NZ looking for more of the same against Aussie

FAIRFAX NZ/Adie Graham

WHITE WATER: New Zealand under-21 player Mitch Graham, left, had a strong day at the Kiwi invitational canoe polo tournament at the Centennial Lagoon on the weekend. Here he is squeezing past the Australian open team's Josh Holmes, who went on to win the match 4-3.

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The New Zealand canoe polo teams will want to repeat their win at the Kiwi invitational tournament last weekend when they face Australia in the Oceania championships at Centennial Lagoon this week.

The Vikings Black team from Palmerston North won the men's A grade in the invitational tournament, a warmup for the Oceania event which starts on Thursday.

Competitions director James Mitchell was part of the team that won the men's open final 3-2 in overtime against the Australian team, a great way to get their Oceania campaign under way.

"It was my club team that won over the weekend and that put us in a good frame of mind," he said.

"We're certainly looking forward to coming together now as the full New Zealand team, and wearing the silver fern makes you grow an extra set of arms and legs and I think the Aussiesfeel the same.

"When it comes, they grow an extra arm and leg so it'll be a ding-dong battle and we both play quite physical styles, so it'll be interesting."

The tournament will consist of 18 teams between the grades of under-21, senior and veterans, with a big contingent of Palmerston North athletes involved.

Four in the women's senior team are from Palmerston North and six out of eight in the men's A team.

Mitchell said after their win last weekend, neither team would want to give in.

"Not at all, there's quite a lot of trans-Tasman rivalry. We'll have a beer afterwards maybe, but before that, it's game face."

The competition will be played between 10 New Zealand and eight Australian teams for the Julian Carter Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the team with the most wins across all the grades and New Zealand are the current holders.

There are a couple of players crossing the Tasman to strengthen the Australian men's and women's teams, after they lost the invitational tournament. "It's not a foregone conclusion from the weekend," Mitchell said. "It doesn't mean we're going to win the Oceanias. It just means that we've got the upper hand at the moment psychologically." The Vikings Black men's team and the women's Valkryies team won the open grades, giving them international scalps, not something canoe polo club teams get to do very often, while the Australian under-21 men's team beat Palmerston North's Vikings Silver in the open B grade final. The event starts at Centennial Lagoon in Hokowhitu, with competition on Thursday and Friday and playoffs on Saturday.

- © Fairfax NZ News