, Claire Osborne, of Hastings but studying at Canterbury University in Christchurch, Rachel Dwyer, of Napier but living in Wellington, Tania Perrett, formerly of Hastings but now living in Palmerston North, and manager Kris Worlledge, of Taradale, provide the Hawke's Bay flavour to a province that perhaps demands the right to house the first piece of global silverware.
The other members of the eight-member team are captain Tonille Crombie (Christchurch), Alison McCrae (Wellington), Jennifer Gadd (Auckland), Freya Sonneland (Auckland) and non-travelling reserve Alana Trollope (Palmerston North).
The world No.6 Paddle Ferns' email accused the Italians and French of dirty play.
"We learned pretty fast what to do when being totally obstructed and paddle hacked. Rachel got a joint green card with her opposition player for paddle checking and I think Claire did an excellent hold of the opposition's paddle under her arm. Seriously, we showed Italy that you could play a clean game and still kick their ass," it says.
The Netherlands, smarting from their loss to the Kiwis in the World Games in Japan last year, ruffled the Paddle Ferns with some excellent base-line slides but a tenacious Kiwi defence hung in there to pip them 4-3.
Against France, Osborne's long shot was the final nail in the coffin in the bruising encounter.
The cliffhanger against Britain went into three-minute, sudden-death halves after New Zealand drew first blood in the second half but the world champions equalised with one minute left on the stop clock.
Britain showed its fighting spirit when they nailed a goal in the dying seconds of the sudden-death time to go on to the final where they lost 4-2 to the Germans.
The paddle ferns declined an offer from their Belgium hosts to perform a haka but instead treated them to a rendition of "Bliss" that Gadd bravely orchestrated on a table to the tune of a beer each at the dinner tent that night.
Osborne's mum, Vivien, of Havelock North, and Dwyer's parents, John and Gulia, of Napier, are also in Europe supporting the team.
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