Open & Youth – Day One
Following the Opening Ceremony and Sprint relays, the day’s games began at 10am.
In the 19 Mens grade today 2 rounds were played with Counties-Manukau finished at the top of the table with two wins, Southland and Kapiti-Horowhenua with a win and a loss each and home team Wellington winless from the days play.
The key game today was between the first of the day between Counties-Manukau and Southland, with Counties coming out on top by 7-5.
Tomorrow key game will be between Southland and Kapiti-Horowhenua to see who will take second place in the first round of games.
In the combined grade of 19 & 21 Womens the shock of the days was in the first game where Counties-Manukau 19’s defeated defending 21 Womens Champions Nelson by 8-1. Most games in this grade were high scoring, with the exception of the clash between last year’s finalists Nelson and Waikato, which ended in a 2-all draw.
At the end of the day, with two games played Canterbury 21’s and Counties-Manukau 19’s sit at the top of the table with 2 from2 wins.
In the 21 Mens grade, all the games were high scoring and Auckland finished the day on top with 2 wins from 2 games, but with some teams only having one game today that could all change tomorrow.
Open Womens saw defending champions Canterbury come out on top with 2 wins from 2 games, easily dispatching bay of Plenty (8-2) and Manawatu (11-1), but with last years finalist Waikato looking strong and only getting one game (and beating an under strength Kapiti-Horowhenua 18-nil) tomorrow’s games will tell more of a story.
In the combined grade of 21’s & Open Mixed Wellington, Counties-Manukau and Auckland all finished with two wins from two games, but with seven rounds of games in this grade during the tournament, tomorrow’s games will tell a better story of who the teams to beat are.
The Open Mens grade saw defending Champions Canterbury looking the team to beat again. Both Canterbury and Auckland ended with two wins from two games, but don’t count out Counties-Manukau who faced Canterbury today (going down 6-4) but are always tough competitors as the tournament progresses.
Day two promises more sunshine and more fast paced games, as the teams rallied for position on the table in the run towards Saturday’s finals.
Last Modified on 24/02/2010 13:54
