however, especially for all the hard work they have put into polo over the years. We farewelled Winston at the end of the year, while Edward still has another year to play College polo. The last tournament for the 2020 season was held Sunday 29 November at Waireka Polo Farm. After a week of wet weather, the sky cleared and the students were back playing the game they love. This year at College saw an influx of riders new to polo, who weren’t quite ready for tournament, but next season they will take to the field with more confidence. Polo is different from other sports in that you do not have any reserves. This makes it tricky when injuries occur, as you need to be able to reshuffle the team. Boys need to be adaptable and flexible. This happened to us this year, which meant we were short of players, so we had one team in the C grade, two riders joining composite teams, and two riders playing for the South Island school team.
The boys won their match against St Andrew’s A 2–0, then went on to play Christchurch Combined B, winning 5–0, before beating Medbury Red 3–0. In these chukka matches scores are frequently 1–0, but the boys played like champions and racked up the goals. The grade came down to a draw, but as they needed a winner the two teams had their goals added up and College took the C grade, with 10 goals scored and none conceded. Across the six teams in the C grade only one person could be most valuable player – and that was Beau Armstrong. Well done to Beau, a talented rising polo player. Ethan Kepple helped make up players and had a good tournament for the Christchurch Combined team, while Elliot Lee played in the D grade with Rangi Ruru. The final match for the day was the South Island vs North Island game. This was a top match with both teams featuring players that have been selected for New Zealand
school teams. Winston Hutchinson and Edward Davidson joined Tom Turner (StAC) and Sky Turner (St Margaret’s) in the South Island team. It was an exciting match from the roll in and it was not long before the South Island team scored. The second chukka saw another goal for the team, as well as one against. With great communication skills and teamwork, the South Island kept the pressure on to win 3–2. Winston Hutchinson was named most valuable player, which was a great way to finish his polo career for College. Well done to all the boys who played.
Monique Ellis-Martin MiC Polo
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Register 2020 Sport
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