Vale Impi dominate at Ashfields while Kent's young guns claim the A grade

Vale Impi dominated at Ashfields with three grade wins but it was a Kent section who claimed the biggest prize of all, the A grade. Vale Impi conquered the C grade, the D grade and the Primary Juniors with some sterling performances from some of their young players, such as Matthew Smith, Tom Bowden Eyre and Celia Price. However, it was three young players from Kent who took home the A grade.

The A grade was played in sections and Kent had three sections in it, giving them three chances of success. Jason Webb is out of the Kent team for the next month with a broken collar bone but their teams still packed the considerable experience of players such as Kerry Bean, Chris Dunlop, Debbie Harris, Annie Waterer, Tom Witchell and Jannie Steenkamp (for one weekend only). However, it was the youngest and least experienced section of Joel Sics, Lewis Parr and Will Halcrow (all under 23 years of age) who flew the flag for Kent and ultimately claimed victory, defeating a Cotswold section of Luke Mathie, Jenny Hall and Rob Jenkinson in the final. They started the better of the two sides and lead 7-3 going into the last but Cotswold fought back hard and at the end of the the last it was all tied up at 7 all, meaning it went to golden goal, much to the delight of the crowd (though maybe not the Kent fans). They needn't have worried though, Lewis Parr won the ball from the line out and broke towards the 30 yard line, He was briefly dispossessed but the umpire ruled it to be a downwards hit and awarded Kent the free throw into the goal scoring area. Lewis duely took it and finished off the job by shooting a goal past Rob Jenkinson. The delight on the three boys faces was evident as they celebrated and it would have taken a very staunch Cotswold supporter to begrudge them their victory. Cotswold did get something to cheer when Rob Jenkinson picked up the Ashfields Cup for Best Horse and Rider combination for the weekend and Luke Mathie won best number 1. Best number 3 went to Jannie Steenkamp who stayed true to his South African roots by throwing some of the biggest and most outrageous passes which have been seen on a UK polocrosse pitch in recent times.

The B grade went to Kent's local rivals, the Canterbury Colts. They played well all weekend, winning all their matches despite suffering the loss of Wayne Bushnell to a broken leg on Saturday after his horse slipped while coming to a stop.Oli Harwood filled in for him in their last couple of matches and though kent caused them a scare in their last match in the end they pulled away to win by a few goals. Ashley Harwood and Wayne Henning looked on particularly good form and Ashley picked up best number 2. Solent finished in second but did claim the other two best number spots, with Kim Stevens picking up best 1 and Joe Hopkins picking up best 3.

The C grade saw the highest of the Vale Impi victories. They played Kent in a fast paced and hard fought final and it was a tale of two sections. Penny Webb was on blistering form for Kent and shot them into a early 6-3 lead. However, Kent's second section just couldn't cope with Matthew Smith and Tom Bowden-Eyre of Vale Impi and over the game they out scored the first Kent section to win by 2 goals at the end. Tom won countless balls in the line out and deservedly won best number 2. Penny Webb picked up best number 1 and Claire Rowden of Kent picked up best number 3 which will have come as some consolation.

There was also a C grade plate and in this the home club of Ashfields got their only result of the weekend as they defeated Vale Impi in the final.

The D grade was also won by Vale Impi as they overcame Cotswold, while the D grade plate went to Solent with Kent in second place.

Kent were also second in the Juniors as Arden narrowly defeated them. The winning margin in the end was just one goal and that was thanks to a head hit in the last chukka. Arden also picked up best number 1 and best number 2 for Natasha Mason and Katie Louitson, while Amiee Thompson of One Shot picked up best number 3.

In the primary Juniors it was once again Vale Impi's turn to shine as they defeated Kent. Celia Price of Vale Impi picked up best number 1 while Georgia Caine of Ashfields won best number 2 and Jodie Davis of Kent won best number 3.

The tournament was slightly marred by poor weather on the Saturday with rains storms leading to teh pitches being slippery and play was stopped early at 4.30 are a couple of falls, which saw not only Wayne Bushnell but also Karianne Sagberg of Norway taken to hospital. This meant games on the Sunday were shortened to four seven minute chukkas each in order to fit everything in but luckily the weather was a lot kinder on the Sunday and the finals were played under glorious sunshine.

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